1. Babylonian and Greek (2500 BCE to 150 BCE).

The Semitic and Mediterranean world had ubiquitous contacts (pythagorus, megesthenes) with the Indic. We are in the long drawn out process of researching this phase of Indology. Our knowledge of the facts, are meagre at the moment. But the more we learn about the Greeks, the more it is apparent that they learned a lot of their sciences from the Indian subcontinent This came to a virtual stop during the heyday of the Roman Empire when it became the paramount Mediterranean power after the fall of Carthage. Rome remained a major trading partner of India but ceased to be interested in Indic scholarship. The Byzantines or the Eastern Empire centered in Constantinople, even though it has sufficient contacts ceased to evince interest after the advent of the adoption of Christianity, as India came to be associated increasingly with the Pagan practices that they were trying hard to extinguish in Europe. 2. China and the Sinic Civilization. (2500 BCE 1200 CE) The interaction between the Indic and Sinic civilizations (huan sang, fa hein) has been one of long standing, reaching back to the ancient era, and it has been a two way street, contrary to popular misconceptions. The interaction has been ubiquitous and consistent. India has borrowed much from the Sinic civilization ranging from the mundane to the sublime and vice versa. There is much work yet to be done to study the extent of this interaction, an area that was merely of tertiary interest to the European 3. Arab and Non Arab Islamic studies of India (most of the Islamic savants who studied India did not speak Arabic as their native tongue, but were descended from converted central Asian and Indic civilizations (700 CE to 1200 CE). In fact it can safely be said that the Arab savants had enormous respect for the capabilities of the Indics as did the Greeks like Pythagoras and Apollonius of Tyanneous before them. The glaring exception to this statement is the cognitive dissonance exhibited by Al Biruni , the most well known amongst the Islamic indologists, who spent a considerable portion of his life in India while expressing scathing contempt and stereotyping of Hindus in his remarks about Indians in general. That there is a contradiction between spending a great portion of one life learning from a people and then trashing them unequivocally does not seem to bother AlBiruni. Furthermore , Al Biruni even though a native of Khorasan (Khwaresm), was raised in Ghazni and spoke a dialect of Farsi known as Dari, which is spoken even today in Afghanistan. These areas of Afghanistan were in fact freshly Islamized after the last of the Hindu Shahi Kingdoms were defeated not very much earlier. The point being Al Biruni was no stranger to Hindu scholarship or culture prior to coming to India. Such an attitude of

studied indifference and condescension even after a lifetime of imbibing Indic knowledge,became more and more prevalent after the advent of the colonial era and the norm rather than the exception . The scholarly exchanges with the Khilafat came to a halt after the sack of Baghdad and Damascus by Hulagu, the grandson of the Mongol Great Khan Chinghiz, the most victorious conqueror of all time. It was also severely impacted when vast numbers of Indics were taken in slavery, especially able bodied men and women, and those with skills in the arts and sciences and equally large numbers were killed at the rate of 100,000 a day during and after a battle. So great were the numbers of Indian slaves who flooded the slave markets of Damascus that the price of slaves dropped dramatically and would seriously impact the economics of slavery as a profitable activity. Some have estimated the sustained decimation of the Indic population over the 5 centuries of Islamic domination of the subcontinent to be in the neighborhood of over 70 million people and for the first time India, always a highly densely populated country in relative terms to the rest of the globe, suffered a drop in population. The scholars retreated farther and farther to the south until they reached Kerala, which is where the Kerala School of astronomy and mathematics flourished for at least 300 years, producing such stalwarts as Nilakanta Somayaji, till the 1700s 4. Pre- British colonial Catholic church dominated study of India. It may be surprising to learn that one of the first pioneers in European Indology was the 12th Century Pope, Honorius IV. Then as now, the primary focus of the study was not the scientific acquisition of knowledge but to arm themselves with enough facts to be able to convert the Indic population to Christianity. 5. British colonial Indology (1780 CE 2000 CE) which was in reality dominated by German scholars. Interest in Indology only took shape and concrete direction after the British came to India, with the advent of the discovery of Sanskrit by Sir William Jones in the 1770s. Other names for Indology are Indic studies or Indian studies or South Asian studies. The extraordinary level of interest by German scholars in Indic matters is a very interesting narrative in its own right and we need to reflect upon the highlights of this phenomenon. The German speaking people experienced a vast increase in intellectual activity at about the same time that Britain colonized India. Merits the lndological, and (ii) the sociological. The Indological approach claims that Indian society can he understood only through the concepts, theories and

