Dr. Gaya Charan Tripathi (Agra, 1939-), honoured with ‘President’s Certificate of Merit’ is a renowned Indologist and Sanskrit scholar. Did his Master’s in Sanskrit from the University of Agra (1959) with Gold Medal standing 1st class 1st in the university. Ph.D. on Vedic Deities from the same university (1962). Advanced study in Germany on DAAD’s scholarship of Latin, Comparative Philology, History of Religions and Indology at the University of Freiburg, obtained D.Phil. therefrom in 1966 for his thesis on the Vamana-legend of Visnu. D.Litt. from the University of Allahabad on his work pertaining to the Ritual of the Jagannatha Temple of Puri (1986).
Lecturer/Associate Professor at the Universities of Aligarh, Udaipur and Freiburg (twice). Principal, Ganganath Jha Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapitha, Allahabad from 1977 to 2001, thereafter Professor/Head of the Kalakosh Division of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi from 2002 to 2009. In between Visiting or Full Professor at the Universities of Tbingen (twice), Heidelberg, Berlin, Leipzig and Marburg of Germany and Visiting Noted Scholar/Professor (twice) to the University of British Columbia (Canada).
Writes in English, Hindi, German and Sanskrit. Edited more than 20 Sanskrit texts, 7 original books and aroung 110 Papers. Subjects of interest: Vedic and Puranic studies, Agamas and Tantras, Sahitya, Epigraphy and Codicology.
At present National Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, working on the Monastic Traditions in Buddhism and Christianity.