Namgyal Research Institute of Tibetology

Namgyal Institute of Tibetology (NIT) is a

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

museum in

Gangtok Gangtok is a city, municipality, the capital and the largest populated place of the Indian state of Sikkim. It is also the headquarters of the East Sikkim district, Gangtok District. Gangtok is in the eastern Himalayas, Himalayan range, at an e ...

Sikkim Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Siligur ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, named after the 11th

Chogyal of Sikkim The Chogyal (" Dharma Kings", ) were the monarchs of the former Kingdom of Sikkim, which belonged to the Namgyal dynasty. The Chogyal was the absolute monarch of Sikkim from 1642 to 1975, when the monarchy was abolished and the Sikkimese peopl ...

Sir Tashi Namgyal Tashi Namgyal ( Sikkimese: ; Wylie: ''Bkra-shis Rnam-rgyal'') (26 October 1893 – 2 December 1963) was the ruling Chogyal (King) of Sikkim from 1914 to 1963. He was the son of Thutob Namgyal. He was the first independent king of Sikkim. Biog ...

. The institute employs researchers and one of its new research programs is a project which seeks to document the social history of Sikkim's approximated 60 monasteries and record this on a computer. Another project seeks to

digitize DigitizationTech Target. (2011, April). Definition: digitization. ''WhatIs.com''. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/digitization is the process of converting information into a digital (i.e. computer- ...

and document old and rare photographs of Sikkim for knowledge distribution. Khempo Dhazar served as head of the Sheda, a

Nyingma Nyingma (literally 'old school') is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It is also often referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), "order of the ancient translations". The Nyingma school is founded on the first lineages and transl ...

college attached to the Institute, for six years.

History

The foundation stone of the museum was laid by the

14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...

on 10 February 1957. On October 1, 1958,

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

, the then

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...

, inaugurated the Sikkim Research Institute of Tibetology.

, the then Maharaja of Sikkim, changed its name into the "Namgyal Research Institute of Tibetology".

References

External links

* * 1957 establishments in India Buildings and structures in Sikkim Culture of Sikkim Gangtok Museums in Sikkim Tibetology Tourist attractions in Sikkim {{India-museum-stub Himalayan studies