Catalogue of the Mongol Tanjur (Set of 2 Parts in Vol: l-IV)

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State Prize laureate of Mongolia, Member of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences (Academician), Doctor of Mongolian Linguists. Professor, scholar and writer Byambyn Rinchen was born to B. Radnaajav at a place called 'Bulsarai' in Altanbulag soum, Selenge aimag on 21 November 1905.

Rinchen, at the age of 7, became a pupil of a learned man called Biligsaikhan and learnt Mongolian and Manchurian languages and in 1914 he was enrolled as a student of a preparatory class at a Russian school at Deed Shivee, where he became a Russian language student of Kalenov, a Russian who served as a Manchurian language translator at the Frontier Russian Commission, and this is how he became a language student.

In 1924, Rinchen became a student at the Institute of Oriental Languages in Leningrad, Soviet Union, and from 1925 to 1927, he studied under such eminent scholars as B. Ya. Vladimirtsov, a Mongolist at the Laboratory of Phonetics of the Leningrad University and the Asia Museum of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, S. F. Oldenburg, a Indologist, F. 1. Sherbatskoi, a Tibetologist. Barthold, a historian and Orientalist, K. K. Yudakhin, Turkish language professor, scholar L. V. Sherba, N. Ya. Marr, a linguist and historian, S. A. Kozin, a Mongolist and V. M. Alekseyev, a Sinologist.

Rinchen's long journey as a researcher and scholar began after he returned home from the Soviet Union, Initially, he worked as a research scholar in folk lore and language at the Literary Committee (a predecessor of the present-day Academy of Sciences), then as a researcher at the Academy of Sciences and then as a head of Department of Linguistics from 1927 to 1936.

From 1936 to 1937, he served as responsible Secretary at the State Publishing House, then as a literary staff at the 'Unen' (Truth) newspaper, a professor and head of the Department at the Mongolian National University, and later as the Director of the State Publishing House from 1942 to 1958. From 1958 to 1977, until his death on 4" March 1977 at the age of 72, Rinchen worked as the Director of the Institute of Science and Higher Education Agency, first as a researcher, a senior researcher and then director of the Institute of Languages of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences.

A statue of Byambyn Rinchen was unveiled in front of the National Library of Mongolia in 2005 commemorating his birth centenary.

Byambyn Rinchen defended his doctor's degree in linguistics at the Academy of Sciences of Hungary with his monograph called 'Mongolian Grammar. In 1958 he received the title of Honorary Professor of the Somali-Urgo Society, and in 1961, when the Mongolian Academy of Sciences was established, Byambyn Rinchen was one of the first seven full members (academician) of the Academy. In 1965, the Permanent International Altaistic Conference (PIAC) awarded him its Gold Medal and in 1970, Rinchen was elected as an honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The same year, the Polish writers' association awarded him with an Honorary Certificate and its silver medal.

B. Rinchen was conferred the State Prize of Mongolia for his historical screenplay called 'Tsogt Taiji in 1945. Byambyn Rinchen, among foreign Mongolists, is regarded as "an outstanding scholar of contemporary Mongolia with multiple and diverse skills and knowledge." Pre-eminent Indian scholar Raghu Vira (1902-1963) had qualified B. Rinchen as "the unofficial envoy representing the greatness and mightiness of Mongolia's history and culture." "Catalogue du Tanjur Mongol Imprime" written by academician B. Rinchen was printed in New Delhi, India in 1974.

(Academician Prof. Dr. Rinchen. Catalogue du Tanjur Mongol imprime, New Delhi, 1974, Satapitaka Series, Indo- Asian Literatures, Volume 33). This catalogue contains the names of 2,635 sutras. This catalogue contains 3205 texts.

The descriptive catalogue of the Mongol Tanjur by Prof. Byambyn Rinchen is published in two parts containing four volumes. Its basis is the version of Tanjur which was translated during the reign of Emperor Ch'ien-lung, with the assistance of older translations from the Yüan period (1206-1368). The Mongol Tanjur was printed in 225 volumes on the Imperial command between AD 1742 and 1749. Prof. Rinchen copied the colophons of the Tanjur in Mongolian script followed by their Roman transcription.

