Galanos Demetrios

Galanos Demetrios, a Greek scholar, was born in Athens in 1760. He studied at Minsolonghi, and subsequently at Patmos, where he remained six years perfecting himself in Greek learning. At the end of this time he was sent for by his uncle, Gregoay, bishop of Caesarea, who desired him to enter the priesthood. But Demetrios was resolved to devote himself to letters, and went to Calcutta as tutor in the family of a wealthy Greek in 1786. "After remaining six years in Calcutta, pursuing the study of the English, and also of the Sanscrit, Persian, and other Oriental languages, in addition to his duties as an instructor, he resolved to devote himself henceforth wholly to philosophy. Investing the property which he had acquired while there in a commercial establishment, he removed to Benares. Here he assumed the dress of a Brahmin, and lived in this way for forty years, respected alike by the native population and by European residents. He undertook the task of translating the most important portions of the Brahminical literature relating to philosophy into Greek. When he was seventy years old he began to think of returning to his native land, but he died with this wish unfulfilled, May 3, 1833. He bequeathed to the University of Otho, at Athens, all his library, consisting of Sanscrit books and MS. translations from them Lito Greek. Six or eight volumes of these translations have been published by the librarian of the university and are found in the collection of modern Greek literature in the library of Harvard University. In this selection are included translations of the Vhagavata Purana, the Gita, the Dourga, and a portion, or, rather, an epitome of the Mahabharata, the most extensive and the most celebrated of all the works of Indian literature." — Watchman and Reflector, November 7, 1861.