Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Varanasi

The preservation of tradition and culture is becoming a necessity today. It is only through culture that one can know the societal values and prosperity of a nation. Keeping this in view, the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies (CIHTS), a Deemed University was founded in Sarnath, Varanasi in 1967. It functions as an autonomous organization under the Union Ministry of Culture. The CIHTS was founded by Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru in consultation with Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai of Lama, with the aim of educating Tibetan youths in exile and Himalayan border students as well as with the aim of retranslating into Sanskrit and translating into Hindi and other modern Indian languages lost Indo-Buddhist Sanskrit texts that now exist only in Tibetan.

The university attracts a large number of students from many regions of the Himalayas, considered as family coming from Kinnaur, Lahaul, Spiti, Ladakh, Monpas from Arunachal. Students from Nepal include Sherpas, Lamas and many more from the bordering Tibetan regions of Mustang and Dolpo. Students also come from Bhutan and Mongolia. 

The university also offers courses in Tibetan medicine (Sowa Rigpa), Tibetan Astrology, and Fine Arts. The five minor fields of studies, which are primarily the legacy of Nalanda, Odantapuri, vikramshila and others of ancient India. Following the tradition, interaction and research work with the modem disciplines of science and other fields are to be pursued.