Declaration by members and friends of the South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University

The South Asia Institute (SAI) at Heidelberg University and its friends are puzzled by the fact that the lecture “What is South Asian Knowledge Good For?” delivered by Professor Sheldon Pollock at the celebration of its 50^th anniversary on May 8, 2012, has resulted in a petition (https://www.change.org/p/mr-n-r-narayana-murthy-and-mr-rohan-narayan-murty-removal-of-prof-sheldon-pollock-as-mentor-and-chief-editor-of-murty-classical-library), initiated by Professor Ganesh Ramakrishnan from IIT Bombay, to remove Prof. Pollock from the General Editorship  of the Murty Classical Library of India published by Harvard University Press (http://www.murtylibrary.com/). Following the motto of Heidelberg University (semper apertus, “always open”), the SAI has always been a place of religious and political tolerance, freedom of speech and diversity of intellectual and methodological approaches. It would never have tolerated a key note that would contradict these principles, and in fact – as is clearly evident from the text of the lecture (http://crossasia-repository.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/3183/) – Professor Pollock, in his lecture, highlighted the importance and value of Indian traditions and knowledge systems – quite the opposite of what is claimed by the authors of the petition.

We, the undersigned, condemn all ad hominem attacks on bona fide scholars and students as well as any attempt to limit academic freedom and the freedom of speech on campuses.  We are shocked by the deliberate misrepresentation of Prof. Pollock's message. We regard it as our duty, as intellectuals and as citizens, to work cooperatively with our Indian colleagues toward better understandings of each other, of our pasts and our present.  Such improved understanding requires continual rethinking and, if necessary, revision of existing theories, along with a mutual respect for religious, philosophical, political and social ideas.

Prof. Christiane Brosius, Excellence Cluster “Asia and Europe in a Global Context”, Heidelberg University

Prof. Joerg Gengnagel, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University

Dr. Martin Gieselmann, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University

Prof. Niels Gutschow, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University

Prof. Hans Harder, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University

Prof. Jens-Uwe Hartmann, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Munich

Prof. Madeleine Herren-Oesch, Institute for European Global Studies, Basel University

Prof. Ute Hüsken, Oslo University

Prof. Monica Juneja, Excellence Cluster “Asia and Europe in a Global Context”, Heidelberg University

Prof. Birgit Kellner, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna

Prof. Hermann Kreutzmann, Freie Universitaet Berlin

Prof. Hermann Kulke, Kiel University

Prof. Joachim Kurtz, Excellence Cluster “Asia and Europe in a Global Context”, Heidelberg University

Prof. Joseph Maran, Excellence Cluster “Asia and Europe in a Global Context”, Heidelberg University

Prof. Axel Michaels, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University

Prof. Rahul Mukherji, National University of Singapore

Prof. Marcus Nüsser, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University

Prof. Sumathi Ramaswamy, Duke University

Prof. William S. Sax, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University

Prof. Ingo Strauch, Lausanne University