I only read about half the book, so I am not well qualified to respond. My impression was that the book started as a project on the Bhagavadgita, which was a bit expanded to include the history of research on the Mahabharata. The whole thing was then packaged as a history of German Indology, but obviously the book does not deliver what its subtitle promises. The authors are blissfully ignorant of German Indology, and they probably know it. They claim to provide a history of German Indology by sketching a history of its method. But Indology, the German included, does not have a method (in the sense that it does not have a single method, as the authors imagine).
I was told that one of the authors, I can't remember which, was failed PhD student of Michael Hahn, which explains perhaps the nasty tone of expression throughout the book.
Best wishes,
Eli
Sent from my iPad
Take a look at 360-363. Nothing earthshaking, but quite interesting and (to those of us who know nothing of the history) revelatory, I think. George Hart
Dear Professor Hart,
thanks for your reply which, however, does not go beyond generalities. The perusal of 15 pages of a book amounting to 494 may not necessarily be regarded the basis for any qualified statement, be it positive or negative.
Nevertheless, would you be kind enough to specify a point you found in these 15 pages that you found worth being "seriously considered by indologists"?
Thanks in advance
Reinhold Grünendahl
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
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."
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