Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

and cultures,

languages Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

, and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...

of the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, In ...

, and as such is a subset of

Asian studies Asian studies is the term used usually in North America and Australia for what in Europe is known as Oriental studies. The field is concerned with the Asian people, their cultures, languages, history and politics. Within the Asian sphere, Asia ...

. The term ''Indology'' (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 Indian history and culture in preparation for colonial service in the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, whic ...

. Classical Indology majorly includes the linguistic studies of

Sanskrit literature Sanskrit literature broadly comprises all literature in the Sanskrit language. This includes texts composed in the earliest attested descendant of the Proto-Indo-Aryan language known as Vedic Sanskrit, texts in Classical Sanskrit as well as ...

Pāli Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhi ...

and

Tamil literature Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution. Contributors to the Tamil literature are mainly from T ...

, as well as study of

Dharmic religions Indian religions, sometimes also termed Dharmic religions or Indic religions, are the religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent. These religions, which include Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism,Adams, C. J."Classification of ...

(like

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle bein ...

, etc.). Some of the regional specializations under South Asian studies include: * Bengali studies — study of culture and languages of

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

* Dravidology — study of

Dravidian languages The Dravidian languages (or sometimes Dravidic) are a family of languages spoken by 250 million people, mainly in southern India, north-east Sri Lanka, and south-west Pakistan. Since the colonial era, there have been small but significant im ...

Southern India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territ ...

Tamil studies Tamilology, a subset of the larger field of Dravidian studies, denotes study of the Tamil language, Tamil literature and the culture of the Tamil people Definition The term denotes the process of examining the study and contributions of Tamil ...

Pakistan studies Pakistan studies curriculum (Urdu: ') is the name of a curriculum of academic research and study that encompasses the culture, demographics, geography, history, International Relations and politics of Pakistan. The subject is widely researc ...

* Sindhology — the study of the historical Sindh region Some scholars distinguish ''Classical Indology'' from ''Modern Indology'', the former more focussed on Sanskrit, Tamil and other ancient language sources, the latter on contemporary India, its

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

and

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

History

Precursors

The beginnings of the study of India by travellers from outside the subcontinent date back at least to

Megasthenes Megasthenes ( ; grc, Μεγασθένης, c. 350 BCE– c. 290 BCE) was an ancient Greek historian, diplomat and Indian ethnographer and explorer in the Hellenistic period. He described India in his book '' Indica'', which is now lost, but ha ...

(ca. 350–290 BC), a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

ambassador of the

Seleucids The Seleucid Empire (; grc, Βασιλεία τῶν Σελευκιδῶν, ''Basileía tōn Seleukidōn'') was a Greek state in West Asia that existed during the Hellenistic period from 312 BC to 63 BC. The Seleucid Empire was founded by the M ...

to the court of Chandragupta (ruled 322-298 BC), founder of the

Mauryan Empire The Maurya Empire, or the Mauryan Empire, was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in the Indian subcontinent based in Magadha, having been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing in loose-knit fashion until ...

. Based on his life in India Megasthenes composed a four-volume ''Indica'', fragments of which still exist, and which influenced the classical geographers

Arrian Arrian of Nicomedia (; Greek: ''Arrianos''; la, Lucius Flavius Arrianus; ) was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander and philosopher of the Roman period. ''The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best ...

Diodor Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which ...

and

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called " Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could s ...

Islamic Golden Age The Islamic Golden Age was a period of cultural, economic, and scientific flourishing in the history of Islam, traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 14th century. This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign ...

scholar Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Al-Biruni (973–1048) in Tarikh Al-Hind (''Researches on India'') recorded the

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studi ...

and

military history of India The predecessors to the contemporary Army of India were many: the sepoy regiments, native cavalry, irregular horse and Indian sapper and miner companies raised by the three British presidencies. The Army of India was raised under the British R ...

and covered India's

cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.T ...

scientific Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

, social and

religious Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...

history in detail. He studied the

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

of India, engaging in extensive

participant observation Participant observation is one type of data collection method by practitioner-scholars typically used in qualitative research and ethnography. This type of methodology is employed in many disciplines, particularly anthropology (incl. cultural a ...

with various Indian groups, learning their languages and studying their primary texts, and presenting his findings with

objectivity Objectivity can refer to: * Objectivity (philosophy), the property of being independent from perception ** Objectivity (science), the goal of eliminating personal biases in the practice of science ** Journalistic objectivity, encompassing fai ...

and neutrality using cross-cultural comparisons.

Academic discipline

Indology as generally understood by its practitioners began in the later Early Modern period and incorporates essential features of

modernity Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissancein the "Age of Reas ...