frameworks of Indian civilization. Indologists claim that the uniqueness of Indian civilization cannot he tted into the framework of European sociology. They rely primarily on the hooh-view and give more importance to the culture of Indian society than to the empirical social structure. Indology is dependent on inter-disciplinary work. Although it largely draws from the methods of philology and history, its origins and needs demonstrate, the incorporation of art history, archaeology, philosophy, folklore, anthropology, and even economics and law. Indology is much older than sociology as an independent discipline in India less time consuming, ARCHIVAL in nature, easily accessible data We can discern this clearly in the writings of B. K. Sarkar, G. S. Ghurye, Radhakamal Mukherjee, K. M. Kapadia, P. H. Prabhu and Iravati Karve The Indological approach in Indian sociology is inuenced by the science of Indology but is not coterminous with Indology as a discipline. All sociologists who have used the Indological approach are also influenced by other sociological perspectives. For example, in the

writings of G. S. Ghurye, there is a synthesis of the Indological approach and the diffusionist approach propagated by V/.H.R. Rivers. In the same way, in the writings of Raclhakamal Mukherjee, there is a synthesis of the Indological perspective with empirical sociology of the American variety. Secondly, Indology as a discipline contains a variety of approaches and methods. There are many schools within Indology as a science. Different Indian sociologists were influenced by different schools of Indology. For example, B. K. Sarkar was influenced by the Indological studies of the Asiatic society founded by Sir William Jones. G. S. Ghurye was inuenced more by the writings of the Indologists of the Bhandarkar Institute in Pune than by the British school of Indology founded by Sir William Jones and the German scholar Max Muller. Similarly, Radhakamal Mukherjee was influenced by the Indological writings of Anand K. Coomarswamy and some authors of the Asiatic Society in Calcutta The primary sources of Indological studies are classical texts, manuscripts, archaeological artefact, philological data and symbolic expressions. The aim of lndological studies is to gain a deeper understanding of Indian culture.

Indological studies have developed mostly an empathic understanding of Indian culture. Customs, cultures

Indology underwent a qualitative change, with what was primarily of trade and missionary interest to becoming a political and administrative tool. Some of the early Indologists like William Jones, H.T. Colebrook and others were employed by the East India Company, and later the British Government. Even academics like F. Max Mller were dependent on colonial governments and the support of missionaries. From the second half of the 19th century to the end of the Second World War, German nationalism played a major role in the shaping of Indological scholarship. Contradictory findings of indology Jones was a useful linguist but his main job was to interpret Indian law and customs to his employers, the British East India Company. This dual role of Indologists as scholars as wellas interpreters of India continued well into the twentieth century. Many Indologists, including such eminent figures as H.H. Wilson and F. Max Mller sought and enjoyed the patronage of the ruling powers. Before the discovery of Indus valley civilization it was the only discipline that was only theory based after ....... it had to include a bit of field work. of sociology, it has broadened our understanding of Indian family, marriage, kinship, religion, art, culture, language, mythology and civilization (Bhate, S., 2002, Lolceshwarananda, 3., 1992). Recently, under the influence of Louis Dumont and Mckim Marriott, culturological writings on India have fruitfully utilized the depth of the Indological approach. T. N. Madan has recently pleaded for the synthesis of Coomarswamy and Levi-Strauss in the creative understanding of Indian society and culture. D. P. Mukerji had earlier pleaded for a synthesis of Indian tradition (provided by Indologists) within the Marxian analytical Framework of dialectics. All major sociologists before independence were inuenced by the Indological approach in one way or the other The Oriental Institute in Baroda was the second important Indological centre to come up in India. It was Founded in the year 1895 by the Maharaja of Baroda. Anantakrishna Shastri was the nucleus of this institute. He had collected about 10,000 important manuscripts from all over India. Gaekwads Oriental series was started in 1915- The work of collecting rare manuscripts, research and publication of critical editions was gradually institutionalized. C.D. Dalal and Binoytosh Bhattacharya were general editors of this series. The principal objective of the Oriental Institute has been to develop a well-equipped library of rare and unpublished manuscripts and reference books on Oriental and

