Dear Dean et al, There are assuredly others, but one place to find a detailed account of the early study of Sanskrit in the West (and especially its French connections through Burnouf and others) is Raymond Schwab, _The Oriental Renaissance: Europe's Rediscovery of India and the East, 1680-1880_, New York: Columbia University Press, 1984. (translation; originally published in French, 1950).
Worldcat entry: https://www.worldcat.org/title/oriental-renaissance-europes-rediscovery-of-india-and-the-east-1680-1880/oclc/496016599 With best wishes, Adheesh — Adheesh Sathaye University of British Columbia > On Jun 25, 2021, at 07:43, Dean Michael Anderson via INDOLOGY > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Dear Jan, > > Thank you for this informative post. One question. You wrote that French was: > "the language which was the first occidental language of the scientific study > of Sanskrit" > > Could you please give me more information on this? I was recently briefly > covering the history of Sanskrit in the West and, while I was aware that > France was one of the major players, I was not aware that it was the "first" > in this sense. > > I am not doubting you, since you no doubt know more about this than me. > > Could you please point me to some publications on this? Sadly, though, French > is not one of my main languages and is only at the tourist level. > > Of course, in today's climate in the US, even that is enough that some might > consider it un-American. I've heard that more than one person said, "If > English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me." > > Best, > > Dean > > > On Friday, June 25, 2021, 7:16:48 PM GMT+5:30, Jan E.M. Houben via INDOLOGY > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Dear Dominik, > Thanks for asking this useful question. > In addition to Isabelle's earlier contribution to this thread I would like to > add a few elements: the BA in Sanskrit at the Sorbonne Nouvelle is > pedagogically one of the best in the world -- the only limitations I would > add are: in the occidental world, for a Western public, because the strategy > to teach Sanskrit to Indian / South Asian students can be and should be > different as most of them, even if their main subjects are IT, engineering > etc., are already so much familiar with Sanskrit and Sanskritic vocabulary > which often helps but may frequently also put the student on a wrong or > deceptive track. > Hence during my stay at IIT-Bhubaneswar as visiting professor in 2019 > (teaching, among other things, an introductory course on Sanskrit, German and > comparative linguistics specially for IIT-students with an Indian linguistic > background), I planned and organized a seminar on "Functional and > Communicative Sanskrit" on 21 December 2019 with contributions by Godabarish > Mishra, Amba Kulkarni, Siniruddha Dash and others. My plan to help to develop > this further, in 2020, to an introductory course on Sanskrit and comparative > linguistics specially for these students could not be realized due to the > Corona crisis. > As for the BA in Sanskrit at the Sorbonne Nouvelle, another plus is that it > is in French, so that the student at the same time can develop familiarity > with the language which was the first occidental language of the scientific > study of Sanskrit, extensively used also by the earlier generation of German > Sanskrit scholars such as the brothers von Schlegel and Franz Bopp. > As for the Sorbonne Nouvelle, the manual used, or one of the major manuals > used, is Le Sanskrit by Nalini Balbir (Paris, 2013) of which an English > version is in preparation. The specialty of Le Sanskrit is that it presents, > for the first time, the language not only in its grammatical structure but > also as a living means of expression and communication, entirely on the basis > of examples attested in Sanskrit literature (fiction, fables, dramas) -- > hence it is different both from classical occidental introductions to > Sanskrit and from modern introductions to "spoken Sanskrit". It is a worthy > contribution to the series "Assimil" in which Le Sanskrit is published, as it > follows throughout the "assimilation" method (nipāna-rīti) of language > learning. > When it appeared I composed a brief verse: > निपानरीतिमार्गेण संस्कृताध्यापनार्थकम् । > चकार नलिनी शास्त्रम् अतोऽध्येता प्रसिध्यति ॥ > nipānarītimārgeṇa saṁskṛtādhyāpanārthakam | > cakāra Nalinī śāstram ato’dhyetā prasidhyati || > Jan Houben > > N.B. Specifically to practice and read Sanskrit there is a yearly "stage de > Sanskrit" organized by Sylvain Brocquet at the Université de Provence et > Aix-en-Provence (https://cpaf.cnrs.fr/spip.php?article423&lang=fr > <https://cpaf.cnrs.fr/spip.php?article423&lang=fr>); another "stage de > Sanskrit" is expected soon at the new institute ILARA, here in Paris. > > > On Fri, 25 Jun 2021 at 08:46, Isabelle Ratie via INDOLOGY > <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > Dear Dominik, > That our BA in Sanskrit includes a few courses without Sanskrit requirement > does not disqualify our BA as one in Sanskrit! It definitely focuses on the > Sanskrit language, as is specified on the first page to which I sent a link: > son objet principal est le sanskrit et ses littératures, dont elle met en > évidence la richesse: l’apprentissage du sanskrit s’y fait avant tout par la > lecture et la traduction intensives de textes appartenant à des genres très > différents (contes, épopée, poésie savante, littérature historiographique, > traités philosophiques, traités d’esthétique, etc.). > With all best wishes, > Isabelle > > Le ven. 25 juin 2021 à 04:44, Dominik Wujastyk <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> a écrit : > What about > > l’histoire de la société, des philosophies et des religions indiennes, ou > encore l’histoire de la connaissance de l’Inde. > > Those would not be courses involving reading Sanskrit as such, would they? > They would be in French, about India? > > Similarly at UT Austin, it looks like students have to take lots of courses > called, > > Asian Studies related to South Asia > > Again, that wouldn't be actual reading of Sanskrit texts, would it? And > there appear to be a lot of courses under "Core" that are not Sanskrit. (US > History; Social and Behavioural Science, etc.). Presumably students take a > few of these? So it's a general humanities degree with a high Sanskrit > content. Would that be right, or am I misunderstanding? > > I was thinking about a degree that focussed on Sanskrit language and > literature, not a course where Sanskrit was a component (even a large > component). I'm thinking of the Oxford BA, or the BA at SOAS, when it > existed, in the days when it was taught by Mr J. E. B. Gray with his > legendary cyclostyled, typewritten, four-year course. Or the courses taught > at German universities in the days of the old MA system. > > Best, > Dominik > > > _______________________________________________ > INDOLOGY mailing list > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology > <https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology> > > > -- > Jan E.M. Houben > Directeur d'Études, Professor of South Asian History and Philology > Sources et histoire de la tradition sanskrite > École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE, Paris Sciences et Lettres) > Sciences historiques et philologiques > Groupe de recherches en études indiennes (EA 2120) > johannes.houben [at] ephe.psl.eu <mailto:[email protected]> > https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben > <https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben> > https://www.classicalindia.info <https://www.classicalindia.info/> > LabEx Hastec OS 2021 -- L'Inde Classique augmentée: construction, > transmission > et transformations d'un savoir scientifique > > _______________________________________________ > INDOLOGY mailing list > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology > <https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology> > > _______________________________________________ > INDOLOGY mailing list > [email protected] > https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
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