The catalogue gives tome numbers, their titles, folio numbers, names of the translators, text numbers, their folios. followed by Sanskrit titles in Devanagari script, and Mongol, Sanskrit and Tibetan titles of the texts in Roman. The colophons are Romanized from Mongol. The catalogue will acquaint the world with the grand and mighty literature of which any nation could be proud.

Every volume of the Tanjur ends with a Sanskrit dhāranī. The readings of the titles and the colophons were corrected by Prof. Raghuvira and later by Prof. Lokesh Chandra. Prof. Rinchen added notes in French about the errors that he found in the carvings. It is edited by Prof. Shashibala, Dean, Bhavan's KM Munshi Centre for Indology, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, New Delhi.

Prof. Dr. Shashibala, a renowned Indologist, Dean, KM Munshi Centre for Indology, Acharya Raghuvira Chair at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Delhi Kendra, specializes in India's Cultural linkages with Asian Countries, History of Arts, Buddhism and Sanskrit. As a Research Professor at the International Academy of Indian Culture, New Delhi, founded by Prof. Raghu Vira, she has authored and edited twenty-five books and wrote 75 research papers. She taught at the National Museum Institute, a deemed University, New Delhi.

She is a founding member of International Buddhist Confederation; President- International Council for Cultural Studies, Bharat; Member- Mission High Level Committee, Indian Knowledge Systems; Joint Secretary- Antar Rashtriya Sahyaog Parishad; Member Anusandhan Prakoshtha, Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal. Her passion for cultural relations with Mongolia goes back to 1967. Later, she was trained by Prof. Lokesh Chandra assisting him in the printing process of Mongol Kanjur. She coordinated for the smooth and swift execution of presenting the sacred Kanjur to Mongol monasteries. Publication of Catalogue of Tanjur by Late Prof. Rinchen is another initiative of hers.

As a researcher she has explored and documented relics of Asian art and culture, preserved abroad including Mongolia. Offering courses on Indian culture, organizing international conferences, curating exhibitions, lectures, TV interviews etc. are highly acclaimed. Working with the ICCR, Vivekananda International Foundation and the IGNCA etc. add to her credentials. She was invited as a Guest Professor by Bristol University, UK, and Ural Federal University, Russia. She is a recipient of several national and international honors and awards.

My father, Prof. Dr. Raghu Vira loved the great Mongolian people in flesh and blood and adored their hordes who had raced from the shores of the Amur and the Baikal to the shores of the Volga and the Caspian. He was enchanted by their grassy expanses, and even their double-humped camels caught his fancy: See yonder the double-humped, Majestic, slow-paced, padded-feet Camels carry their bulky burdens Without a fancy or a fairy to cheer them. The yester-years of the Mongols were enshrined in him and speaking at the Academy of Sciences of the Mongolian People's Republic he mused: "I, a busy bee, Thirsty for the rich honey, Preserved in your flower's bowl, Have flown from my distant hive to perch on the petal And sip a fat drop And garner it in my archive.

1, a roaming speck of a cloud, Longed so long, ever so long, A whole quarter of a century, To be wafted to the wonder-land, The sunny land of grass, And drink at your cool lakes a satisfying draught.

Après mes études à l'Institut des Langues Orientales Vivantes de Leningrad le Présidium de l'Académie des Lettres Mongole Mongyol Arad Ulus-un Sudur Bičig- ün Küriyeleng m'avait proposé en 1927 de faire des catalogues descriptifs du Kanjur et du Tanjur mongols imprimés pour des historiens futurs mongols de notre litterature si riche et grande. En acceptant cette proposition si flatteuse pour moi je travaillai avec ferveur de jeunesse enthousiaste dans la Bibliothèque de l'Académie fondée par les savants mongolisants MM. Jamyang d'Ongqud et Ts. Žamcarano de Sarayid.