, including critical self-reflexivity, disembedding mechanisms and globalization, and the reflexive appropriation of knowledge. An important feature of Indology since its beginnings in the late eighteenth century has been the development of networks of academic communication and trust through the creation of learned societies like the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and the creation of learned journals like the ''Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society'' and ''Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute''. One of the defining features of Indology is the application of scholarly methodologies developed in European

Classical Studies Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

or "Classics" to the languages, literatures and cultures of South Asia. In the wake of eighteenth century pioneers like William Jones,

Henry Thomas Colebrooke Henry Thomas Colebrooke FRS FRSE (15 June 1765 – 10 March 1837) was an English orientalist and mathematician. He has been described as "the first great Sanskrit scholar in Europe". Biography Henry Thomas Colebrooke was born on 15 Jun ...

Gerasim Lebedev Gerasim Stepanovich Lebedev (russian: Гера́сим Степа́нович Ле́бедев; 1749 – July 27, 1817), also spelled Herasim Steppanovich Lebedeff ( bn, হেরাসিম স্তেপানোভিচ লেবেদ� ...

or August Wilhelm Schlegel, Indology as an academic subject emerged in the nineteenth century, in the context of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, together with

in general affected by the romantic

Orientalism In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...

of the time.

The Asiatic Society The Asiatic Society is a government of India organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of "Oriental research", in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions. It was founded by the p ...

was founded in Calcutta in 1784,

Société Asiatique The Société Asiatique (Asiatic Society) is a French learned society dedicated to the study of Asia. It was founded in 1822 with the mission of developing and diffusing knowledge of Asia. Its boundaries of geographic interest are broad, ranging ...

founded in 1822, the

Royal Asiatic Society The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS), was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the en ...

in 1824, the

American Oriental Society The American Oriental Society was chartered under the laws of Massachusetts on September 7, 1842. It is one of the oldest learned societies in America, and is the oldest devoted to a particular field of scholarship. The Society encourages basi ...

in 1842, and the German Oriental Society ( Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft) in 1845, the Japanese Association of Indian and Buddhist Studies in 1949. Sanskrit literature included many pre-modern dictionaries, especially the '' Nāmaliṅgānuśāsana'' of Amarasiṃha, but a milestone in the Indological study of

was publication of the St. Petersburg ''Sanskrit-Wörterbuch'' during the 1850s to 1870s. Translations of major Hindu texts in the

Sacred Books of the East The ''Sacred Books of the East'' is a monumental 50-volume set of English translations of Asian religious texts, edited by Max Müller and published by the Oxford University Press between 1879 and 1910. It incorporates the essential sacred texts ...

began in 1879.

Otto von Böhtlingk Otto von Böhtlingk (russian: Оттон Николаевич Бётлингк, ''Otton Nikolayevich Byotlingk''; 30 May 1815 – 1 April 1904) was a Russian-German Indologist and Sanskrit scholar. His '' magnum opus'' was a Sanskrit-German dict ...

's edition of Pāṇini's grammar appeared in 1887.

Max Müller Friedrich Max Müller (; 6 December 1823 – 28 October 1900) was a German-born philologist and Orientalist, who lived and studied in Britain for most of his life. He was one of the founders of the western academic disciplines of Indian ...

's edition of the

Rigveda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts ('' śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only on ...

appeared in 1849–75.

Albrecht Weber Friedrich Albrecht Weber (; 17 February 1825 – 30 November 1901) was a Prussian - German Indologist and historian who studied the history of Jainism in India. Some older sources have the first and middle names interchanged. Weber was born in B ...

commenced publishing his pathbreaking journal ''Indologische Studien'' in 1849, and in 1897

Sergey Oldenburg Sergey Fyodorovich Oldenburg (russian: Серге́й Фёдорович Ольденбу́рг; 26 September 1863, in Byankino, Transbaikal Oblast – 28 February 1934, in Leningrad) was a Russian orientalist who specialized in Buddhist stud ...

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 The World Sanskrit conference is an international conference organised at various locations globally. It has been held in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. The Delhi International Sanskrit Conference of 1972 is considered to be the first ...

, 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 ''Indo-Iranian Journal'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal focusing on aspects of Indo-Iranian cultures. The journal was started by Jan Willem de Jong and Franciscus Bernardus Jacobus Kuiper in 1957 with Ludwig Alsdorf, Harold Walter Bailey, L ...

'', ''

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society The ''Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society'' is an academic journal which publishes articles on the history, archaeology, literature, language, religion and art of South Asia, the Middle East (together with North Africa and Ethiopia), Central Asi ...

'', ''

Journal of the American Oriental Society The ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'' is a quarterly academic journal published by the American Oriental Society since 1843.Journal asiatique The ''Journal asiatique'' (full earlier title ''Journal Asiatique ou Recueil de Mémoires, d'Extraits et de Notices relatifs à l'Histoire, à la Philosophie, aux Langues et à la Littérature des Peuples Orientaux'') is a biannual peer-reviewed ac ...

