Making the Argument for Sanskrit : a Real Problem and Directions for a Solution

[Simon Brodbeck]

----- Original Message ----- From: "Walter Slaje"

> Before the issue is being carried on any further
> in the way it just seems to be getting started, I
> strongly recommend first to study Gruenendahl's
> arguments closely, and only then revert to this
> subject in the present Sanskrit context, or leave
> it.
>
> R. Gruenendahl, Von der Indologie zum
> Voelkermord.
> Die Kontinuitaetskonstrukte Sheldon Pollock's und
> seiner Epigonen im Lichte ihrer Beweisfuehrung.
> In: Jaina-ItihAsa-Ratna. Festschrift fuer Gustav
> Roth zum 80. Geburtstag. Hrsg. v. U. Huesken, P.
> Kieffer-Puelz und A. Peters. Marburg: Indica et
> Tibetica Verlag 2006: 209-236.

Is there any hope of an English translation of this important article? I ask 
because in the UK education system these days (I cannot speak directly for 
the past, or for other places) it is generally only students whose primary 
and secondary education has taken place outside the UK who are able to read 
German with any facility. Indeed, although increasing numbers of students in 
UK universities in all disciplines do (for financial reasons) fall into this 
category, the fact that German is hardly taught in non-fee-paying schools in 
the UK -- or, indeed, to Sanskrit students in UK universities as a matter of 
course -- means that, if important Indological literature is to be produced 
in German and not translated, it is difficult to see how the UK could 
sensibly sustain a proper Indological tradition, will or no will. I make 
these points, I hasten to add, with nothing but the deepest respect for my 
colleagues overseas, and because Cambridge University is physically located 
in the UK.

Simon Brodbeck
SOAS, London