Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c15.s2.t65.3

v2.c15.s2.t65.3

Born in 1927 at Ambala in Haryana, India to an illustrious family, he had a brilliant career and obtained an M.A. in 1947 from the Punjab University at Lahore. Well-trained in Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit, he learned more than 20 Indian and foreign languages like Hindi, Sanskrit, Pali, Avesta, Old Persian, Japanese, Chinese, Tibetan, Mongolian, Indonesian, Greek, Latin, German, French, Russian, etc. On account of his critical edition of the Gavamayana portion of the Vedic work Jaiminaya Brahmana, he was awarded a D.Litt. by the State University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, in 1950. Since then, he has made great contribution towards the study of Indian thought and the cultural bonds of India with others countries of East and Southeast Asia. He has to his credit more than 575 books and 285 articles. His several volume works are Tibetan-Sanskrit Dictionary, Buddhist Iconography of Tibet, Materials for a History of Tibetan Literature, and Dictionary of Buddhist Art are all monumental works in cultural history. Based on primary canonical literary sources, many of these are among the first comprehensive studies of Tibet which cover wide ranging fields spanning from astronomy and medicine to literature and philosophy. In collaboration with his father, he also completed the ‘New Tibeto-Mongol Pantheon’ in 20 volumes. It provides a wealth of information on the unexplored aspects of the iconographic art of trans- Himalayan Asia as far as the Siberian and Volga regions. His edition of the 108 large volumes of the Mongolian Kanjur or Buddhist Canon is considered a splendid work earning him the prestigious honorary membership of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.