'', the ''

Journal of the German Oriental Society A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period *Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...

'' (ZDMG), '' Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens'', ''

Journal of Indian Philosophy The ''Journal of Indian Philosophy'' (print: , online: ) is an academic journal on modern and premodern Indian philosophy published by Springer. The editor in chief is Diwakar Acharya. See also * List of philosophy journals This is a list of ...

'', ''

Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) is located in Pune, Maharashtra, India. It was founded on 6 July 1917 and named after Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar (1837–1925), long regarded as the founder of Indology (Orientalism) in Ind ...

'', ''

Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization * Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period *Daybook, also known as a general journal, ...

'' (Indogaku Bukkyogaku Kenkyu), '' Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême Orient'', 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.

Historical scholars

(350-290 BC) *

Al-Biruni Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (973 – after 1050) commonly known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian in scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously the "founder of Indology", "Father of Co ...

(973-1050) *

Gaston-Laurent Cœurdoux Gaston-Laurent Coeurdoux (; french: Cœurdoux ; 18 December 1691, Bourges, France – 15 June 1779, Pondicherry, French India) was a French Jesuit missionary in South India and a noteworthy Indologist. Early training Cœurdoux entered the novitia ...

(1691–1779) *

Anquetil Duperron Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron (7 December 173117 January 1805) was the first professional French Indologist. He conceived the institutional framework for the new profession. He inspired the founding of the École française d'Extrême-Orien ...

(1731–1805) * William Jones (1746–1794) * Charles Wilkins (1749–1836) *

Colin Mackenzie Colonel Colin Mackenzie CB (1754–8 May 1821) was Scottish army officer in the British East India Company who later became the first Surveyor General of India. He was a collector of antiquities and an orientalist. He surveyed southern India, ...

(1753–1821) *

Dimitrios Galanos __NOTOC__ Dimitrios Galanos or Demetrios Galanos ( el, Δημήτριος Γαλανός; 1760–1833) was the earliest recorded Greece, Greek Indology, Indologist. His translations of Sanskrit texts into Greek (language), Greek made knowledge of t ...

(1760–1833) *

(1765–1837) *

Jean-Antoine Dubois Abbé J. A. Dubois or Jean-Antoine Dubois (January 1765 – 17 February 1848) was a French Catholic missionary in India, and member of the ''Missions Etrangères de Paris''; he was called Dodda Swami by the local people. In his work on Hindu man ...

(1765–1848) * August Wilhelm Schlegel (1767–1845) *

James Mill James Mill (born James Milne; 6 April 1773 – 23 June 1836) was a Scottish historian, economist, political theorist, and philosopher. He is counted among the founders of the Ricardian school of economics. He also wrote ''The History of Briti ...

(1773–1836). * Horace Hayman Wilson (1786–1860) *

Franz Bopp Franz Bopp (; 14 September 1791 – 23 October 1867) was a German linguist known for extensive and pioneering comparative work on Indo-European languages. Early life Bopp was born in Mainz, but the political disarray in the Republic of Mai ...

(1791–1867) *

Duncan Forbes (linguist) Duncan Forbes (28 April 1798 – 17 August 1868) was a Scottish linguist. Forbes was born in Kinnaird, Perthshire and was brought up by his grandfather from the age of three after his parents and younger brother emigrated to the United States. I ...

(1798–1868) *

James Prinsep James Prinsep FRS (20 August 1799 – 22 April 1840) was an English scholar, orientalist and antiquary. He was the founding editor of the ''Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal'' and is best remembered for deciphering the Kharosthi and B ...

(1799-1840) *

Hermann Grassmann Hermann Günther Grassmann (german: link=no, Graßmann, ; 15 April 1809 – 26 September 1877) was a German polymath known in his day as a linguist and now also as a mathematician. He was also a physicist, general scholar, and publisher. His mat ...

(1809-1877) *

John Muir (indologist) John Muir CIE FRSE DCL LLD (5 February 1810 – 7 March 1882) was a British Sanskrit scholar, Indologist and judge in India. Biography Muir was born in Glasgow, the son of William Muir (1783–1820), a merchant of Kilmarnock and magistra ...

(1810–1882) *

Edward Balfour Edward Green Balfour (6 September 1813 – 8 December 1889) was a Scottish surgeon, orientalist and pioneering environmentalist in India. He founded museums at Madras and Bangalore, a zoological garden in Madras and was instrumental in raising ...

(1813–1889) * Robert Caldwell (1814–1891) *

Alexander Cunningham Major General Sir Alexander Cunningham (23 January 1814 – 28 November 1893) was a British Army engineer with the Bengal Engineer Group who later took an interest in the history and archaeology of India. In 1861, he was appointed to the newl ...

