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

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

and

cultures Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

languages Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing. Human language is ch ...

, 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 novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

of the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

, 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, Asian ...

. 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 , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, 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 (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

. Classical Indology majorly includes the linguistic studies of

Sanskrit literature Sanskrit literature is a broad term for all literature composed in Sanskrit. 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 some ...

Pāli Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a classical Middle Indo-Aryan language of 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 '' Therav� ...

and

Tamil literature Tamil literature includes a collection of literary works that have come from a 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 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 Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism,Adams, C. J."Classification o ...

(like

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

Sikhism Sikhism is an Indian religion and Indian philosophy, philosophy that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century CE. It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups, major religio ...

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

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

* Dravidology – study of

Dravidian languages The Dravidian languages are a language family, family of languages spoken by 250 million people, primarily in South India, north-east Sri Lanka, and south-west Pakistan, with pockets elsewhere in South Asia. The most commonly spoken Dravidian l ...

Southern India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

** Tamil studies * Pakistan studies *

Sindhology Sindhology () is a field of South Asian studies and academic research that covers the history, society, culture, literature and people of Sindh, Pakistan. The subject was first brought into the academic circles with the establishment of the Insti ...

– 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 () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

and

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

History

Precursors

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

Megasthenes Megasthenes ( ; , died 290 BCE) was an ancient Greek historian, indologist, diplomat, ethnographer and explorer in the Hellenistic period. He described India in his book '' Indica'', which is now lost, but has been partially reconstructe ...

(–290 BC), a

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

ambassador of the

Seleucids The Seleucid Empire ( ) was a Greek state in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 312 BC by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator, following the division of the Macedonian Empire founded by Alexander the Great, ...

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

Mauryan Empire The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia with its power base in Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya around c. 320 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. The primary sourc ...

. 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''; ; ) was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander, and philosopher of the Roman period. '' The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best source on the campaigns of ...

, Diodor 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 "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

Islamic Golden Age The Islamic Golden Age was a period of scientific, economic, and cultural flourishing in the history of Islam, traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 13th century. This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign o ...

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

political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

and military history of India and covered India's

cultural Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

scientific Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

, social and

religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...

history in detail. He studied the

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

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 (including cultur ...

with various Indian groups, learning their languages and studying their primary texts, and presenting his findings with objectivity and neutrality using cross-cultural comparisons.

Academic discipline

Indology as generally understood by its practitioners began in the later

Early Modern period The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...

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 Society, socio-Culture, cultural Norm (social), norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the ...

, 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, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek and Roman literature and their original languages ...

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

, Gerasim Lebedev or

August Wilhelm Schlegel August Wilhelm von Schlegel (Schlegel until 1812; ; ; 8 September 176712 May 1845) was a German Indologist, poet, translator and critic. With his brother Friedrich Schlegel, he was a leading influence within Jena Romanticism. His translations o ...

, 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 in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

, together with

in general affected by the romantic

Orientalism In art history, literature, and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects of the Eastern world (or "Orient") by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. Orientalist painting, particularly of the Middle ...

of the time. The Asiatic Society was founded in Calcutta in 1784, Société Asiatique founded in 1822, the

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

in 1824, the

American Oriental Society The American Oriental Society is a learned society that encourages basic research in the languages and literatures of the Near East and Asia. It was chartered under the laws of Massachusetts on September 7, 1842. It is one of the oldest learned ...

in 1842, and the German Oriental Society (

Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft The (, ''German Oriental Society''), abbreviated DMG, is a scholarly organization dedicated to Oriental studies, that is, to the study of the languages and cultures of the Near East and the Far East, the broader Orient, Asia, Oceania, and Afric ...

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

Max Müller Friedrich Max Müller (; 6 December 1823 – 28 October 1900) was a German-born British comparative philologist and oriental studies, Orientalist. He was one of the founders of the Western academic disciplines of Indology and religious s ...

's edition of the

Rigveda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from wikt:ऋच्, ऋच्, "praise" and wikt:वेद, वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian Miscellany, collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canoni ...

appeared in 1849–1875.

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. Biography Weber was ...

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

Sergey Oldenburg Sergey Fyodorovich Oldenburg (; – 28 February 1934) was a Russian orientalism, orientalist who specialized in Buddhism, Buddhist studies. He was a disciple of Ivan Minayev, the founder of Russian Indology. Biography Sergey Feodorovitch Old ...

