Born in A. D. 1575, Lama Taranatha wrote this book in 1608. V. Vasil'ev of St. Petersburg translated it from Tibetan into Russian in April 1869 followed by the German translation of the text by Schiefner also published from St. Petersburg in October of the same year. In view of the profound importance of the work for understanding Indian history in general and of the history of Buddhism in particular, modern scholars have extensively using specially Schiefner's German translation of the History for decades and this for varied purposes. Dr. Niharranjan Ray, as Director of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Simla, assigned to Dr. Alaka Chattopadhyaya the work of directly translating it into English from its Tibetan original. In carrying out the assignment, she naturally sought collaboration of her own Tibetan teacher, Lama Chimpa. After the English rendering was prepared, Professor Niharranjan Ray wanted it to be edited by Professor Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya. Thus edited, the present English translation was published by the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Simla in 1970. The present edition of the work has the additional attraction of carrying a Foreword to it by no less an eminent Tibetologist than Professor S. Rinpoche, Director of the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Samath, Varanasi.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Lama Chimpa
Prof. Lama Chimpa, Head of Indo-Tibetan Studies, Visvabharati University, Santiniketan, is acknowledged as one of the foremost Tibetologists in India. Dr. Mrs. Alaka Chatopadhyaya obtained her doctorate degree of the Calcutta University with her highly acclaimed work based on Tibetan sources published with the title Atisa and Tibet. By profession she was until recently the principal of the Vidyasagar College of Women, Calcutta. Her other published works include the translation (in Bengali) of the Caturasitisiddha-pravrtti - life of the 84 Siddhacaryas available hithertobefore only in its Tibetan version, besides many other Tibetan studies. She has extensively toured abroad, delivering lectures in USSR, China, Oxford, Cambridge, Budapast and other places. Debiprasad Chatopadhyaya (the editor) is M. A., D. Litt. of the Calcutta University, Honorary D. Sc. of the Moscow Academy of Science, Member of the German Academy of Science. Besides working as Visiting Professor at various universities, he is the author of a considerable number of works on Indian Philosophy and Science inclusive of many that are published abroad in Russian, Chinese, Japanese, German and other language. He has been elected National Fellow of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research, though also working in an honorary capacity as a Guest Scientist of National Institute of Science Technology and Development Studies (a constituent establishment of CSIR).
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