(1814–1893) *

Hermann Gundert Hermann Gundert (Stuttgart, 4 February 1814 – 25 April 1893 in Calw, Germany) was a German missionary, scholar, and linguist, as well as the maternal grandfather of German novelist and Nobel laureate Hermann Hesse. Gundert is chiefly know ...

(1814–1893) * Otto von Bohtlingk (1815–1904) *

Monier Monier-Williams Sir Monier Monier-Williams (; né Williams; 12 November 1819 – 11 April 1899) was a British scholar who was the second Boden Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford University, England. He studied, documented and taught Asian languages, especially ...

(1819–1899) *

Henry Yule Sir Henry Yule (1 May 1820 – 30 December 1889) was a Scottish Orientalist and geographer. He published many travel books, including translations of the work of Marco Polo and ''Mirabilia'' by the 14th-century Dominican Friar Jordanus. ...

(1820-1889) *

Rudolf Roth Rudolf von Roth (born Walter Rudolph Roth, 3 April 1821 – 23 June 1895) was a German Indologist, founder of the Vedic philology. His chief work is a monumental Sanskrit dictionary, compiled in collaboration with Otto von Böhtlingk. Biography ...

(1821–1893) * Theodor Aufrecht (1822–1907) *

(1823–1900) *

(1825–1901) * Ralph T. H. Griffith (1826–1906) *

William Dwight Whitney William Dwight Whitney (February 9, 1827June 7, 1894) was an American linguist, philologist, and lexicographer known for his work on Sanskrit grammar and Vedic philology as well as his influential view of language as a social institution. He was ...

(1827-1894) *

Ferdinand Kittel Reverend Ferdinand Kittel was a Lutheran priest and indologist with the Basel Mission in south India and worked in Mangalore, Madikeri and Dharwad in Karnataka. He is most famous for his studies of the Kannada language and for producing a Kannada ...

(1832–1903) *

Edwin Arnold Sir Edwin Arnold KCIE CSI (10 June 183224 March 1904) was an English poet and journalist, who is most known for his work ''The Light of Asia''.Johan Hendrik Caspar Kern (1833–1917) * Gustav Solomon Oppert (1836–1908) *

Georg Bühler Professor Johann Georg Bühler (July 19, 1837 – April 8, 1898) was a scholar of ancient Indian languages and law. Early life and education Bühler was born to Rev. Johann G. Bühler in Borstel, Hanover, attended grammar school in Hanover, whe ...

(1837–1898) * Chintaman Vinayak Vaidya (1861–1938) * Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar (1837–1925) * Arthur Coke Burnell (1840-1882) * Julius Eggeling (1842–1918) *

Paul Deussen Paul Jakob Deussen (; 7 January 1845 – 6 July 1919) was a German Indologist and professor of philosophy at University of Kiel. Strongly influenced by Arthur Schopenhauer, Deussen was a friend of Friedrich Nietzsche and Swami Vivekananda. In ...

(1845–1919) * Vincent Arthur Smith (1848–1920) * James Darmesteter (1849–1894) * Hermann Jacobi (1850–1937) *

Kashinath Trimbak Telang Kashinath Trimbak Telang (20 August 1850, Bombay – 1 September 1893, Bombay) was an Indologist and Indian judge at Bombay High Court. Early life and education Telang was born in a Gaud Saraswat Brahmin family. At the age of five Telang was se ...

(1850–1893) *

Alois Anton Führer Alois Anton Führer (26 November 1853 – 5 November 1930) was a German indologist who worked for the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). He is known for his archaeological excavations, which he believed proved that Gautama Buddha was born i ...

(1853–1930) *

Jacob Wackernagel Jacob Wackernagel (11 December 1853 – 22 May 1938) was a Swiss linguist, Indo-Europeanist and scholar of Sanskrit. He was born in Basel, son of the philologist Wilhelm Wackernagel (1806–1869). Biography Jacob Wackernagel was born on ...

(1853-1938) *

Arthur Anthony Macdonell Arthur Anthony Macdonell, FBA (11 May 1854 – 28 December 1930) was a noted Sanskrit scholar. Biography Macdonell was born at Muzaffarpur in the Tirhut region of the state of Bihar in British India, the son of Charles Alexander Macdonell ...

(1854-1930) *

Hermann Oldenberg Hermann Oldenberg (31 October 1854 – 18 March 1920) was a German scholar of Indology, and Professor at Kiel (1898) and Göttingen (1908). Work Oldenberg was born in Hamburg. His 1881 study on Buddhism, entitled ''Buddha: Sein Leben, seine Lehr ...

