American Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman, professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies at Columbia University, and co-founder and president of Tibet House US in New York City, has been named as a recipient of India’s Padma Shri award for literature and education for his contributions to Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies.

Indian president Ram Nath Kovind approved the Padma Shri award for 118 recipients, which included Robert Thurman among six foreign awardees on 25 January, a day before the country celebrates India’s Republic Day.

The Padma Shri medal, instituted in 1954, is India’s fourth highest civilian award and is presented by the Indian government each year on India’s Republic Day, 26 January.

The father of Hollywood actress Uma Thurman, Thurman is the Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies in the Department of Religion at New York’s Columbia University. He is also president of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies at Columbia University.

Thurman, born 1941, has earned renown for his translations and explications of Tibetan Buddhist religious and philosophical literature. He has written, edited, and translated several books on Tibetan Buddhism, and notably translated the Vimalakirti Sutra from the Tibetan Kagyur into English. In 1987, at the behest of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Thurman cofounded the non-profit organization Tibet House US in New York City, with actor Richard Gere and composer Philip Glass.