Anncharlott Eschmann was born in Munich on September 24th, 1941 as the first daughter of Professor Ernst Wilhelm Eschmann, a renowned Professor of Philosophy and, Mrs. Charlott Eschmann, a retired psychotherapist. She grew up in Roman Catholic Ticino (Switzerland) where her parent's house had become a constant meeting place of members of the Eranos Society.

Anncharlott Eschmann studied Protestant theology, comparative religion and indology in Marburg and Heidelberg. In 1969 she submitted her PhD thesis on the topic of "The idea of history in Aztec religion".

As a member of the ORP I, Anncharlott Eschmann went to India in autumn 1970. In order to complete her textual studies, she went "into the field". In 1970 she encountered for the first time Vishwanath Baba in Joranda (see the photographs).

Eschmann's academic research focussed on "sectarian" movements such as the Samaritans, the oppressed Jewish offspring, and Mahima dharma, the modern reform movement in Orissa. She explored the phenomenon which Srinivas labelled as sanskritization, i.e. the continuing incorporation of "prehistoric" and popular beliefs into "high" traditions. Her work on Jagannath and Narasimha exemplified the relation of tribal deities and the Jagannath cult of Puri. From 1975, Anncharlott Eschmann was the head of the New Delhi branch of Heidelberg's South Asia Institute. In fact India and Orissa became much more as her second home.

Anncharlott Eschmann died in tragic circumstances on 6th April 1977 in New Delhi.