Varanasi: Over 40 scholars from the United Kingdom, the United States, Europe and Asia are meeting at the University of Delhi, India, to explore the scale and magnitude of Tibet's history and culture.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama is scheduled to give the valedictory address at the three-day international conference, “Exploring Tibet's History and Culture", which will be held from 19 to 21 November at the Academic Council Hall of Delhi University’s Vice Regal Lodge. Indian MP Dr. Kapila Vatsayayan (Rajya Sabha) is the chief guest, while Prof. Deepak Pental, Vice Chancellor of the University, will give the welcome address.
The political history and status of Tibet is interpreted in different ways by Tibetans and Western scholars, as well as the Chinese scholars before the fall of Manchu dynasty in 1912 and more recent scholars from the People’s Republic. The field of Tibetan studies has become increasingly important and popular among scholars, researchers, writers and the general public throughout the world in the last three decades.
Tibetans have maintained unbroken cultural interactions with India since the 7th century. As a result, Tibetan scholars have produced the largest number of translations of Indian literature. The Tibetan Tripitaka, known as Kagyur or Tangyur, preserves over five thousand titles translated from Indian languages, mostly Sanskrit, embracing treatises on grammar, poetry, rhetoric, logic, politics and social ethics, medicine, astrology, chemistry, art and iconography, saints’ biographies and of course, Buddhist religion and philosophy. Even Indian texts which have been lost in their original forms can be reconstructed from their Tibetan translations.
The conference is jointly organized by the University of Delhi and the Central University for Tibetan Studies, Varanasi.
