History of Indological Studies: Papers of the 12th World Sanskrit Conference Vol. 11.2

Hardbound Edition (274 Pgs.)

The history of Western knowledge of Indian began about 2500 years ago, but the history of Indology was only about 230 years ago. It happened in Kolkata, as a fusion of colonial and scholarly interests, but also not uninfluenced by the scholarly traditions of India. In the next 75 years, Indological chairs were founded in important universities in most European countries. The present volume contains a general introduction to the history of South Asian studies, a bibliography and six case studies of different aspects, including early Indological studies in India, Indological traditions in Sweden and Denmark, Sanskrit studies in Russian cultural history, Ukrainian translations from Sanskrit and the Sanskrit correspondence between the French Indologist Sylvain Levi and the Nepalese scholar Hemaraja Sarma.

The papers included in this volume only discuss the same rather narrow parts of Indology. Prof. Enrica Garzilli continues her studies of the contacts of some Western Indologists with Nepalese scholars. Klaus Karttunen has papers on two quite different topics. The first is about the role of Indian pandits and scholars in the early history of Indology, while the second traces the development of Indian studies in Sweden. Prof. Sergei Serebriany presents an interesting attempt of combining Indology in Russian with some trends in Russian cultural history. Dr Yuriy ZavhorodniyÍs contribution to the Ukrainian translations of Indian classics contains much little-known information. The article of Prof. Kenneth Zysk was mentioned above and the book concludes with a bibliography of the history of Indology by the editor himself.

About the Author(s)

Klaus Karttunen has been the Professor of South Asian and Indo-European Studies at the University of Helsinki. He has published many studies about the relations between ancient Indian and the Graeco-Roman West, the history of South Asian studies and the ideas of nature in Indian literature.