author
H. A. (Heinrich August) Jäschke
1817–1883
A Moravian missionary turned pioneering Tibetologist, he spent years in the western Himalayas and became one of the first European scholars to study Tibetan with real depth. His dictionaries, grammar, and Bible translations helped open Tibetan language and literature to later readers and researchers.
1 Audiobook
Tibetan Grammar
by H. A. (Heinrich August) Jäschke
About the author
Born in Herrnhut, Saxony, on May 17, 1817, Heinrich August Jäschke was trained within the Moravian Church and later worked as a missionary in Kyelang, in the Lahaul region of North India, from 1857 to 1868. During those years he immersed himself in Tibetan language and culture, combining missionary work with serious linguistic study.
Jäschke is best remembered for the scholarship that grew out of that work. He produced influential Tibetan language tools, including a grammar and a Tibetan-English dictionary, and he also translated parts of the Bible into Tibetan. His work earned him a lasting reputation as an important early Western scholar of Tibetan.
He died in Herrnhut on September 24, 1883. Though he began as a missionary, his legacy reaches far beyond that role: his careful language study remained useful to students of Tibetan long after his lifetime.