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Indology

 
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Indology is the academic study of the languages and literature, history and cultures of the Indian subcontinent (most specifically including the modern-day states of India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan), and as such a subset of Asian studies.

Indology may also be known as Indic studies or Indian studies, or South Asian studies, although scholars and university administrators sometimes have only partially overlapping interpretations of these terms. The term Indology or (in German) Indologie is often associated with German scholarship, and is used more commonly in departmental titles in German and continental European universities than in the anglophone academy. In the Netherlands the term Indologie was used to designate the study of Indonesian history and culture in preparation for colonial service in the Dutch East Indies.

Specifically, Indology includes the study of Sanskrit literature and Hinduism along with the other Indian religions, Jainism, Buddhism and Pāli literature, and Sikhism. Dravidology is the separate branch dedicated to the Dravidian languages of South India. Some scholars distinguish Classical Indology from Modern Indology, the former more focussed on Sanskrit and other ancient language sources, the latter on contemporary India, its politics and sociology.

Contents

History

The beginnings of Indology date back to the Persian anthropologist and historian Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī (973-1048).[1] In his Kitab fi Tahqiq ma l'il-Hind (Researches on India), he not only recorded the political history of India and military history of India, but also covered India's cultural, scientific, social and religious history in detail.[2] He was also the first to study the anthropology of India, engaging in extensive participant observation with various Indian groups, learning their languages and studying their primary texts, and presenting his findings with objectivity and neutrality using cross-cultural comparisons.[3]

In the wake of 18th century pioneers like Henry Thomas Colebrooke or August Wilhelm Schlegel, Indology as an academic subject emerges in the 19th century, in the context of British India, together with Asian studies in general affected by the romantic Orientalism of the time. The Société Asiatique was founded in 1822, the Royal Asiatic Society in 1824, the American Oriental Society in 1842, and the German Oriental Society (Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft) in 1845, the Japanese Association of Indian and Buddhist Studies [1] in 1949.

Systematic study and editorial activity of Sanskrit literature became possible with the St. Petersburg Sanskrit-Wörterbuch during the 1850s to 1870s. Translations of major Hindu texts in the Sacred Books of the East began in 1879. Otto von Bohtlingk's edition of Panini's grammar appeared in 1887. Max Müller's edition of the Rigveda appeared in 1849-75. In 1897, Sergey Oldenburg launched a systematic edition of key Sanskrit texts, "Bibliotheca Buddhica".

Professional literature and associations

Indologists typically attend conferences such as the American Association of Asian Studies, the American Oriental Society annual conference, the World Sanskrit Conference, and national-level meetings in the UK, Germany, India, Japan, France and elsewhere.

They may routinely read and write in journals such as 'Indo-Iranian Journal [2], Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society [3], Journal of the American Oriental Society [4], Journal asiatique [5], the Journal of the German Oriental Society (ZDMG) [6], Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens [7], Journal of Indian Philosophy [8], Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, "Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies" (Indogaku Bukkyogaku Kenkyu), Bulletin de l'Ecole française d'Extrême Orient [9], and others.

They may be members of such professional bodies as the American Oriental Society, the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, the Société Asiatique, the Deutsche Morgenlāndische Gesellschaft and others.

List of Indologists

The following is a list of prominent academically-qualified Indologists.

Deceased

Living

References

  1. ^ Zafarul Islam Khan, At The Threshold Of A New Millennium – II, The Milli Gazette.
  2. ^ M. S. Khan (1976). "al-Biruni and the Political History of India", Oriens 25, p. 86-115.
  3. ^ Akbar S. Ahmed (1984), "Al-Beruni: The First Anthropologist", RAIN 60: 9-10


Further reading

  • Heinz Bechert, Georg von Simson - Einführung in die Indologie. Stand, Methoden, Aufgaben - ISBN 3-534-05466-0.
  • Jean Filliozat and Louis Renou - L'inde classique - ISBN B0000DLB66.
  • Grundriss der Indo-Arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde, Berlin und Leipzig, Vereinigung wissenschaftlicher verleger, 1920
  • Bryant, Edwin. The Quest for the origins of Vedic culture. (2001) Oxford University Press
  • Chakrabarti, Dilip: Colonial Indology, 1997, Munshiram Manoharlal: New Delhi.
  • Halbfass, W. India and Europe: An Essay in Understanding. SUNY Press, Albany: 1988
  • Edmund Leach. "Aryan Invasions Over Four Millennia. In "Culture Through Time (edited by Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, Stanford University Press, 1990)
  • Gauri Viswanathan, 1989, Masks of Conquest
  • Pollock, Sheldon. Deep Orientalism?: Notes on Sanskrit and Power Beyond the Raj. In: Orientalism and the Postcolonial Predicament: Perspectives on South Asia, eds. Carol A. Breckenridge and Peter van der Veer. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993.
  • Servan-Schreiber, Catherine & Vuddamalay, Vasoodeven (éd.). Diasporas indiennes dans la ville. In hommes et migrations n° 1268-1269 (2007)
  • Trautmann, Thomas. 1997. Aryans and British India, University of California Press, Berkeley.
  • Windisch, Ernst. Geschichte der Sanskrit-Philologie und Indischen Altertumskunde. 2 vols. Strasbourg. Trübner, K.J., 1917-1920
  • Zachariae, Theodor. Opera minora zur indischen Wortforschung, zur Geschichte der indischen Literatur und Kultur, zur Geschichte der Sanskritphilologie. Ed. Claus Vogel. Wiesbaden 1977, ISBN 3-515-02216-3.

See also

External links

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