Dear list members,

Our next seminar will be held on Friday  26th June at 6.00 pm at University of Sydney in the SLC Common Room (#524, Brennan McCallum Building).

Our presenter will be Pankaj Mohan

We do hope you can attend
AABS Executive

Pankaj Mohan - Rahul Sankrityayan: An Intellectual Biography
Rahul Sankrityayan (1892-1962) is arguably the most influential exponent of Buddhism in Hindi literature. To provide a unifying narrative of the life and achievements of this complex, courageous and fascinating intellectual of modern India is indeed a formidable task. Rahul left home at an early age, and although he embraced Arya samaj in his adolescent years, he was soon disillusioned with this movement based on restorationist nationalism. He was attracted to Buddhism for its  ‘rationalism’, repudiation of Brahmanical orthodoxy and broader social consciousness. Commencing from the late 1920’s he travelled to different countries in order to deepen his understanding of Buddhism and expand the horizon of his experiences of the contemporary world.  He lived for a year in Sri Lanka in 1927-28, in Tibet in 1929-30, in Europe 1932-33 and in USSR as a colleague of Stcherbatsky at the University of Leningrad. In his subsequent visits to Tibet in 1934 and 1936 he was successful in bringing back a large number of Sanskrit texts, either the original manuscripts or their copies, which lay concealed in the dark dungeons of Tibetan monasteries. 

Rahul wrote “Buddhacarya”, the first authoritative account of the life and philosophy of the Buddha in Hindi , followed by “Baudha Sanskriti (Buddhist Civilization) and “Darsana-digdarsana” a  interpretive text on the Eastern and Western philosophy. He also edited and produced Hindi translations of the Majjhima Nikaya, Diggha Nikaya and Vinay Pitaka,.  His historical novels based on Buddhist themes include “From Volga to Ganga” “ General Sinha” and “Forgotten traveller”. Another notable contribution of Rahul is the creation of a team of young Buddhist reformers such as Bhadant Ananda Kausalyayan and Bhiksu Jagdish Kasyap in India and Gedun Chopel in Tibet who were exposed under his radiating influence to the modern ideas of socialism and democracy.

The organization of the proposed book is as follows;
1. Childhood
2. Life of self-imposed exile:
a) Student of Sanskrit in Various Indian monasteries,
b). Studies in Sri Lanka
c). Travel in disguise to Tibet and Discovery of Sanskrit manuscripts
3. Translator and interpreter of Buddhism
4. Fiction interwoven with Buddhist themes
5. Voyage to the Orient as an advocate of Buddhist pan-Asianism
6. Rahul’s influence in the Contemporary Buddhist World

This intellectual biography of Rahul represents the first major step in our understanding of Rahul’s intellectual development and his contribution to the revival of interest in Buddhism in north India., and is based on his personal writings such as diaries, travelogues, autobiographies and letters, memoirs of his contemporaries and archival sources. ’ None of these material have been previously translated and made available to Western readers.