11 Jun 2004

Namgyal Institute of Tibetology (NIT)
Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Gantok, Sikkim, India.
Self-description: "The site on which the institute was established was donated by the late Chogyal (king) of Sikkim Sir Tashi Namgyal in memory of his departed son Paljor Namgyal. The foundation stone of the institute was laid by the 14th Dalai Lama on the 10th of February 1957 and the institute was declared open by the late Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on the 1st of October 1958. [...]
In the summer of 2002, the NIT's new director, Mr Tashi Densapa, has undertaken to expand the institute, restructure its research wing and open its doors to international collaboration. This will be done through the creation of new research programs, monthly lecture series, seminars, language classes, fellowship programs, publications and collaboration with foreign scholars. It is hoped that the institute will actively promote Tibetan studies, including its sub-field of Sikkimese studies, and become a dynamic research centre in the Eastern Himalayas. In order to help him achieve this, Mr Densapa has appointed Tashi Tsering (Amnye Machen Institute, Dharamsala) as part-time Consultant and Anna Balikci Denjongpa (PhD London) as Research-Coordinator.
Among its new research programs, the NIT's Research Officers have undertaken a project to document the social history of Sikkim's 60-odd monasteries in order to publish an illustrated book on the subject. A second project proposes to locate, digitalize and document old and rare photographs of Sikkim, both in India and abroad. The aim is to create a digital image data bank at the NIT and organize a permanent photographic exhibition.The NIT also wishes to establish a visual anthropology project in order to produce an enduring digital record of Sikkim's vanishing indigenous and Buddhist cultures.
An international inter-disciplinary seminar on Sikkim will be held at the institute sometime 2004 in honour of famous Sikkimese scholars in Tibetan studies. Scholars interested to participate should contact the NIT on: nitsikkim[use"@"]yahoo.co.in. It is hoped that the seminar will generate interest in Sikkimese studies and facilitate the establishment of an international association for Sikkimese studies based at the institute."
Site contents [several sections of the site are, at present, under under construction - ed.]: * About us; * Tourist information; * Museum; * Library [The library holds over 60,000 titles consisting of Tibetan translations of canonical and non-canonical works from their original Sanskrit or Pali, as well as tantric texts belonging to the four sects of Tibetan Buddhism - ed.]; * Publications [the site lists contents of the 'Bulletin of Tibetology' published twice a year since 1965 ed.]; * Research; * Lecture Series; * Language Classes; * Seminars; * Contact us.
URL http://www.tibetology.com/
Internet Archive http://web.archive.org/web/*/www.tibetology.com/
Link reported by: Anna Balikci (nitsikkim[use"@"]yahoo.co.in)
* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]: Corporate Info.
* Publisher [academic - business - govt. - library/museum - NGO - other]: Academic
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]: Useful
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000 - under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 30