(1854–1920) *

Maurice Bloomfield Maurice Bloomfield, Ph.D., LL.D. (February 23, 1855 – June 12, 1928) was an Austrian-born American philologist and Sanskrit scholar. Biography He was born Maurice Blumenfeld in Bielitz ( pl, Bielsko), in what was at that time Austrian Si ...

(1855–1928) * E. Hultzsch (1857-1927) *

Mark Aurel Stein Sir Marc Aurel Stein, ( hu, Stein Márk Aurél; 26 November 1862 – 26 October 1943) was a Hungarian-born British archaeologist, primarily known for his explorations and archaeological discoveries in Central Asia. He was also a professor at ...

(1862–1943) *

P. T. Srinivasa Iyengar Pillaipundagudi Thiruvengadattaiyangar Srinivasa Iyengar (1863–1931) was an Indian historian, linguist and educationist who wrote books on the history of South India. Academic career Srinivasa Iyengar served as the Principal of A. V. N. ...

(1863–1931) *

Moriz Winternitz Moriz Winternitz (Horn, December 23, 1863 – Prague, January 9, 1937) was a scholar from Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the ...

(1863–1937) * Fyodor Shcherbatskoy (1866–1942) * F.W. Thomas (1867–1956) *

Jadunath Sarkar Sir Jadunath Sarkar (10 December 1870 – 19 May 1958) was a prominent Indian historian and a specialist on the Mughal dynasty. Academic career Sarkar was born in Karachmaria village in Natore, Bengal to Rajkumar Sarkar, the local Zamindar ...

(1870-1958) * S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar (1871–1947) * Percy Brown (1872–1955) *

John Hubert Marshall Sir John Hubert Marshall (19 March 1876, Chester, England – 17 August 1958, Guildford, England) was an English archaeologist who was Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India from 1902 to 1928. He oversaw the excavations of Ha ...

(1876–1958) *

Arthur Berriedale Keith Arthur Berriedale Keith (5 April 1879 – 6 October 1944) was a Scottish constitutional lawyer, scholar of Sanskrit and Indologist. He became Regius Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology and Lecturer on the Constitution of the Brit ...

(1879–1944) *

Pandurang Vaman Kane Pandurang Vaman Kane (pronounced ''Kaa-nay'') (7 May 1880 – 18 April 1972) was a notable Indologist and Sanskrit scholar. He received India's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna in 1963 for his scholarly work that spanned more than 40 years ...

(1880–1972) *

Pierre Johanns Pierre Johanns (1 April 1882, Heinerscheid, Luxembourg – 8 February 1955, Arlon, Belgium) was a Luxembourg, Luxemburger Jesuit priest, missionary in India and Indology, Indologist. Education Johanns was ordained priest on 1 August 1914 at Lou ...

(1882–1955) * Andrzej Gawronski (1885–1927) *

Willibald Kirfel Willibald Kirfel (29 January 1885 – 16 October 1964) was a German Indologist. He is known for his scholarly work on Indian cosmography, medicine and religion. Biography Kirfel studied Indology in Bonn from 1904 – 1908 and worked as a librar ...

(1885–1964) *

Johannes Nobel Johannes Nobel (25 June 1887 – 22 October 1960) was a German indologist and Buddhist scholar. Early life and education Johannes Nobel was born on 25 June 1887 in Forst (Lausitz). He studied Indo-European languages, Arabic, Turkish and Sanskri ...

(1887–1960) * Betty Heimann (1888-1961) *

Alice Boner Alice Boner (22 July 1889 – 13 April 1981) was a Swiss painter and sculptor, art historian, and an Indologist. In her drawings she used pencil, charcoal, sepia, red chalk, ink, and sometimes pastel. Her early works focused on drawings, sculpt ...

(1889–1981) *

Heinrich Zimmer Heinrich Robert Zimmer (6 December 1890 – 20 March 1943) was a German Indologist and linguist, as well as a historian of South Asian art, most known for his works, ''Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization'' and ''Philosophies of India ...

(1890–1943) * Ervin Baktay (1890–1963) *

Mortimer Wheeler Sir Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler CH CIE MC TD (10 September 1890 – 22 July 1976) was a British archaeologist and officer in the British Army. Over the course of his career, he served as Director of both the National Museum of Wales an ...

(1890–1976) * B. R. Ambedkar (1891–1956) * K. A. Nilakanta Sastri (1892–1975) * Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan (1893–1963) *

Vasudev Vishnu Mirashi Vasudev Vishnu Mirashi (1893–1985) was a Sanskrit scholar and a prominent Indologist of the 20th century who hailed from Maharashtra, India. He was an expert of his times on stone and copper inscriptions and the coinage of ancient India. For ...

