Dear Allen,

Since I am not aware of the official position in the Universities at present I can speak only from personal experience.

So long as one was in the training Institute/process (Missionary School/College or generous individual teachers; regular teaching in the Universities was not known to me), there was no problem. The problem arose when pursuing the study. I could purchase two good Latin Dictionaries but none supplied me with one of Classical/Homeric Greek.

It required much effort and prayer to xerox a dictionary of Biblical Greek.

To prevent misconception I must add one more information. When I left the University, it did not become difficult for me to purchase reader-cum-grammars like Pharr’s HG or Wright’s Grammar of the Gothic language in Calcutta. Later I could also procure copies of comparative linguistic studies like the ones by Buck or Sturtevant (Hittite). Publications by Faber and Faber too are available in the market. It is the dictionaries of some rare (in India) languages that are difficult to procure.

I hope the position is clear.

Best

DB

From: Thrasher, Allen <athr@LOC.GOV>
Subject: [INDOLOGY] No incoming Sanskrit students at Andhra University :-(
To: INDOLOGY@liverpool.ac.uk
Date: Wednesday, 6 July, 2011, 2:05 AM

Dipak,

You say, "Allen’s information confirms that this is true of Latin too. This also explains why in India one finds few problems in finding material for Latin study, but has to do much more labour, often unsuccessful, for Homeric or Classical Greek studies. Studying Biblical Greek is less of a problem!"

When you say "finding material," do you mean finding textbooks to teach oneself, or courses given in academic institutions?

By the way, does anyone know about the extent of offering Latin and Greek in Indian institutions in the colonial period, for the sake of the IAS exams, or for that matter other exams?  I looked into this once but couldn't find much.  I suppose among other things one would have to look at the course catalogs of the colleges and universities.

 

Allen

Allen W. Thrasher, Ph.D.

Senior Reference Librarian and Team Coordinator

South Asia Team

Asian Division

Library of Congress

101 Independence Ave., S.W.

Washington, DC 20540-4810

USA

tel. 202-707-3732

fax 202-707-1724

The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Library of Congress.