GEORGE ROERICH’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE CREATION OF “THE TRANSCULTURAL SPACE” IN KALIMPONG IN THE 1950s

Abstract

The article was inspired by several diary entries, as well as some unpublished letters of George Roerich. In a letter dated February 25, 1949, upon arrival in Kalimpong, G. Roerich writes to D. Rani and S. Roerich that one of the two people meeting him in the city was Mr. Tarchin. The unpublished letters of George Roerich to the Tibetan D. Tarchin were found in the Archive of Dorje Tarchin (Columbia University, USA). The research of G. Roerich’s and his colleagues’ correspondence, as well as the analysis of the memoir and historical-biographical cycle of Buddhologists and orientalists living in Kalimpong at the same time with G. Roerich, together with various Himalayan periodicals publications, allow us to get an idea of the previously vague aspects of G. Roerich’s activities from 1950 to 1957: Those being his public lectures, exhibitions vernissages, participation in religious and national holidays, membership in various public organizations. George Roerich’s contribution to the shaping of the “transcultural space” can be determined not only due to his cultural, academic and educational activities aimed at consolidating the local community in Kalimpong, but also by creating prerequisites for the formation of intercultural dialogue underlying the Buddhist tradition.