Born in Ceylon of a Tamil father and an English mother, Ananda Coomaraswamy (1877-1947) went on to become a distinguished philosopher, art historian and scholar of Indian culture. He was the curator of Indian art at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and was recognized as one of the most significant interpreters of traditional Hindu and Buddhist thought in the twentieth century. He played a pivotal role in the resurgence of interest in Indian philosophy, art and mythology in the West. His works, including The Dance of Shiva (1918), Introduction to the Study of Indian Art (1927), and Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists (1928), are regarded as masterpieces that bridge Eastern and Western intellectual traditions.