INDO-TIBETAN STUDIES

Gurudeva Rabindranath Tagore dreamt and favored to open educational institutions for learning and researches on various aspects of Buddhism through languages like Sanskrit, Pali, Chinese and Tibetan. The invitation of Prof. Sylvain Levi (1863-1935) in 1921 to Santiniketan may be termed as the starting of scientific studies on Indo-Tibetan Studies at VisvaBharati. Gurudeva himself was a student in the Tibetan Classes of Prof. Levi in the early twenties along with M.V. Shastri and P.C. Bagchi.
After the departure of Prof. Levi, Buddhist studies were conducted at Santiniketan by Vidhusekhara Shastri, P.C. Bagchi, Sujit Kumar Mukherjee, Aiyaswami Shastri, Shanti Bhikkhu Shastri, P.V. Bapat, Tan Yun San, G. Tucci, M. Winternitz, Ven. Sonam Ngodup, Ven. Geshe Thubten Rablag, Rev. Angi Wangdi, V.V. Gokhle, Angarika Govinda, C.R, Lama, Suniti Kumar Pathak, Lama Chimpa and many other erudite scholars from India and abroad.
Prof. Vidhusekhar Shastri conducted Indo-Tibetan Studies as a separate discipline after the departure of Sylvain Levi. Some young scholars assembled to study Tibetan language and Buddhist texts under his supervision and were engaged in researches in various aspects of Buddhist Studies.
In 1954, the Department of Indo-Tibetan Studies was established as a separate Post-Graduate center with the financial assistance from the University Grants Commission (UGC).