Indology

Indology focuses on the study of the cultural and intellectual history of South Asia from its beginnings to the present. It sees itself primarily as a linguistic and literary discipline that uses the methods of historical philology to examine the written sources of the cultures of South Asia. Sanskrit, the classical language of India, is regularly taught in the form of two-semester introductory courses. Hindi and Urdu are currently part of the fixed range of contemporary languages. Additional courses include Bengali, Tamil and Telugu as well as various Middle Indian languages (Pāli, Ardhamāgadhī, Gāndhārī). There is also close cooperation in research and teaching with Tibetology, the Buddhist Manuscripts from Gandhāra project as well as the doctoral programme in Buddhist Studies.