Lama Chimpa
Lama Chimpa on retirement, Kalimpong, 1990s
Professor Lama Chimpa was born in 1920 in Inner Mongolia. Studied Buddhist Theology and Philosophy for
eight years in the Dre-pung Monastery, Lhasa, Tibet. He came to India in 1950. Lama Chimpa taught in
different institutions in India for 33 years, until he retired in 1994. Professor Lama Chimpa is knowledgeable
in seven languages: Mongolian (mother tongue), Tibetan, Hindi, English, Nepali, Bengali and Sanskrit.
Lama Chimpa did research works on various aspects of Buddhism as well as Tibetan and Mongolian studies. Some of his
books included: Taranatha's Buddhism in India, translated jointly by A. Chattopadhyaya and Lama Chimpa; A Spoken Mongol-English Dictionary by Lama Chimpa; The Biography of Atisha Dipamkara translated from Tibetan jointly by Lama Chimpa and A. Chattopadhyaya. He has about 40 published articles written in
English, Hindi, Bengali and Tibetan, on different topics on Buddhism, as well as Mongolian and Tibetan studies.
The longest teaching position he occupied was at Visva Bharati University in Shanti Niketan, near Kolkata
(Calcutta). He worked as the head of Indo-Tibetan Studies at the university, which was
founded by Rabindranath Tagor in the early 20th century.
Lama Chimpa lives in Kalimpong with his wife.
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