Rabin Man Shakya
When Ivan P. Minayev travelled Nepal in 1875, the Himalayan kingdom was totally isolated from the outside world and was in the grip of the despotic Rana oligarchs, whereas Russia was ruled by Czars.
Ivan Minayev who was one of the few Russian Sanskritists (scholar of Sanskrit) at that time was also an expert on Pali language.
When Ivan P. Minayev travelled Nepal in 1875, the Himalayan kingdom was totally isolated from the outside world and was in the grip of the despotic Rana oligarchs, whereas Russia was ruled by Czars.
Ivan Minayev who was one of the few Russian Sanskritists (scholar of Sanskrit) at that time was also an expert on Pali language.
Minayev who was the first Russian Nepalogist (expert and researcher on Nepal) was also a member of Russian Geographical Society.
Very few Westerners had travelled Nepal during the period of despotic Rana oligarchy and one of them was Minayev whose visit was, however, confined to the Kathmandu valley only by the Rana rulers.
Minayev was not just a Sanskritist and a scholar of Pali language, he was a widely known Russian scholar on Buddhism. In fact, a seed of Nepal-Russia Buddhist ties was planted by Minayev still in 1875.