(1893–1985) * V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar (1896–1953) * Dasharatha Sharma (1903–1976) *

Shakti M. Gupta In Hinduism, especially Shaktism (a theological tradition of Hinduism), Shakti (Devanagari: शक्ति, IAST: Śakti; lit. "Energy, ability, strength, effort, power, capability") is the primordial cosmic energy, female in aspect, and re ...

(1927- * S. Srikanta Sastri (1904-1974) *

Joseph Campbell Joseph John Campbell (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American writer. He was a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work covers many aspects of the ...

(1904–1987) *

Murray Barnson Emeneau Murray Barnson Emeneau (February 28, 1904 – August 29, 2005) was the founder of the Department of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley. Early life and education Emeneau was born in Lunenburg, a fishing town on the east coast ...

(1904–2005) *

Jan Gonda Jan Gonda (14 April 1905 – 28 July 1991) was a Dutch Indologist and the first Utrecht professor of Sanskrit. He was born in Gouda, in the Netherlands, and died in Utrecht. He studied with Willem Caland at Rijksuniversiteit, Utrecht (since 1990 ...

(1905–1991) * Paul Thieme (1905–2001) *

Jean Filliozat Jean Filliozat (4 November 1906 in Paris – 27 October 1982 in Paris) was a French writer. He studied medicine and was a physician between 1930 and 1947. He learned Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan and Tamil. He wrote some important works on the histo ...

(1906–1982) * Alain Danielou (1907–1994) * F B J Kuiper (1907–2003) *

Thomas Burrow Thomas Burrow (; 29 June 1909 – 8 June 1986) was an Indologist and the Boden Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford from 1944 to 1976; he was also a fellow of Balliol College, Oxford during this time. His work includes ''A Dravidi ...

(1909–1986) * Jagdish Chandra Jain (1909–1993) *

Ramchandra Narayan Dandekar Ramchandra Narayan Dandekar (1909–2001) was an Indologist and Vedic scholar from Maharashtra, India. He was born in Satara on 17 March 1909 and died in Pune on 11 December 2001. Education Dandekar earned an M.A. in Sanskrit in 1931, and an ...

(1909-2001) * Arthur Llewellyn Basham (1914–1986) * Richard De Smet (1916–1997) * P. N. Pushp (1917–1998) *

Ahmad Hasan Dani Ahmad Hassan Dani (Urdu: احمد حسن دانی) FRAS, SI, HI (20 June 1920 – 26 January 2009) was a Pakistani archaeologist, historian, and linguist. He was among the foremost authorities on Central Asian and South Asian archaeology ...

(1920–2009) * Frank-Richard Hamm (1920—1973) *

Madeleine Biardeau Madeleine Biardeau (16 May 1922 Niort - 1 February 2010 Cherveux) was an Indologist from France. Early life Madeleine Biardeau was born into a middle-class family of small entrepreneurs. She was educated at the Ecole normale supérieure in S ...

(1922–2010) * Awadh K. (AK) Narain (1925-2013) * V. S. Pathak (1926–2003) *

Kamil Zvelebil Kamil Václav Zvelebil (November 17, 1927 – January 17, 2009) was a Czech scholar in Indian literature and linguistics, notably Tamil, Sanskrit, Dravidian linguistics and literature and philology. Life and career Zvelebil studied at the Cha ...

(1927–2009) * J. A. B. van Buitenen (1928–1979) * Tatyana Elizarenkova (1929–2007) * Bettina Baumer (1940–) * Anncharlott Eschmann (1941–1977) * William Dalrymple (1965–present) * Arvind Sharma (1940–present) *

Harilal Dhruv Harilal Harshadrai Dhruv (10 May 1856 – 19 June 1896) ( gu, હરિલાલ ધ્રુવ) was a lawyer, poet, editor, indologist and scholar of Sanskrit literature. Educated in Arts and Law, he served as a teacher and later as a judge of Ba ...

(1856—1896) * Ram Swarup (1920–1998) * Mikhail Konstantinovich Kudryavtsev (1911–1992) *

Daniel H. H. Ingalls, Sr. Daniel Henry Holmes Ingalls Sr. (May 4, 1916 – July 17, 1999) was the Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University. Early life Ingalls was born in New York City and raised in Virginia. He received his A.B. in 1936, at Harvard major ...

(1916-1999), Wales Professor of Sanskrit,

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

Sita Ram Goel Sita Ram Goel (16 October 1921 – 3 December 2003) was an Indian historian, religious and political activist, writer, and publisher in the late twentieth century. He had Marxist leanings during the 1940s, but later became an outspoken anti-co ...

(1921–2003) * Natalya Romanovna Guseva (1914–2010) *

Ram Sharan Sharma Ram Sharan Sharma (26 November 1919 – 20 August 2011) was an Indian historian and Indologist who specialised in the history of Ancient and early Medieval India. He taught at Patna University and Delhi University (1973–85) and was visiting ...

