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INTRODUCTION
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tunity to study Tibetan. At the request of the Indian Government, he went four times to Tibet during 1878-1883. He was sent by the Government of India also to Peking to assist them in diplomatic matters connected with Tibet. His journeys to Tibet helped him much in various ways in enriching his knowledge of the language of the country. He wrote not only a great number of papers dealing with different subjects connected with Tibet, which will be found in the volumes of the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal of that time, but also many books on them. He edited many Tibetan works most interesting and important of them being Bhadrakalpadruma (Dpag.bsm.ljon.bzan, 5519.495 74 126 ) of Su m.. pa. mk han.po ye.ses.d pal. ḥ by or which is not a translation, but an independent book giving the history of Buddhism in India and the matters connected therewith. He edited also the celebrated work of Kșcmendra of Kashmir, the Bodhisattvāvadānakalpalatā (Byan.chub.sems.dpaḥi.rtogs.brjod.dpag.bsam.hkhri.śin, (95*39* 55918. 59.Ě552199 9 5) in its both versions, Sanskrit and Tibetan. His most valuable work with regard to Tibetan studies is, however, the Tibetan-English Dictionary (1899) which is the best ever published, it has not yet been surpassed by any one. Subsequently it was revised (1902) by Graham Sandberg and A. William Heyde.
It may be noted here that a good number of Tibetan books
