WINNIPEG, CANADA, December 2011: Klaus Klostermaier is passing on his collection of sacred texts and commentaries to local Hindus. The collection will be housed at the Hindu Temple at 999 St. Anne’s Rd., as part of the Dr. Dakshinamurti Academy of Hindu Studies.
Klostermeier is a researcher on Hinduism and Indian history and culture. He obtained a PhD in philosophy from the Gregorian University in Rome in 1961, and another in “Ancient Indian History and Culture” from the University of Bombay in 1969. He was nominated in 1998 a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and was Head of the Department of Religion at the University of Manitoba and director of an “Asian Studies Center.”
This gift of primary sources, commentaries and manuscripts, including one written on palm leaves, bumps up the academy’s library to become the largest collection of literature on Hinduism in Western Canada, says the society’s president.
Klostermaier has long been fascinated by the people and culture of India. The German-born, Catholic-raised academic spent the early years of his career in India, before moving to Winnipeg in 1970 to take up a post in the religion department at the University of Manitoba.
“I was always interested in India. I don’t know why. (Maybe) a previous life,” explains the soft-spoken academic, who retired in 1999 but still teaches an undergraduate course in science and religion.
After a lifetime of studying Hinduism, and authoring nearly two dozen academic and popular books on the topic, including several used widely in university classes, Klostermaier is still intrigued by this mix of ancient culture, philosophy and religion practiced by nearly a billion people.
Having Klostermaier’s extensive collection of Sanskrit and English books, including a 50-volume set called Sacred Books of the East, is a valuable asset for the city’s 18,000 Hindus, says Ganga Dakshinamurti, volunteer librarian for the Hindu Society, whose family donated funds to establish the academy.