SwamiAgehananda Bharati (Sanskrit:अगेहानन्द भारती,romanized: Svamī Agehānanda Bhāratī;Vienna, April 20, 1923 –New York, May 14, 1991) was themonastic name ofLeopold Fischer, professor of anthropology atSyracuse University for over 30 years. He was an academicSanskritist, a writer on religious subjects, and aHindumonk in theDasanami Sannyasiorder.
Fischer was born in Vienna,Austria, on April 20, 1923, to Hans and Margarete Fischer. Growing up, he joined the Indian Club and began to studyHindi and classicalSanskrit, which led to his decision to become anIndologist. Later, Fischer became a member of Germany's "Free India Legion", a military unit raised during the Second World War part of the Waffen-SS which intended to serve as a liberation force for British-ruled India, and converted to Hinduism, taking on the name Ramachandra.[1]
Although he attended theUniversity of Vienna, Bharati kept up his studies as a monk and took up teaching as well. Agehananda Bharati's travels were as extensive as his teachings were impressive. He was a professional expert in cultural anthropology, South Asian studies, linguistics, and comparative philosophy. Most of these subjects he taught inDelhi University,Banaras Hindu University, and Nalanda Institute in India. He also taught in a Buddhist academy in Bangkok, Thailand, where he first began his teachings on comparative religion. Bharati became a visiting professor of Indian philosophy at theUniversity of Tokyo andKyoto.
In 1956, Bharati came to the U.S. as a research associate forWashington University in Seattle. A year later he transferred to Syracuse and joined the anthropology faculty. He settled down in Syracuse and became Ford-Maxwell Professor of South Asian Studies. It wasn't long before he became the chairman of his department. He was grantedU.S. citizenship in 1968. Although he lived in Syracuse that didn't mean that he had stopped traveling. He managed to go toHawaii, Britain,Michigan,Soviet Union, Germany, andIreland for research and as a visiting professor.
Bharati had become a member of numerous organizations including:American Association of University Professors,American Anthropological Association (fellow),Association for Applied Anthropology (fellow),American Linguistic Society, International Association for General Semantics,Mensa International,Mind Association,Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland,Royal Philosophical Society,Royal Siam Society, International Academy of Human Rights, andNew York Academy of Sciences. (Contemporary Authors, 2003) Agehananda Bharati died on May 14, 1991, of cancer at the age of 68, in a friend's house inPittsford, New York.
By the time he died, Bharati had over 500 published works, including an autobiography calledThe Ochre Robe.[2]
