Making the Argument for Sanskrit

[Lars Martin Fosse]

Jürgen Neuss wrote:
> i suppose other indological departments have also witnessed 
> an increase in student numbers? if so, that would possibly 
> serve as an argument to show that the present scaling-down 
> efforts are against a general public trend.

We have to make a difference between classical Indology and modern South
Asian studies. As far as Oslo is concerned, there has been an increase in
students with an interest in modern studies, as far as I can see. The
problem is Sanskrit as such. Sanskrit has always attracted some students,
but never many. A good year would see 3-6 students, of whom perhaps 1-3
would take an examination. A bad year might see no students at all. In Oslo,
at least, the number of students - or "study points" - matters. The problem
for Sanskrit seems to be that it is badly integrated into modern studies. (I
would be interested to know if others here have a different experience). In
Oslo, the "modernists" don't seem to be much interested in Ancient India,
whereas the "classicists" have also tended to take an interest in the modern
stuff. (E.g.: my last student did Sanskrit and Pali very well and then also
went to India to study some Hindi. On the other hand, an attempt to teach
Hindi students at least some Sanskrit failed, I believe partly for
bureaucratic reasons). This imbalance is unfortunate, because it creates the
impression that ancient India may be dispensed with. We seem to need more
integration without sacrificing the methods and approaches of classical
studies. 

Lars Martin Fosse


 

From: 
Dr.art. Lars Martin Fosse 
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0674 Oslo - Norway 
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E-mail: lmfosse at chello.no 
http://www.linguistfinder.com/translators.asp?id=2164



 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Indology [mailto:INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk] On Behalf Of JN
> Sent: Monday, January 15, 2007 7:29 PM
> To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk
> Subject: Re: Making the Argument for Sanskrit
> 
> lars martin fosse wrote:
> 
> (...)
> > The problem is that so much modern university politics are 
> driven by 
> > student number considerations, not the need for knowledge and 
> > competence in the absolute sense of the word.
> (...)
> 
> I am not really sure about the first part of this statement 
> as our Berlin Institute has witnessed a steady and relatively 
> steep increase in student numbers over the last 10 years, 
> which in my view reflects a general increasing interest in 
> south asia. Supposedly in order to deprive us of an argument 
> concerning good "customer response", a few years ago, the 
> authorities have restricted the enrolment for our discipline 
> even without prior consultation of the head of our department 
> (as far as I know).
> eversince the student numbers remain stagnant on the level 
> fixed by the authorities.
> i suppose other indological departments have also witnessed 
> an increase in student numbers? if so, that would possibly 
> serve as an argument to show that the present scaling-down 
> efforts are against a general public trend.
> 
> greetings
> 
> jn
> --
> ________________________________________
> Juergen Neuss, M.A.
> 
> Freie Universitaet Berlin
> Institut für Indische Philologie und Kunstgeschichte 
> Koenigin-Luise-Str. 34a
> D-14195 Berlin
> Germany
>