Shanti Swarup Ambardar was born in Srinagar in 1931. He completed his education at the Sri Pratap College Srinagar, and earned his MSc degree from Aligarh Muslim University in 1952. He served, first with the Intelligence Bureau, then with the London-based Mill Hill Missionaries at St Joseph's College Baramulla, and subsequently with the Jammu & Kashmir State Education department. 

 

During his three decade-long teaching career, Professor Ambardar has taught thousands of college students, in Baramulla, Sopore and Srinagar. He left Srinagar in 1990, as one of the Kashmiri Pandits who fled the Valley in the wake of religiously-driven violence and militancy.

 

For the last twenty years, he has been volunteering with the Vishwa Bharati Women's Welfare Institution, which currently manages ten schools in Delhi, Jammu and Srinagar. Professor Ambardar has travelled widely in India, Europe, and North America. He has also taught in schools run by Fairfax County, Virginia, U.S.A.