(1919–2011), Founding Chairperson of Indian Council of Historical Research;

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

Patna University Patna University is a public state university in Patna, Bihar, India. It was established on 1 October 1917 during the British Raj. It is the first university in Bihar and the seventh oldest university in the Indian subcontinent in the modern ...

* Bhadriraju Krishnamurti (1928–2012),

Osmania University Osmania University is a collegiate public state university located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Mir Osman Ali Khan, the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad in 1918 , He released a farman to establish OSMANIA UNIVERSITY on the day of 28 August 1918. ...

* Fida Hassnain (1924-2016) Sri Pratap College, Srinagar * Heinrich von Stietencron (1933–2018),

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-W� ...

, Germany *

Iravatham Mahadevan Iravatham Mahadevan (2 October 1930 – 26 November 2018) was an Indian epigraphist and civil servant, known for his decipherment of Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions and for his expertise on the epigraphy of the Indus Valley civilisation. Early lif ...

(1930–2018)- Indian Council of Historical Research * Stanley Wolpert (1927–2019)-

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the Californ ...

(emeritus) *

Karel Werner Karel Werner (12 January 1925 – 26 November 2019) was an indologist, orientalist, religious studies scholar, and philosopher of religion born in Jemnice in what is now the Czech Republic. Life Werner has described his childhood in the small ...

(1925–2019) * Stanley Insler (1937–2019), Edward E. Salisbury Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology, Yale University *

Bannanje Govindacharya Bannanje Govindacharya (3 August 1936 – 13 December 2020) was an Indian philosopher and Sanskrit scholar versed in Veda Bhashya, Upanishad Bhashya, Mahabharata, Puranas and Ramayana. He wrote Bhashyas (commentaries) on Veda Suktas, Upanishads, S ...

(1936–2020), scholar in Tatva-vada school of philosophy and Vedic tradition

Contemporary scholars with university posts

* Romila Thapar (1931–present), Professor of Ancient History, Emerita, at the Jawaharlal Nehru University * Hermann Kulke (1938–present) *

Asko Parpola Asko Parpola (born 12 July 1941, in Forssa) is a Finnish Indologist, current professor emeritus of South Asian studies at the University of Helsinki. He specializes in Sindhology, specifically the study of the Indus script. Biography Parpola ...

(1941–present)- Professor Emeritus of Indology and South Asian Studies at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the R ...

Michael Witzel Michael Witzel (born July 18, 1943) is a German-American philologist, comparative mythologist and Indologist. Witzel is the Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University and the editor of the Harvard Oriental Series (volumes 50–80). Witz ...

(1943–present)-

Wales Professor of Sanskrit The position of Wales Professorship of Sanskrit in Harvard University is the first endowed chair for Sanskrit studies established in the United States. Henry Ware Wales (18181856; Harvard, 1838) by a will dated April 24, 1849, provided for the end ...

* Ronald Inden- Professor Emeritus of History, South Asian Languages and Civilizations at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

George L. Hart George Luzerne Hart, III (born c. 1942) is Professor Emeritus of Tamil language at the University of California, Berkeley. His work focuses on the classical Tamil literature and on identifying the relationships between the Tamil and Sanskrit li ...

(1945–present)- Professor Emeritus of Tamil at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

* Stephanie Jamison (1948–present), Distinguished Professor of Asian Languages and Cultures and of Indo-European Studies at the

* Alexis Sanderson (1948–present) Emeritus Fellow and former Spalding Professor of Eastern Religion and Ethics at

All Souls College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of ...

Patrick Olivelle Patrick Olivelle is an Indologist. A philologist and scholar of Sanskrit Literature whose work has focused on asceticism, renunciation and the dharma, Olivelle has been Professor of Sanskrit and Indian Religions in the Department of Asian Stu ...

(1942–present) Professor Emeritus of Asian Studies at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

* Michael D. Willis (

The British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...

) * Edwin Bryant (1957–present)

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

Gérard Fussman Gérard Fussman (17 May 1940 – 14 May 2022) was a French indologist who was a professor at the Collège de France. Fussman was born in Lens, Pas-de-Calais on 17 May 1940. He died in Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, ...

(1940–present)

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment ('' grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris n ...

Wendy Doniger Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (born November 20, 1940) is an American Indologist whose professional career has spanned five decades. A scholar of Sanskrit and Indian textual traditions, her major works include, 'The Hindus: an alternative history'; ' ...

(1940-)

University of Chicago Divinity School The University of Chicago Divinity School is a private graduate institution at the University of Chicago dedicated to the training of academics and clergy across religious boundaries. Formed under Baptist auspices, the school today lacks any s ...

