He received an M.A. in art history from University of Southern California with a thesis on "Nepali paintings and the Rājput style with special reference to the paintings at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He joined Scripps College in Claremont, California as a visiting professor in 1981, and finally received his Ph.D from Claremont Graduate University (then Graduate School) in 2002, with a thesis on "Images in context : classification of religious art"