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Synopsis Born in A. D. 1575, Lama Taranatha wrote this book in 1608. V. Vasil'ev of St. Petersburg translated it from Tibetan into Russian in April 1869 followed by the German translation of the text by Schiefner also published from St. Petersburg in October of the same year. In view of the profound importance of the work for understanding Indian history in general and of the history of Buddhism in particular, modern scholars have extensively using specially Schiefner's German translation of the History for decades and this for varied purposes. Dr. Niharranjan Ray, as Director of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Simla, assigned to Dr. Alaka Chattopadhyaya the work of directly translating it into English from its Tibetan original. In carrying out the assignment, she naturally sought collaboration of her own Tibetan teacher, Lama Chimpa. After the English rendering was prepared, Professor Niharranjan Ray wanted it to be edited by Professor Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya. Thus edited, the present English translation was published by the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Simla in 1970. The present edition of the work has the additional attraction of carrying a Foreword to it by no less an eminent Tibetologist than Professor S. Rinpoche, Director of the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Samath, Varanasi.