(Source: Permanent International Altaistic Conference Newsletter No. 5 (1970), pp. 4–5)

Professor Dr. Lokesh Chandra writes from New Delhi: (11/27/[19]69):

“Professor Bira, Member of the Parliament of the Mongolian People’s Republic, was in Delhi to represent his country at the meeting of the Inter-parliamentary Union, in November 1969.

He visited the International Academy of Indian Culture on 9 November 1969 to get acquainted with research being carried out here.

Professor Bira was fascinated by the Tibetan Version of the travels of Hsüan Chang, the Prince of Pilgrims to India. This was translated by Gung Gombojab, the erudite Mongolian savant of the 17th Century. Gombojab was also a great Mongolian Sanskritist and he made new translations of Tibetan and even Sanskrit texts into Chinese for the Manchu edition of the Chinese Tripitaka. Professor Bira will collaborate with the International Academy of Indian Culture in preparing an edition of the Rgy a-nag chos-hbyun or history of Buddhism in China, with an extensive biography of its author Gombojab in the introduction.

Professor Bira has written chapters on the cultural history of Mongolia in the three-volume History of the Mongol People, published in Ulanbator. Therein, he has given a survey of handbooks of Indic Scripts for writing Sanskrit mantras, which are technically known by their Tantric name ali-kali: ali ‘the row of a or vowels’ and kali ‘the row of ka or consonants’. These were initiated by Ayusi Gushi, who compiled five ali-kali, as we are informed by Gombojab in his Mongolian PostScript to the Ali-Kali made famous in his edition by Professor Raghu Vira, published in Lahore in 1938. Professor Lokesh Chandra is engaged on its new edition which will be supplemented by new ali-kali texts from Leningrad, Ulanbator and Ulanude. Professor Bira will help Professor Lokesh Chandra in tracing out new ali-kali which are richly represented at the State Library at Ulanbator.

Professor Bira saw the research being done at the Academy in bringing out three illustrated xylographs pertaining to Ayurveda. They depict the herbs, materia medica of the zoological and mineralogical world, surgical instruments and anatomy. In this connection, he spoke of the need for collaboration with Mongolian scientists working in the Section of Mongolian-Tibetan Medicine, Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Biology, Academy of Sciences, Ulanbator. Mr. Haidup heads this section. He has written a dissertation on the history of ancient Mongolian medicine. He is assisted by a well-known traditional doctor who holds the degree of Manrampa (sman-rams-pa). They are also preparing ayurvedic medicines. Dr. Haidup would be interested in Professor Lokesh Chandra’s edition of Yuthok’s medical work.

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Professor Bira further said that two young Buryat postgraduates are working at the State University, Ulanbator, on the Amdo chojung or history of the Amdo province of Sinkiang. Professor Semichov and others of the Siberian branch of the Academy of Sciences are translating into Russian the complete chojung of Amdo.

Professor Bira’s colleague, Dr. Gugdir, Head of the Department of Philosophy and Law, Institute of History, Ulanbator, is keen to get materials on Buddhist philosophy.

The 50th anniversary of the Mongolian People’s Republic will be held on 11 July 1971. On this occasion Professor Shirendib, the President of the Academy of Sciences, is making preparations for the second International Conference of Mongolists at Ulanbator. A scientific report of special interest to Indian research will be made by Professor Damdin Suren on fragments of a trilingual Tibetan-Mongolian-Kalmuk version of the Ramayana, discovered in a manuscript collection at Leningrad. Professor Bira has invited Professor Lokesh Chandra to represent the International Academy of Indian Culture at the Conference.

Academician Rinchen of Ulanbator visited the Museum of Kizil, which has an interesting collection of Tibetan blockprints and manuscripts from the private and monastic libraries of Tannu-Tuva. It has preserved about four thousand Tibetan texts, most of which have not been catalogued. Rinchen also saw at the library of the Tuva Institute of Language, Literature, and History the unknown manuscript of the Mongol translation of the Üliger-ün dalai made by a Khalkha Mongol Buddhist monk, who was one of the disciples of Khalkha Jaya Pandita. Professor Lokesh Chandra will bring out a facsimile edition of this unknown manuscript. Academician Rinchen is Publishing the Girat translation of Üliger-ün dalai made by Oirat Jaya Pandita Oghtorghuin dalai.”