Truth and method in Indology, III

[Jan E.M. Houben]

I wrote:

>I could give a list of points on which Western (European) and Eastern
>(Japanese) scholars could make *methodological* improvements in their research.

L.M. Fosse wrote:
>Please do!

However, I also wrote:

>But I would like to get such a list from an Indian student or scholar trained
>at and connected with an Indian university, and focusing on Indology and Vedic
>studies.

Nevertheless, let me mention a single point: further research in the direction
pointed out in your recent book The crux of chronology: statistics and
Indology: a study of method (Oslo 1997) will be of great value for a
methodologically improved Indology. In addition to the almost universal
chronology question, the many authorship-issues in Indology could be tackled
with the help of statistical tools. A recent, partly problematic yet
interesting attempt in this direction in the thesis van der Geer, Leiden 1998:
the bhAsa-problem.

Now I wait further for an Indian list. And, just to be on the safe side,  I
repeat my note that I am here interested in *methodological* problems:

>my interest concerns the root of the tree of knowledge rather than
>its fruit; I am aware that many Indians would like to see different
>*conclusions* from Indological research.

JH