Jain Journal 1970 01

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 43

JANUARY, 1970
suddenly came in and finding me at my meal said humourously "I hope I did not fall into your soup!" Professor Peemoeller, the medical doctor at the hospital, in whose charge I was, informed me after three weeks' preliminary investigation and treatment that it would be advisable for me to stay longer in hospital for further treatment, i.e., all through the spring vacation (March-April). This was not pleasant news to me of course but I had to accept it and requested the Doctor to inform Schubring about it by phone. When discharging me from hospital, the Doctor advised me to avoid the next winter in Hamburg.
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After rejoining the Seminar for the summer semester (May-July) I was having a class with Schubring when our conversation turned on my stay in hospital and he recalled my Doctor's name, Peemoeller ; forgetting medical matters his interest in philology came to the forefront, and with a brisk movement he went to the blackboard just behind him and explained, "It is an interesting name and probably it started like this-Muehler (corrupted Moeller) is a very common name here in Germany; probably an ancestor of his had a Christian name beginning with P (pronounced in German like the English word "pay") and so he, in order to be distinguished from others of the name of Muehler came to be called P. Muehler-Peemoehler-Peemoeller" ("Pee" in German is also pronounced as "pay" in English).
That summer Dr. Mahendra Nath Sarkar, Professor of Philosophy, Presidency College, Calcutta, visited Hamburg and stayed as Frau Fera's guest, who also arranged a public lecture by him. He visited Schubring at the Seminar and the latter held a gathering in his honour at his house, to which the Professors of Sinology and Iranistics, and Matsunami and myself also were invited.
Before the end of the semester I decided in consultation with Schubring to spend the next winter semester in Berlin which had a drier though very cold climate. In German universities a student may keep terms at any university but has to keep the last term at the place where he wants to qualify for the Doctorate. In August I went to London on a visit and returning in September spent the time till the end of October working at the Hamburg Seminar. Schubring was holidaying in a small fishermen's hamlet on the North Sea, from where he wrote a short and very humorous letter in Sanskrit (in which he Sanskritised his name as "Subhringah") jointly to Matsunami and myself, the only students at the Seminar at the time. On his return, he enquired if I had met any of the British Indologists during my sojourn in London and I replied that I could not find any of them because of the vacation. He enquired what