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Sergiu Al-George Biography
September 13, 1922 - Sergiu (Anatol) Al-George is born in Târgu Mureș, Romania. His mother, Antonina Donos, was originally from Soroca county (Basarabia, today’s Republic of Moldova) and came from a family with strong Orthodox traditions. Over five generations his maternal family consisted of nine priests and six wives of Orthodox priests.
Sergiu Al-GeorgeOn the paternal side he had an equally strong ancestry. His father, Vasile Al-George was a native of Năsăud county and was the son of wealthy peasants.
As a graduate of the Faculty of Law and the Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in Bucharest, he was counted among Transylvania’s intellectual elite. He fought as a volunteer in the Great War of the Reunification of the Nation and was severely wounded but also decorated. In Basarabia, after the Great Union, he met his future wife.
They settled in Târgu-Mureș where Vasile Al-George was hired as a government employee. He also participated significantly in the popular cultural of the time. This is evidenced by his contributions to the magazines "Flacăra", "Gândirea", "Cosânzeana", " Societatea de mâine ", "Cele Trei Crișuri", "Pagini Basarabene" and to the newspapers "Românul", "Dreptatea", "Patria", "Voința".
He becomes the author of a volume of lyrics entitled "Pamânt" and also the translator of Hungarian lyrics. Interested also in the Indian world, he left a notebook which seems to be a German translation of "Mahābhārata".
His first name is his mother's choice, and his father as a great admirer of Anatole France, gives him his middle name, Anatol.
At the insistence of his paternal uncle, the young Sergiu and his brother George attend among the first class of students at the newly established Military High School in Târgu-Mureș. After moving to Chișinău with his family he continues schooling at the military high school but later transfers to the civil Alexandru Donici high school. In his final year, he concludes his formal education at the Matei Basarab High School in Bucharest, where the family moves -again- a year before Basarabia's surrender to the Soviet Union.
Around 1939 he starts self-educating in the Sanskrit and Tibetan languages. He is fascinated by Mircea Eliade as he reads “The Secret of Doctor Honigberger,” and later “Oceanografie” (Oceanography).
1941 - Al-George enrolls in the Faculty of Medicine and six years later passes the examination among the top ten of two hundred candidates. He becomes an otorhinolaryngology Doctor.
He meets Doctor Dorina Bucur, a colleague at the same hospital, his future wife. Her family is of Braila’s ancestry. Her father, George Bucur, participated in the 1916 war and was a descendant of Făgăraș ancestors who fought in the War of Independence. Her maternal roots were in Dobrogea and Basarabia.
1947 – Al-George’s first article, "Le mythe de l'ātman et la genèse de l'absolu dans la pensée indienne", appears in Revue des études indoeuropéennes.
1948 – He starts working as a trainer and later as an assistant at the Institute of Medicine and Pharmacy.
1952 – Dorina prepares her application to join the Communist Party, but Sergiu, using a ruse to see the application, disapproves and rips the paper in front of their hospital colleagues. Shortly after the incident, he is fired from his post.
1953 – He enrolls as an ENT doctor first at the Army Choir and then at the Bucharest Opera Medical Unit.
Al-George invents the first Romanian mechanical stroboscope for investigating the larynx. It is patented in 1957 and later, the first Romanian phoniatric treatise is published at Editura Medicală in 1958.
He works intensely on Sanskrit, Tibetan, philosophy, linguistics and Indian philosophy together with his friend, Arion Roșu.
1957 - Al-George’s article, "Pūrṇa ghaṭa et le symbolisme du vase dans l'Inde", is published in the Arts Asiatiques Journal in Paris. It is co-authored by Arion Roșu.
His article, "Indriya et le sacrifice des prāṇa ", is published in "Mitteilungen des Instituts für Orientforschung". A Berlin journal and this article is also coauthored by Arion Roșu.
Sergiu Al-George becomes a founding member of the Association of Oriental Studies (Asociația de Studii Orientale).
He delivers a speech at the Society for Historical and Philological Studies (Societatea de Studii Istorice și Filologice) with the title: “A Tibetan manuscript in our country.”
His article entitled, “Le sujet grammatical chez Pāṇini” is published in Studia et Acta Orientalia Journal.
He meets prof. Raghu Vīra, director of the International Cultural Academy of India, while the professor visited Romania.
1958 - "Tratat de Foniatrie", (Phoniatry treatise) is published at Editura Medicală.
December 18, 1958 – Al-George is arrested along with other intellectuals and sentenced to seven years correctional imprisonment (hard labor), four years probation and confiscation of assets for the possession of the letter, “Lettre à un ami lointain,” (Letter to Faraway Friend). The letter had been sent by Emil Cioran to Constantin Noica and it, along with the possession of books like “La Fôret Interdite” (Forbidden Forest) by Mircea Eliade, was considered trespassing against the social order.
April 1964 – Al-George is released from prison, but his health is ruined due to the hard labor and the tormenting he endured. He reintegrates back into daily life with difficulty. However, his reassignment to a peripheral clinic with few consultations provides him the time and peace to dedicate more time to his Indian studies.
