Mircea Eliade was a Romanian philosopher, historian, and fiction writer. Known for his work on the history of religions, his paradigms in religious studies still hold significance in modern academia. He served as director of the 'History of Religions' department at the 'University of Chicago' for about three decades. He is highly regarded for his work on Shamanism, Alchemy, and Yoga. His four major scholarly works ('Traité d’histoire des religions,' 1949; 'Le Mythe de l’éternel retour,' 1949; 'Le Chamanisme et les techniques archaïques de l’extase,' 1951; and 'Le Yoga: Immortalité et liberté,' 1954) are in French. The most notable scholarly work of the prolific writer is 'Histoire des croyances et des idées religieuses' (1978–85). However, his 1955 novel, 'Forêt interdite,' is considered as Eliade’s masterpiece. Most of his writings are from fantastic or autobiographical genres.