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 ''Indo-Iranian Journal'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal focusing on aspects of Indo-Iranian cultures. The journal was started by de Jong and Kuiper in 1957 with Ludwig Alsdorf, Harold Walter Bailey, Louis Renou, Sumitra Mangesh Katre ...

'', ''

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 Asia ...

'', ''

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. The editor in chief is Peri Bearman (Harvard University).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 ...

'', the '' Journal of the German Oriental Society'' (ZDMG), '' Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens'', ''

Journal of Indian Philosophy A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of personal secretive thoughts and as open book to personal therapy or used to feel connected to onesel ...

'', ''

Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) is a research institute involved in the conservation, preservation, and research of old manuscripts and rare books related to Orientalism, particularly Indology. It is located in Pune, Maharash ...

'', '' Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies'' (Indogaku Bukkyogaku Kenkyu), ''

Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême Orient The French School of the Far East (, ; also translated as The French School of Asian StudiesPreferred translation by EFEO staff. SeEFEO official website), abbreviated EFEO, is an associated college of PSL University dedicated to the study of ...

'', 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 (; ; 973after 1050), known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously "Father of Comparative Religion", "Father of modern ...

(973–1050) * Gaston-Laurent Cœurdoux (1691–1779) * Anquetil Duperron (1731–1805) * William Jones (1746–1794) *

Charles Wilkins Sir Charles Wilkins (1749 – 13 May 1836) was an English typographer and oriental studies, Orientalist, and founding member of the The Asiatic Society, Asiatic Society. He is notable as the first translator of the Bhagavad Gita into English. ...

(1749–1836) *

Colin Mackenzie Colonel Colin Mackenzie (1754–8 May 1821) was a 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 and an indologist. He sur ...

(1753–1821) * Dimitrios Galanos (1760–1833) *

(1765–1837) * Jean-Antoine Dubois (1765–1848) *

(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 Britis ...

(1773–1836) *

Horace Hayman Wilson Horace Hayman Wilson (26 September 1786 – 8 May 1860) was an English orientalist who was elected the first Boden Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford University. Life He studied medicine at St Thomas's Hospital, and went out to India in 1808 ...

(1786–1860) *

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

(1791–1867) * Duncan Forbes (linguist) (1798–1868) *

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

(1799–1840) *

Hermann Grassmann Hermann Günther 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 mathematical work was littl ...

(1809–1877) * John Muir (indologist) (1810–1882) * Edward Balfour (1813–1889) *

Robert Caldwell Robert Caldwell (7 May 1814 – 28 August 1891) was a British missionary and linguist. A missionary for the London Missionary Society, he arrived in Company Raj, British India at age 24, and studied the local language to spread the word of the ...

(1814–1891) *

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

(1814–1893) *

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

(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 Colonel (United Kingdom), Colonel Sir Henry Yule (1 May 1820 – 30 December 1889) was a Scottish Oriental studies, Orientalist and geographer. He published many travel books, including translations of the work of Marco Polo and ''Mirabil ...

(1820–1889) * Rudolf Roth (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 Ferdinand Kittel (7 April 1832 – 18 December 1903) 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 languag ...

(1832–1903) *

Edwin Arnold Sir Edwin Arnold (10 June 1832 – 24 March 1904) was an English poet and journalist. He is best known for his 1879 work, '' The Light of Asia''. Born in Gravesend, Kent, Arnold's early education at King's School, Rochester, and later at Kin ...

(1832–1904) *

Johan Hendrik Caspar Kern Johan Hendrik Caspar Kern (6 April 1833 – 4 July 1917) was a Dutch linguist and orientalist. In the literature, he is usually referred to as H. Kern or Hendrik Kern; a few other scholars bear the same surname. Life Hendrik Kern was born ...

(1833–1917) * Gustav Solomon Oppert (1836–1908) * Georg Bühler (1837–1898) *

Chintaman Vinayak Vaidya Chintaman Vinayak Vaidya (18 October 1861– 20 April 1938) was a Marathi-language historian and writer from Bombay Presidency, British India. He was Chief Justice of Gwalior State for a period. He was born in a Chitpavan Brahmin family. In 1908, ...

(1861–1938) * Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar (1837–1925) *

Arthur Coke Burnell Arthur Coke Burnell (11 July 184012 October 1882) was an England, English civil servant who served in the Madras Presidency who was also a scholar in Sanskrit and Dravidian languages, Dravidian languages. He catalogued the Sanskrit manuscripts i ...