lndological studies for advanced students and research scholars. The institute has published rare original works on subjects such as philosophy, literature, Buddhism, ]ainism, technical sciences, Hindu law, encyclopaedic works, Persian, Arabic and Portuguese treatises, and compositions in old Gujarati (Vyas, R.T., I992). The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute was Founded in 1917 in Pune to commemorate the life and works of Sir R.G. Bhandarkar. Bhandarkar was one of the pioneers of Indology in our country. lndology in India : A Sociological Perspective I 51 Bhandarkar was a man of many parts: historian, philologist, educationist and philosopher. He had published authoritative works on Sanskrit grammar and on the history of languages derived from Sanskrit. I-Ie also wrote several works on the history, religion and linguistics of India. The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute works through its ve main departments: (i) Mahabharata Research Unit, (ii) Manuscripts, (iii) Publication, (iv) Post-Graduate Research, and (v) Prakrit Dictionary. V.S. Sukthankar, S.K. Belvalkar, PK. Gode, RV. Kane, P.L. Vaidya, K.V. Abhyankar, V.P. Limaye, P.V. Bapat, R.N. Dandekat, A.M. Ghatage and M.A. Mehendale were the moving sprits of the Bhandarkar Institute. In the eld of Indological Research, it is as important as, if not more than, the Asiatic Society (Laddu, S.D., 1992). The Vishveshvaranand Vishva Bandhu Insititute of Sanskrit and Indological Studies in Hoshiatpur was earlier known as the Vishveshvaranand Vedic Research Institute. In 1903, two San)/axis, Swami Vishveshvaranand and Swami Nityanand, launched at Simla a project of preparing word indices to the four principal I/edit Sam/aitar and, ultimately, a lexicon of the basic texts. With the passing away of Swami Nityanand in 1914, Swami Vishveshvaranand carried forward the project all alone till 1918 at Simla and, thereafter, till 1923 at Indore. In 1923 he shifted to Lahore where he met Acharya Vishva Bandhu to whom he entrusted the project. The Banaras Hindu University (BHU) was founded in 1916 by Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya. Indological studies were carried out by the Sanskrit department of BHU. Rarnavatar Sharrna, Nil Kamal Bhattacharya, S.K. Belvelkar, A.B. Dhruva, Subodh Chandra Mukerjee and P.L. Vaidya started a rich tradition of Indological studies (Mishra, S., 1992). The Oriental Research Institute was founded in 1891 in Mysore by Charnaraja Woodcyar of the Mysore State. M. I-Iiriyanna, A. Mahadcva Sastri, S.G. Narasimhachar, R. Shamasatri and Sudarshanacharrya built the reputation of this institute by their pioneering works. R. Shamasatris discovery and critical edition of Kautilyas Arr/aazmsrra is comparable to P.V. Kanefs History of the Dharmasasmzs. M. Hitiyanna wrote authoritative commentaries on the Indian philosophical systems (Rajagopalachar, K., 1992). The Theosophical Society was founded in Madras in 1882. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott had founded the Theosophical Movement in New York in 1875. It utilized ideas and

symbols from Egyptian, Hindu and Buddhist religions as legitimization for its criticism of contemporary life in Europe and America. On 2 May 1878, the New York group changed its name to the Theosophical Society of the Arya Samaj of India. The society also recognized Swami Dayananda Saraswati as its lawful Director and Chief. By 1881, Dayananda and the Theosophists had parted ways, and, therefore, the Theosophical Society was restructured. A wide range of individuals like A.O. Hume, Gopal Krishna Gokhle and Major General Morgan of the British army joined this movement. In December 1882, they shifted to Adyar, just south of Madras city. They built several Sanskrit schools in Triplicane, Mylapore, Black Town and Madras city. They established a big Oriental library at Adyar in 1886. In 1893, Annie Besant came to India to work for the Theosophical Society. She founded the Central Hindu College at Varanasi in 1898. In 1907, she became president of the Theosophical Society and shifted to Adyar

Computers have brought in a revolution not only by minimizing hard manual labour and the time span required for higher studies but also by opening new approaches to the tradition as well as linguistic and philological problems. Students and researchers in Sanskrit have become aware of the fact that Sanskrit is not merely a cultural language of India but that it was found as the paramount linguistic medium by which ruling elites expressed their power from Purusapum (Peshawar) in Gandbara in the northwest of the subcontinent to as far east as Parmlunmgtz in Armam (South Vietnam) and Pramhanan in Central Java (Sheldon, Pollock, The Sanskrit Cosmopolis, 300-1300: TransCulturation, Vernacularization, and Question of Identity in Indology Rich source of review of literature , as empirical research is not possible without a background knowledge as Louis Dumont and Pacock used a lot of Indology (culturalogical approach)