Klaus K. Klostermaier is a prominent German-Canadian scholar on Hinduism and Indian history and culture. He obtained a PhD in philosophy from the Gregorian University in Rome in 1961, and another in "Ancient Indian History and Culture" from the University of Bombay in 1969.
An ordained Catholic priest, Klostermaier was a missionary and theology teacher for nine years in India in the 1960s. His study of Hindu texts and scholarship, while living with practicing Vaishnava Hindus there, resulted in his Der Hinduismus published in 1965. The expertise he gained then, led to him being appointed advisor to the Papal office, in the Vatican, on non-Christian religions.He joined the Department of Religion at the University of Manitoba in 1970. He received a Rh-Institute Award for "Excellence in the Humanities", of a Templeton Course Award in Science and Religion and an Award for Excellence in Graduate teaching from the University of Manitoba. He was the University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Manitoba in Canada. He served as the Head of its Center for Religion and Culture from 1986 to 1995.In 1998, for his scholarship on Hinduism, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and was Head of the Department of Religion at the University of Manitoba from 1986 to 1997, and director of an "Asian Studies Center", 1990–1995.
He was the Director of Academic Affairs at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies from 1997–1998. A festschrift in his honour was published in 2004. He has spent ten years in India and has researched primary sources in various languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Pali, Latin, Classical Greek, German, Italian and French.
Hinduism: A Beginner's Guide
Hinduism: A Beginner's Guide
