Vedic Index of Names And Subjects : Vol.-1

Macdonell was born in Muzaffarpur, in the Tirhut region of the state of Bihar, British India, the son of Charles Alexander Macdonell, of the Indian Army. He was educated at Göttingen University, and matriculated in 1876 at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, gaining a classical exhibition and three scholarships (for German, Chinese, and the Boden Scholarship for Sanskrit). He graduated with classical honours in 1880 and was appointed Taylorian Teacher of German at Oxford. In 1883, he obtained his PhD from the University of Leipzig, and then became Deputy Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford in 1888, and Boden Professor of Sanskrit in 1899 (a post that carried with it a fellowship at Balliol College, Oxford). Macdonell edited various Sanskrit texts, wrote a grammar, compiled a dictionary, and published a Vedic grammar, a Vedic Reader, and a work on Vedic mythology. He also wrote a history of Sanskrit.

Arthur Berriedale Keith was born in Edinburgh, the fourth child and third son of Davidson Keith (1842-1921), an advertising agent, and Margaret Stobie Keith, née Drysdale (1851-1911). All five of his siblings were associated with the British Empire in Burma and India: Sir William John Keith KCSI, ICS, was acting governor of Burma in 1925; Steuart Keith (died 1925) was a sessions judge in Burma; Alan Davidson Keith (died 1928) was a barrister in Burma. Both of his sisters married British expatriates in the region. Keith was educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh; the University of Edinburgh (MA 1897; DLitt 1914); and Balliol College, Oxford (BA 1900; BCL 1905; DCL 1911). At Oxford, he achieved firsts in Classical Moderations (1899), Sanskrit and Pali (1900), and Literae humaniores (1901). He was called to the bar by the Inner Temple in 1904 and became a member of the Faculty of Advocates in 1921.