, as Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions *

Thomas Trautmann Thomas Roger Trautmann is an American historian, cultural anthropologist, and Professor Emeritus of History and Anthropology at the University of Michigan. He is considered a leading expert on the ''Arthashastra'', the ancient Hindu text on sta ...

(1940-), former Head of the Center for South Asian Studies, University of Michigan *

Kapil Kapoor Kapil Kapoor (born 17 November 1940) is an Indian scholar of linguistics and literature and an authority on Indian intellectual traditions. He is former Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and served as professor at the Centre ...

, well known scholar of English Literature, Linguistics, Paninan Grammar, Sanskrit Arts and Aesthetics, Director of Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla * Shrivatsa Goswami, Indian scholar of Hindu philosophy and art ( Banaras Hindu University), as well as Vaishnava acharya

Other indologists

* Michel Danino, French-Indian author and

historical negationist Historical negationism, also called denialism, is falsification or distortion of the historical record. It should not be conflated with ''historical revisionism'', a broader term that extends to newly evidenced, fairly reasoned academic reinterp ...

Koenraad Elst Koenraad Elst (; born 7 August 1959) is a Flemish right wing Hindutva author, known primarily for his support of the Out of India theory and the Hindutva movement. Schola ...

(1959–present), Hindutva author and, supporter of the

Out of India Indigenous Aryanism, also known as the Indigenous Aryans theory (IAT) and the Out of India theory (OIT), is the conviction that the Aryans are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent, and that the Indo-European languages radiated out from a homela ...

theory *

Georg Feuerstein Georg Feuerstein (27 May 1947 – 25 August 2012) was a German Indologist specializing in the philosophy and practice of Yoga. Feuerstein authored over 30 books on mysticism, Yoga, Tantra, and Hinduism. He translated, among other traditional t ...

David Frawley David Frawley (born 1950) is an American author, astrologer, teacher (''acharya'') and a proponent of Hindutva. He has written numerous books on topics spanning the Vedas, Hinduism, Yoga, Ayurveda and Vedic astrology. His works have been popula ...

, American Hindutva author, astrologer, and

historical revisionist In historiography, historical revisionism is the reinterpretation of a historical account. It usually involves challenging the orthodox (established, accepted or traditional) views held by professional scholars about a historical event or times ...

* Rajiv Malhotra, Indian-American Hindutva author and activist * Shrikant Talageri,

proponent and Hindu nationalist *

Hans T. Bakker Hans T. Bakker (born 1948) is a cultural historian and Indologist, who has served as the Professor of the History of Hinduism and Jan Gonda Chair at the University of Groningen. He currently works in the British Museum as a researcher in project ...

* Steven J. Rosen, American

ISKCON The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement or Hare Krishnas, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava Hindu religious organization. ISKCON was founded in 1966 in New York City by A. C. Bhaktiv ...

author, founding editor of ''The

Journal of Vaishnava Studies The ''Journal of Vaishnava Studies'', also known as ''Journal of Vaiṣṇava Studies'', is an academic journal that was established in 1992 by Steven J. Rosen (Satyaraja Dasa), a member of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. It ...

Indology organisations

* Faculty of Sanskrit Vidya Dharma Vigyan, Banaras Hindu University *

Adyar Library The Adyar Library and Research Centre was founded in 1886 by theosophist Henry Steel Olcott. The library is at the Theosophical Society Adyar in Adyar, near Chennai. History Henry Steel Olcott founded the "library Olcott" in December 1886. Olco ...

and Research Centre, Chennai *

, Pune *

Oriental Research Institute Mysore Formerly known as the Oriental Library, the Oriental Research Institute (ORI) at Mysore, India, is a research institute which collects, exhibits, edits, and publishes rare manuscripts written in various scripts like Devanagari ( Sanskrit), Br ...

* Oriental Research Institute & Manuscripts Library, Thiruvananthapuram *

Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Institute of Indology Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Museum, abbreviated L. D. Museum, is a museum of Indian sculptures, bronzes, manuscripts, paintings, drawings, miniature paintings, woodwork, bead work and ancient and contemporary coins in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. Histor ...

along with Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Museum which is adjacent to the Institute, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India *

American Institute of Indian Studies The American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS), founded in 1961, is a consortium of 90 universities and colleges in the United States that promotes the advancement of knowledge about India in the U.S. It carries out this purpose by: awarding fello ...

* French Institute of Pondicherry
The Oxford Centre For Hindu Studies

References

Library guides

* * * * * * * {{Authority control Asian studies

History

Precursors

Academic discipline

Professional literature and associations

List of indologists

Historical scholars

Contemporary scholars with university posts

Other indologists

Indology organisations

See also

References

Further reading

External links

Library guides