(1840–1882) *

Julius Eggeling Heinrich Julius Eggeling (1842–1918) was professor of Sanskrit at the University of Edinburgh from 1875 to 1914, second holder of its Regius Chair of Sanskrit, and Secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society, London. Eggeling was translator and e ...

(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 Vincent Arthur Smith (3 June 1843 – 6 February 1920) was an Irish Indologist, historian, member of the Indian Civil Service, and curator. He was one of the prominent figures in Indian historiography during the British Raj. In the 1890s, he w ...

(1848–1920) * James Darmesteter (1849–1894) *

Hermann Jacobi Hermann Georg Jacobi (11 February 1850 – 19 October 1937) was an eminent German Indologist. Education Jacobi was born in Köln (Cologne) on 11 February 1850. He was educated in the gymnasium of Cologne and then went to the University of Be ...

(1850–1937) * Kashinath Trimbak Telang (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 ...

(1853–1930) * Jacob Wackernagel (1853–1938) * Arthur Anthony Macdonell (1854–1930) * Hermann Oldenberg (1854–1920) *

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

(1855–1928) * E. Hultzsch (1857–1927) * Mark Aurel Stein (1862–1943) * P. T. Srinivasa Iyengar(1863–1931) *

Moriz Winternitz Moriz Winternitz ( Horn, December 23, 1863 – Prague, January 9, 1937) was a scholar from Austria who began his Indology contributions working with Max Müller at the Oxford University. An eminent Sanskrit scholar, he worked as a professor ...

(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. Sarkar was educated in English literature and worked as a teacher for some time but later shifted his focus to h ...

(1870–1958) * S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar (1871–1947) * Percy Brown (1872–1955) * John Hubert Marshall (1876–1958) *

Arthur Berriedale Keith Arthur Berriedale Keith, FBA (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 t ...

(1879–1944) * Pandurang Vaman Kane (1880–1972) * Pierre Johanns (1882–1955) * Andrzej Gawronski (1885–1927) * Willibald Kirfel (1885–1964) * Johannes Nobel (1887–1960) * Betty Heimann (1888–1961) * Alice Boner (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 Indi ...

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

Mortimer Wheeler Sir Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, CH Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire, CIE Military Cross, MC Territorial Decoration, TD (10 September 1890 – 22 July 1976) was a British archaeolo ...

(1890–1976) * B. R. Ambedkar (1891–1956) * K. A. Nilakanta Sastri (1892–1975) * Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan (1893–1963) * Vasudev Vishnu Mirashi (1893–1985) * V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar (1896–1953) * Dasharatha Sharma (1903–1976) * 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 t ...

(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 19 ...

(1905–1991) * Paul Thieme (1905–2001) * Jean Filliozat (1906–1982) * Alain Danielou (1907–1994) * F B J Kuiper (1907–2003) * Thomas Burrow (1909–1986) * Jagdish Chandra Jain (1909–1993) * Ramchandra Narayan Dandekar (1909–2001) *

Arthur Llewellyn Basham Arthur Llewellyn Basham (24 May 1914 – 27 January 1986) was a British historian, Indologist and author. As a professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London in the 1950s and the 1960s, he taught a number of famous historians ...

(1914–1986) *

Richard De Smet Richard De Smet (16 April 1916 – 2 March 1997) was a Belgian Jesuit priest, and missionary in India. As Indologist he became a renowned Sankara specialist. Life Born at Montignies-sur-Sambre, near Charleroi in Belgium, he came to Indi ...

(1916–1997) *

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 ...

(1922–2010) * 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 C ...

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

William Dalrymple William Benedict Hamilton-Dalrymple (born 20 March 1965) is a Delhi-based Scottish people, Scottish historian and art historian, as well as a curator, broadcaster and critic. He spends nine months of each year on his goat farm in India. He i ...

(1965–present) *

Arvind Sharma Arvind Sharma (born 13 January 1940) is the Birks Professor of Comparative Religion at McGill University. Sharma's works focus on Hinduism, philosophy of religion. In editing books his works include ''Our Religions'' and ''Women in World Relig ...

