[INDOLOGY] The so-called German Indology

Fri Jun 12 16:29:41 UTC 2015

I suppose that Professor Hart, like many other members of the list, may not yet be aware of the rather substantial series of articles that Dr. Grünendahl has devoted to debunking the very idea of a "German Indology" and other elements of self proclaimed "critique" of Indology. One of the authors taken to task by Dr. Gruenendahl has been the very Vishva Adluri whose name I now encounter again as author of the book to which Dr. Maas has drawn our attention. 

Here is the relevant article of Dr. Grünendahl:

  Grünendahl, Reinhold. 2012. “History in the Making: On Sheldon Pollock’s ‘NS Indology’ and Vishwa Adluri’s ‘Pride and Prejudice.’” International Journal of Hindu Studies 16 (2): 189–257. doi:10.1007/s11407-012-9115-1.

Best wishes,

Arlo Griffiths
École française d'Extrême-Orient

From: glhart at berkeley.edu
Date: Fri, 12 Jun 2015 09:00:54 -0700
To: indology at list.indology.info
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] The so-called German Indology

I have not read the book, only about 15 pages from what Amazon lets us see.  It seems obvious to me that the book needs to be taken seriously.  If scholars disagree vehemently with its method and conclusions, I hope they will read it and write a review.  My own impression (based on just a few pages) is that the book helps give perspective to the “science” of Indology — how it developed, what social and historical forces guided it, and perhaps some assumptions of modern scholars that are problematic.  I remember spending a year poring over Geldner, Grassman, and Oldenberg and being very impressed by their scholarship.  The accomplishments of German Indologists are clearly seminal, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important to understand the intellectual, cultural and historical circumstances that inevitably influenced what they wrote. George Hart
On Jun 12, 2015, at 8:42 AM, Herman Tull <hermantull at gmail.com> wrote:
My comment was written before I saw Reinhold's comment.  My original remark was less a matter of supporting ("acclamation") George Hart's remarks (which I do support), then it was a matter of drawing our attention to the fact that Americans have struggled with their academic heritage, and in particular, with the precise sense of "wissenschaftlich."  

On Fri, Jun 12, 2015 at 11:08 AM, Gruenendahl, Reinhold <gruenen at sub.uni-goettingen.de> wrote:

I hope this is not to suggest that the matter should be decided by acclamation. I merely asked Professor Hart to specify a point "that should be seriously considered by indologists". My interest does not go beyond that.
 R.G.

Von: INDOLOGY [indology-bounces at list.indology.info]" im Auftrag von "Herman Tull [hermantull at gmail.com]

Gesendet: Freitag, 12. Juni 2015 16:59

An: Indology

Betreff: Re: [INDOLOGY] The so-called German Indology

I am reading the Adluri/Bagchee book right now; though not without its problems, I have to agree with George Hart's assessment.

But, I will also say, as a student of religion (my graduate department had the rather comprehensive and so, too, largely meaningless name, "Department of the History and Literature of Religions"), Americans have long struggled with the precise meaning of
"wissenschaftlich."  The 19th century American world was a direct descendent of the German academy, but lacked its sophistication.  (Somewhere early in the JAOS I recall that the reason given for the turn to Oriental studies was to "keep
 up with the Joneses"--i.e., the Europeans; not much science there, I am afraid.)

cheers,

Herman Tull 

On Fri, Jun 12, 2015 at 10:27 AM, George Hart 
<glhart at berkeley.edu> wrote:

If you search the book at Amazon, you can read significant parts of it (“Look inside this book”). The authors are serious, well-read scholars and have put a colossal amount of work into their effort. The book strikes me as
 an important contribution whose ideas should be seriously considered by indologists. George Hart

On Jun 12, 2015, at 5:48 AM, Dominik Wujastyk <wujastyk at gmail.com> wrote:

On 12 June 2015 at 14:15, Philipp Maas <philipp.a.maas at gmail.com> wrote:

 In reading these lines, I get quite puzzled. Are historical-critical methods in general flawed, or only when practiced by Germans?

Only when practised by Germans, as any Italian would certainly answer :-)

(This refers to a running joke between some of us British, German and Italian philologists here at the Vienna department.)

I suppose the Adluri & Bagchee book deserves a more serious response, but I'm not interested personally.  How did this get by the commissioning editor at OUP NY?

Best,

Dominik Wujastyk

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-- 

Herman Tull

Princeton, NJ 

-- 
Herman Tull
Princeton, NJ 

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