[INDOLOGY] Imagining Sanskritland Book Announcement

[Paolo E. Rosati]

Congratulations! I remember your research since the conference at ANU in
2016!
Paolo

*Paolo E. Rosati*

*PhD in Asian and African Studies*
*https://uniroma1.academia.edu/paolo
<https://uniroma1.academia.edu/PaoloRosati/>**er*
*osati/ <https://uniroma1.academia.edu/PaoloRosati/>*
​​https://orcid.org/0000-0001-81430026
<https://orcid.org/0000-0001-81430026>
paoloe.rosati at gmail.com
Mobile/Whatsapp: (+39) 338 73 83 472

Il Mar 18 Ago 2026, 11:17 patrick mccartney via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> ha scritto:

> Dear Friends,
>
> I would like to share news of the imminent release of my second monograph,
> which features as part of the *Routledge Studies of Sociolinguistics.*
>
> *Titled: *‘Sanskrit-speaking’ Villages, Linguistic Utopias and the
> Metaphysics of Development: Imagining Sanskritland
> <https://www.routledge.com/Sanskrit-speaking-Villages-Linguistic-Utopias-and-the-Metaphysics-of-Development-Imagining-Sanskritland/McCartney/p/book/9781003476443>
>
> *Description: *
> This book is a recollection of McCartney’s journey across ‘Sanskritland,’
> which is the term coined to refer to the utopian landscape within which the
> ‘Language of the Gods’ is thought to be spoken.
>
> There are three destinations on the author’s journey. The first includes
> understanding how Sanskrit narratives are woven into yoga-inflected
> ‘lifestyles,’ forming biographies operationalised toward soft-power
> purposes. Next, the historical sociolinguistic contexts that have shaped
> Sanskritland are discussed, framed by application in sustainable
> development narratives. Finally, comprehensive demographic and linguistic
> analyses of Sanskrit across all of India’s census enumerations (from 1872
> to 2011) shows the ‘shifting sands’ of Sanskrit’s ‘speakers’ and how the
> ‘Sanskrit-speaking’ village data show that most people who identify as
> speakers of Sanskrit live in urban areas and ‘speak’ Sanskrit as a third
> language. All of these together shed light on how, why, and where Sanskrit
> is spoken in the twenty-first century, the complex and dynamic historical
> and contemporary contexts that have allowed this, and how both yoga and
> Sanskrit are instruments for development and soft-power projects.
>
> This book is an essential read for scholars and students of linguistic
> anthropology, Indology and sustainable development.
>
>
> *Reviews:*
>
> 'Bridges persistent gaps between philology, history and ethnography that
> have plagued Indology. Through an empirical study of so-called "Vedic"
> villages, the spoken Sanskrit movement, and transnational wellness
> discourses around Yoga and Ayurveda, the author draws our attention to the
> sociolinguistics, as it were, of an imaginary place called "Sanskritland".
> Given the growing symbolic significance of Sanskrit to the construction of
> a Hindu Rashtra, a space permeated by what policy parlance names "Indian
> Knowledge Systems", this book appears not a moment too soon.'
>
> *Ananya Vajpeyi, *Professor, *Centre for the Study of Developing
> Societies, New Delhi*
>
>
> *'Imagining Sanskritland* is a masterful exploration of the making of a
> linguistic utopia, chiefly as an ideological project that has been shaped
> by the troubles and travails of Hindutva. By putting contemporary Indian
> populist nationalism in the spotlight, the many claims of
> "Sanskrit-speaking"  for authenticity, morality and civilizational pride
> are traced and studied within narratives about the wellness industry,
> consumerism, sustainable development and ecological harmony. In helping us
> understand  the many gaps and disconnects between the ideal worlds of
> Sanskrit revivalism and the realities of the everyday, McCartney has made a
> significant and stellar contribution to the study of cultural politics in
> the age of contemporary populism.'
>
> *Rohan D'Souza*, Professor, *ASAFAS, Kyoto University. *
>
>
> 'McCartney weaves decades of painstaking interdisciplinary research into
> this close study of contemporary Sanskrit revival. Integrating
> anthropological theory, archival research, Sanskrit studies,
> sociolinguistics, census data, and careful fieldwork, his travels in
> Sanskrit-speaking villages in India paint a compelling picture of the role
> of language ideology in a time of profound social change. This study will
> do what all powerful studies should do: question assumptions, topple
> cultural icons, and create debate. The depth and breadth of intellectual
> resources that McCartney brings to the topic make it a key resource for
> anyone interested in the role of tradition in contemporary India.'
>
> *Laurie L. Patton*, Professor of Religion Emerita, *Middlebury College*
>
>
> Thank you for your support.
>
>
> All the best,
>
> Patrick McCartney, PhD
> Hiroshima, Japan
> New Book
> <https://www.routledge.com/Sanskrit-speaking-Villages-Linguistic-Utopias-and-the-Metaphysics-of-Development-Imagining-Sanskritland/McCartney/p/book/9781032759746>
> Earlier Book
> <https://www.routledge.com/Authenticity-Legitimacy-and-the-Transglobal-Yoga-Industry-A-Sociological-Analysis-of-Shanti-Mandir/McCartney/p/book/9781032762357>
> Latest Article
> <http://hasp.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/journals/ejvs/issue/view/1685>
>
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>
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