Institutionen för lingvistik och filologi (Swedish)Indology
Indology means "knowledge of India". Through the Sanskrit literature, the collected thoughts inherited through Indian history can be read and appreciated. The oldest texts written in Sanskrit are the Vedas, 3-4000 years old, well-known in the Western world as some of the oldest extant documents of the Indo-European language family (see Comparative Indo-European linguistics).
During the Indian classical age, the centuries around B.C., an extensive religious, philosophical and scientific literature developed, as well as a rich, linguistically well-advanced poetry, built on the oral tradition. Sanskrit is primarily the traditional language of expression of Hindu religion, in the same way as Latin was once the language of Christianity. There is further a rich Buddhist literature written in Sanskrit. In India, the language developed through Middel Indo-Aryan languages to Modern ("New") Hindi. The Middel Indo-Aryan langauges are the primary mode of expression of the Indian religions Jainism and southern Buddhism.
Undergradaute studies
The main part of the curriculum of Indology is the study of Sanskrit. At higher levels, Middle Indo-Aryan languages are also included in the course work.
Research and postgraduate projects
Active researchers
- William L. Smith, Professor of South Asian languages and culture
- Gunilla Gren-Eklund, Professor emerita of Indology, especially Sanskrit
- Christiane Schaefer, Senior lecturer in Comparative Indo-European linguistics
Research projects
- The cultural history of India: a distance course. This course will be the equivalent of the 7.5 point course "The religions, history and cultural history of India". It will consist of a series of filmed lectures in English, with illustrations, film clips, sound bits etc. using the Ping-Pong platform. It is being constructed by William L. Smith and Roberto Menkes of Stockholm university (funded by Uppsala learning lab).
- The Mahabharata in Eastern India: a study of four vernacular versions of the Indian epic Mahabharata written in Assamese, Bengali and Oriya - William L. Smith (funded by Stockholm university).
Current PhD projects
- Peter Larsson
Developing projects
Forthcoming
Conferences
Seminars
- The South Asia Seminar is a multidisciplinary seminar for researchers and PhD candidates, interested in South Asia, within the English Park Campus. If you are interested in participating in the seminar please contact the coordinator, Willy Pfändtner.
Publications
- South Asian Studies
- Studia Indoeuropaea Upsaliensia
- Orientalia Suecana
- RAAS
- The Hindu Epics and the Turkish Invasions Paper to be presented at the Religion on the Borders conference Stockholm, April 2007
- Recent publications of William L. Smith:
- "Shankaradeva och Assams hinduisering", Svensk religionshistorisk årsskrift 2005
- "Ramayana Lore in the Mahabharata of Sarala Dasa", Journal of Vaishnava Studies (2005)
- "Ramayana förenar Asien från Indien till Indonesien", Sydasien, 29:2 (2006)
- In press:
- "Shankaradeva’s Parijata Harana", in Krishna. A Source Book, ed. John Stratton Hawley, Oxford University Press
- "Oja-Pali", in Kindlers Literatur-Lexikon
- "Jagadguru Shankaradeva", in Journal of Vaishnava Studies