(1940–present) * Harilal Dhruv (1856–1896) * Ram Swarup (1920–1998) * Mikhail Konstantinovich Kudryavtsev (1911–1992) * Daniel H. H. Ingalls, Sr. (1916–1999), Wales Professor of Sanskrit,

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

* Sita Ram Goel (1921–2003) *

Natalya Romanovna Guseva Natalya Romanovna Guseva (; March 21, 1914 – April 21, 2010) was a Russian ethnographer, historian, Indologist and writer. Born at a village in the Kiev Governorate, she did her Candidate of Sciences and Doctor of Sciences from the Institute ...

(1914–2010) *

Ram Sharan Sharma Ram Sharan Sharma (26 November 1919 – 20 August 2011) was an Indian Marxist 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 ...

(1919–2011), Founding Chairperson of

Indian Council of Historical Research Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

;

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

, Patna University *

Bhadriraju Krishnamurti Bhadriraju Krishnamurti (19 June 1928 – 11 August 2012) was an Indian linguist who specialised in Dravidian languages. He was born in Ongole in the Madras Presidency of British India (now in Andhra Pradesh, India). He was the vice-chancellor ...

(1928–2012),

Osmania University Osmania University is a collegiate university, collegiate Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Mir Osman Ali Khan, the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad, issued a ''firman'' calling f ...

* 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 (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

, Germany * Iravatham Mahadevan (1930–2018)-

Stanley Wolpert Stanley Albert Wolpert (December 23, 1927 – February 19, 2019) was an American historian, Indologist, and author on the political and intellectual history of modern India and PakistanDr. Stanley Wolpert's UCLA Faculty homepage and wrote fict ...

(1927–2019)-

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(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 smal ...

(1925–2019) * Dietmar Rothermund (1933–2020), Professor of the history of South Asia at the Ruprecht-Karls University in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

* Bannanje Govindacharya (1936–2020), scholar in Tatva-vada school of philosophy and Vedic tradition * Stanley Insler (1937–2019), Edward E. Salisbury Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology, Yale University *

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 ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in ...

(1940–2022)

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

Contemporary scholars with university posts

Romila Thapar Romila Thapar (born 30 November 1931) is an Indian historian. Her principal area of study is ancient India, a field in which she is pre-eminent. Quotr: "The pre-eminent interpreter of ancient Indian history today. ... " Thapar is a Professor ...

(1931–present), Professor of Ancient History, emerita, at the Jawaharlal Nehru University * Hermann Kulke (1938–present), Professor of South and Southeast Asian history at the Department of History,

Kiel University Kiel University, officially the Christian Albrecht University of Kiel, (, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a public University, public research university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the ...

Asko Parpola Asko Heikki Siegfried Parpola (born 12 July 1941, in Forssa) is a Finnish Indologist, current professor emeritus of Indology at the University of Helsinki. He specializes in the Indus Valley Civilization, specifically the study of the Indus scr ...

(1941–present), professor emeritus of Indology and South Asian Studies at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

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 university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

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 50–100). He ...

(1943–present)- Wales Professor of Sanskrit at

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

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

* George L. Hart (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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

* 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: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) 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 me ...

* Michael D. Willis (

The British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

) *

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–present)

University of Chicago Divinity School The University of Chicago Divinity School is a graduate professional school at the University of Chicago dedicated to the training of academics and clergy across religious boundaries. Formed under Baptist auspices, the school today is without ...

, as Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions * Thomas Trautmann (1940–present), former Head of the Center for South Asian Studies, University of Michigan * Kapil Kapoor (1940–present), scholar of English Literature, Linguistics, Paninan Grammar, Sanskrit Arts and Aesthetics, Director of Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla * Shrivatsa Goswami (1950–present), Indian scholar of Hindu philosophy and art at (

Banaras Hindu University Banaras Hindu University (BHU), formerly Benares Hindu University, is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916. The university incorporated the Central Hindu College, ...

), as well as Gaudiya Vaishnava religious leader. * Edwin Bryant (1957–present)

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

Other indologists

* Michel Danino, French-Indian author and historical negationist *

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

* Hans T. Bakker

Indology organisations

* Faculty of Sanskrit Vidya Dharma Vigyan, Banaras Hindu University * Adyar Library 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 , Brahmic ( Sanskrit, Kann ...

Oriental Research Institute & Manuscripts Library Oriental Research Institute & Manuscripts Library (ORIMSS) is an academic department of the University of Kerala dedicated for Indology. It is located at Kariavattom, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The institute carry out researches on Indian man ...

, Thiruvananthapuram * Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Institute of Indology along with Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Museum which is adjacent to the institute, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India * American Institute of Indian Studies * 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