Dear Madhav,

Nice anecdote about Pandit Jagannatha Upadhyaya giving a talk in Sanskrit at the University of Michigan and you translating it for the audience. I just found in his Academic Profile published in Śramaṇa Vidyā: Studies in Buddhism, Prof. Jagannath Upadhyaya Commemoration Volume (1987), that the title of this talk was: "Importance of Buddhism in Indological Studies." I wonder if his talk and your translation of it was recorded. If so, I would love to hear it.

He also gave a talk in Sanskrit at University of California, Berkeley. Robert Goldman translated it for the audience. It was recorded and was (is still?) available from the Language Lab there. He spoke slowly and clearly; a joy to listen to for those (like me) who are not accustomed to spoken Sanskrit.

I personally feel much admiration for him, and have much appreciation for what he did. It was he who undertook and launched the project to publish the great Vimalaprabhā commentary on the Kālacakra-tantra. The editor of his commemoration volume, N. H. Samtani, called him the first Bauddha Ācārya of modern India ("In Memorium").

Best regards,

David Reigle
Colorado, U.S.A.


On Sat, Apr 4, 2020 at 1:29 PM Madhav Deshpande <mmdesh@umich.edu> wrote:
Dear David,

     Your scan of the edition by Jagannatha Upadhyaya triggered my memory of his visit to the University of Michigan probably sometime in the 1980s.  He gave a talk in Sanskrit and I translated it into English for the audience.  Best,

Madhav

Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies

[Residence: Campbell, California, USA]