He was the second son of Edward John Lazarus M.D. of
Calcutta and
Benares; his younger brother Maurice Dyte Venis was admitted to
Clare College, Cambridge in 1883. His father was a Sanskritist, a convert to Christianity from a Jewish background. He worked in
Dacca as a "native doctor", later becoming a surgeon and moving to Benares. An entry in the
Middle Temple register for Maurice Dyte Venis indicates that by 1884 his father used the name Edward John Lazarus Venis. On the other hand, Arthur's graduation at Balliol was as "Lazarus, A. V.". Arthur Venis studied at the
University of Edinburgh. In 1888, Venis became Principal of Queen's College, and in 1897, he received a
Boden Scholarship. He also taught post-Vedic Sanskrit at
Allahabad University. ==Works==