1966 - "La fonction révélatrice des consonnes chez les phonéticiens de l'Inde antique", appears in “Cahiers de linguistique théorique et appliquée", Academia Republicii Populare Romîne
1967 - "The Semiosis of Zero according to Pāṇini", appears in The East and West Journal. The same year Sergiu delivers a presentation on "L'Inde antique et les origines du structuralisme" (Ancient India and the origins of structuralism) at the International Congress of Linguists held in Bucharest.
1968 - "The extra-linguistic origin of Pāṇini's syntactic categories and their linguistic accuracy", appears in the Journal of Oriental Institute Baroda.
June 12, 1969 - At the Association of Oriental Studies Al-George delivers a speech entitled " Actualitatea gramaticii lui Pāṇini“ (The Actuality of Pāṇini's Grammar). The same year his article, “Sign (lakṣaṇa) and propositional logic in Pāṇini" is published in The East and West Journal.
1970 - "Medicina indiană" (Indian Medicine) and "Medicina tibetană" (Tibetan Medicine), are published in Istoria Medicinei Universale (Universal History of Medicine), Bucharest.
An article related to his medical profession, "Occupational and non-occupational respiratory allergy in bakers" is published in, Acta Allergologica journal.
1971-1973 - He teaches a course on Indian philosophy and civilization as an adjunct lecturer at the Faculty of Oriental Languages in Bucharest The course addresses aspects of semiosis, linguistics, logic, Sanskrit and Tibetan languages and medicine, philosophy of language and Pāṇini's grammar.
1971 – The fruit of three decades of labor, “Filosofia indiană în texte: Bhagavad Gītā, Sāṁkhya Kārikā, Tarka Samgraha” (Indian Philosophy in texts…) his translation from Sanskrit to Romanian is published at Editura Științifică in Bucharest.
1972 – He delivers a series of speeches:
February 2nd: "Logică și limbaj în perspectiva lingvisticii indiene vechi” (Logic and language in the perspective of ancient Indian linguistics) at the Romanian Linguistic Society.
March 4th: "Eros și simbol în psihologia europeană și indiană“ (Eros and symbol in European and Indian psychology) at the Association of Oriental Studies.
“Metaforă și filosofie din perspectivă indiană” (Metaphor and philosophy from an Indian perspective)
"Logica deontică în filosofia Mīmāṃsā" (Deontic logic in Mīmāṃsā philosophy)
On an invitation from the Indian Embassy cultural attaché in Bucharest Sergiu travels to India to visit several important Sanskritology centers.
While visiting Calcutta he meets Maitreyī Devi by chance. She is the heroine of Eliade’s famous novel, “Maitreyī.”
"Interview with Sergiu Al-George about his trip to India", by Amita Bhose is published in the Jugantar newspaper in Calcutta. In the same newspaper, she also published a shortened translation of his article, “Indian Notes,” and received emotional letters from the readers.
1973 – Sergiu’s presentation, “Rădăcinile tradiționale ale gândirii lui Gandhi" (The traditional roots of Gandhi's thinking) with Amita Bhose and Aurora Nasta takes place at a UNESCO convention.
Sergiu travels to Paris for an Indian Congress but travel formalities prevent his on-time arrival. However, he has the chance to meet with Mircea Eliade whom he knows from his usual summer vacations there and both enjoy a long conversation.
Maitreyi Devi makes a surprise visit to Bucharest and spends New Year’s Eve with Al-George family, Amita Bhose and Constantin Noica.
1976 – “Limbă și gândire în cultura indiană” (Language and Thought in Indian Culture) is published at Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, Bucharest.
1978 - "Are Pāṇini's sūtras descriptive or prescriptive sentences?" is published in the annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Diamond Jubilee Volume.
"Temps, histoire, destin", is published in Cahiers de L'Herne journal, (Cahier Mircea Eliade).
1979 – Sergiu presents "La résonnance de la pensée indienne dans la culture roumaine" at the Fourth World Sanskrit Conference of I.A.S.S in Weimar.
1981 - "Brâncuși et l'Inde" is published in Revue roumaine d'histoire de l'art, Serie Beaux-Arts.
"Arhaic și universal. India în conștiința culturală românească" (Archaic and universal. India in the Romanian cultural consciousness), is published at Editura Eminescu, Bucharest.
Al-George participates in the Sanskrit Congress in Varanasi (Benares). The speech he had prepared “Metaphor and Philosophy from an Indian Perspective,” was rescheduled for a special session held in front of a packed room of the world's leading scholars. This event legitimizes his solitary efforts.
He holds a dissertation at the University of Delhi, focusing on the two great scientific passions of his life: on Metaphor and Pāṇini.
Upon returning from India, he tells his wife “I was so happy that now I can die.”
November 10, 1981 – Four days after returning from India trip, Sergiu Al-George dies of a heart attack.
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