Kolkata, Dec 5 (IANS): Rashtrapati Award winner and renowned scholar in Buddhist studies Suniti Kumar Pathak died on Thursday at his residence in Bolpur-Santiniketan in West Bengal's Birbhum district.

He was 101.

Pathak was associated with Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore-founded Visva Bharati University in the Department of Indo-Tibetan Studies. He also served as the dean of the university from 1972 to 1986.

He served as guest faculty in the Department of Buddhist Studies at the University of Calcutta and for Buddhist and Indo-Tibetan Studies at many universities in India and abroad.

Besides the Rashtrapati Award, his academic career has been decorated by the Manjushree Award and Sahitya Parishad Award. From Mahabodhi Society, he received the title of 'Bhanak' (reciter of religion).

An author of around 200 books, he has command over nine languages. After graduating from Sanskrit College in Kolkata, he studied Pali (Mahajan Goshthi) at the University of Calcutta.

After his post-graduation, he joined the University of Calcutta as a research scholar in the Department of Sino-Tibetan Studies. At one point, he even served in the Indian Army as a language teacher, translator and interpreter.

He retired from Visva Bharati University in 1984 and resided in Bolpur-Santiniketan till his death.

Some of the famous books authored by him include 'Tantrik Tradition in the Himalayas and Tibet' and 'Bilingual Glossary of the Nagananda', among others. He widely travelled in the remote Himalayan villages collecting field notes for his research and books.

The most interesting thing was that despite being offered a vehicle by the government for his research-related fieldwork, he refused to accept it. Instead, he preferred travelling in remote Himalayan villages on foot to collect field notes.