Ranchi: It was a homecoming of a different kind as the mortal remains of beloved Belgian priest-scholar Father Camille Bulcke (September 1, 1909-August 18, 1982) returned to his adoptive hometown here on Tuesday, nearly 36 years after his demise.

Dubbed India's most famous Christian Hindi scholar, Padma Bhushan Father Bulcke who came to India in 1935 became an Indian citizen in 1951 and settled in Ranchi, where he devoted his life to the scholarship of Sanskrit and Hindi.

Following his death due to gangrene in New Delhi in August 1982, he was buried at Nicholson Cemetery near Kashmere Gate there. On Tuesday, a casket containing his remains reached Manresa House, the centre of activities of archdiocese of Catholic Church on Purulia Road, now renamed Camille Bulcke Path in his memory, from Birsa Munda Airport.

Senior church functionaries, priests and nuns, his admirers and students accompanied the casket, which was kept at Manresa House on Monday. Prayer services and speeches on the priest's life and work were also held.

On Wednesday, the casket will be taken in a procession to nearby St Xavier's College where it will be placed beneath the pedestal with a white bust of the scholar-priest.

"Cardinal Telesphore Toppo and Father Vernon D'Cunha, regional assistant to superior general (Rome), will be present at the event," said college principal Nicholas Tete.

Asked why the casket took three-and-a-half decades to arrive, XISS director Father Alex Ekka, among those who received the casket at Ranchi airport said the church and civil society had always been keen on bringing Father Bulcke's remains to Ranchi, but finally Father Ranjit Tigga of Indian Social Institute, New Delhi, managed to complete the formalities.

A true liberal, Father Bulcke, who received the Padma Bhushan in 1974 for his contribution to Hindi, is still respected by people across faiths and remembered for his two outstanding works - Ramkatha : Utpatti aur Vikas, and an English-Hindi dictionary.

His life is as fascinating as his work. A trained civil engineer, Father Bulcke joined the Jesuit order as a 21-year-old in 1930 and came to India in 1935 after his theosophical training in the Netherlands.

After a brief stay in Darjeeling, he shifted to Gumla where he taught maths. He learnt Hindi there.

His love for Hindi was evident from the start. In one of his essays, he wrote how he was surprised and pained to find educated people considered it a matter of pride to speak English and he resolved to "master the language of the people".

In 1942, Father Bulcke git his bachelor's degree in Sanskrit from Calcutta University and went to Allahabad University for his master's and doctoral degrees.

He joined St Xavier's College, Ranchi, in 1949 to head its departments of Hindi and Sanskrit but had to leave in a couple of years as he became deaf.

His entire life became devoted to research and writing and he went on to write some 30 books. He received the Padma Bhushan in 1974 for his contribution to Hindi.