Background
RERIKH, Yuriy was born on August 16, 1902 in village Okulovka, Nizhniy Novgorod Province. Son of the painter N.K. Rerikh.
RERIKH, Yuriy was born on August 16, 1902 in village Okulovka, Nizhniy Novgorod Province. Son of the painter N.K. Rerikh.
Studied philology at the world’s leading centers of Oriental studies. Studied under P. Pelliot, South. Levy, A. Maspero and V.F. Minorskiy.
1920 went to United States of America with his father. 1923-1957 lived and worked in India. 1925-1929 took part in his father’s Centr Asian expedition to Tibet and Sinkiang.
Then took part in other sci expeditions to China and Mongolia. 1930-1942 director, Institute of Himalayan Studies, Hulu (Himachal-Pradesh). Taught Tibetan, Chinese and Sanskrit at higher educational establishments in India.
1957 returned to Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics to head History of Religion and Philosophy Section, Indian Department, Institute of Oriental Studies, Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics Academy of Sciences. (from 1960 Institute of Asian Peoples). Supervised Tibetan studies in Moscow, Leningrad and Ulan-Ude and taught Sanskrit, Tibetan and Vedic at higher educational establishments in these cities.
Specialized in Tibetan studies but was also a leading expert on Indian culture. Wrote works on ethnography, material culture of peoples of Centr Asia, Tibetan history and linguistics, iconography, the Geserkhan epic (“Geseriade”), Buddhist philosophy and religion, Indo-Chinese cultural links. Translated into Russian the 15th-Century major Tibetan historical work “Blue Tepther” (Blue Annals).
Spoke Tibetan, Sanskrit, Hindi, Mongolian, Chinese, Iranian and other Oriental languages.
Member, Royal Asian Social, London. Member, Asian Social, Bengal. Member, American Archeological and Ethnographical Societies
Member, Parisian Geographical Social.