First of all, what is Indology? According to Wikipedia
Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a subset of Asian studies.
In Western countries more and more Asian cultures are gaining appreciation. South Korea is getting popular for K-Pop and doramas, therefore increasing amount of people choose to learn Korean language. Same pattern can be described when we look at Japan, for example.
We can say that there are popular Asian countries that are getting recognition through mostly positive news and products.
But the thing about Bharat (India) is that it’s most often viewed through a negative lense in media, which shapes people’s mindset about different cultures. People in my country tend to have a kind of superiority when it comes to Bharat. Their view on said country is that people there are dirty, illiterate and — in one word — underdeveloped.
With the described mentality it’s no wonder why students don’t choose to study indology. They don’t get a varied, layered pile of information about Indian culture, nor anything positive about it, so the seed of interest doesn’t even have the chance to spring.
Through the years, the picture of India in my head shaped steadily; it started gaining colours, layers and depths. It was a unique moment to me when I realized that as I’m studying about the culture, in return it opened up and showed me its treasures.
Starting with the fact that Bharat has more than a hundred spoken languages (including Sanskrit, Kannada, Hindi, Tamil etc…), its history is rich and goes back to ancient times — when one of the most mysterious and developed civilizations, the Indus Valley Civilization lived at the area — , the architecture is spectacular (and I don’t mean the Taj Mahal only, but buildings like the Ranganathaswamy Temple as well, which is the largest functioning Hindu temple), and so on…
As the example above shows, Indology is a group of studies where no matter which aspect you’re interested in, you’ll find yourself in the middle of a diverse and ancient-rooted culture in which everything is linked. Just like once you start learning Sanskrit (which is a tough ride with huge up-and-downs if you ask me), you’ll realize how it’s deeply interweaved with Hinduism and there you are, in the forest of Indian religions, where you’ll find another paths towards epics, literature and rituals. And those paths keep showing up, just like the roots of a tree — in an endless web.
Bharat can’t be described in just a few words, so I won’t even try to. Instead, I’d like to tell about my own experience with Indology.
I started studying Indology in Budapest, at ELTE. This is one of the few opportunities for people to learn about India on an academic level in Hungary. I’ll be starting my last year here in a few days and have been through two so far.
On the very first days we had to learn devanāgarī writing system, which became essential for our studies in Hindi and Sanskrit. These two languages are in the main focus, and later on, in the second year a third one (Tamil for me) comes in. As you can see, it’s a wonderful opportunity for language-learning. Besides these we study about the history of South Asia, their literature and about religious aspects too, of course.
In my opinion, as India will slowly start to get the recognition it deserves, studying Indology is a great idea, especially for those whom are interested in challenging languages and a rich culture.
Studying Indology is, as I see, a diving board. You get the momentum to jump in the form of learning about Bharat and its languages. And when university ends and you push off of the board, you exactly know where you’ll land — in the depth of water, in the depth of a culture that already feels so familiar. And all you want to do is dive further in and discover more.
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