South Asia Institute REPORT www.sai.uni-heidelberg.de Im NeuenheimerFeld 330 Tel.: +49 - 6221 - 548900 D-69120 Heidelberg 20 01 Fax: +49 - 6221 - 544998 Germany Farewell to Dietmar Rothermund The Sanskrit Summer School Intensive Hindi Course In memoriam Dieter Conrad Youth in Sri Lanka Medical Anthropology at the SAI All quiet on the water front? SAI-REPORT 2001 EDITORIAL Farewell to Dietmar Rothermund: by Axel Michaels Three Decades of German Afghanistan - the crisis in this tortured country does not only deeply concern Research on India all of us but also influences our pro- fessional work in South Asia. Many By Tilman Frasch colleagues at the SAI have worked in the region that is now the focus of the On January 20th, Dietmar Rothermund merous articles. He also founded and edit- world’s attention. What they have told celebrated his 68th birthday and retired ed the Journal of Non-European History us has always been fascinating, but after serving for 33 years as Professor of Periplus which serves as a platform for nowadays it is partly frightening and Modern South Indian History. Born 1933 German historians in this field. An updat- mostly sad. in Kassel, he studied History and Philos- ed version of his masterly History of India, ophy at the universities of Marburg, Mu- which he wrote together with Hermann Is there any hope in these bleak days, nich and Philadelphia where he graduat- Kulke appeared in 1998; the book was in this period which might rightly be ed in 1959 with a Ph. D. thesis on the also translated into Italian and into Eng- called Kaliyuga? I am as much at a social and religious history of 18th century lish (third edition 1999). Other books by loss as anyone else, but I wish that for North America. After a long stay in India, him were translated into Indian languages once and all the world could accept a he finally arrived at Heidelberg where he (Bengali, Telugu), Turkish and Chinese. (South) Asian value as a universal right: became Assistant Professor at the newly It was his particular concern to spread ahimsa or non-violence. Why should this established Chair of South Asian History. knowledge and information regarding ethical norm not be included in a new After finishing his habilitation - the the- South Asia, not only in teaching students declaration of human rights? Further sis on „Die politische Willensbildung in or through publications, but also through problems could and should be solved Indien, 1900 to 1960“ is a standard in this the German media. In order to promote afterwards. field to-date – he was appointed Full Pro- an image of South Asia beyond catastro- fessor of South Asian History on August phies such as nuclear tests, airplane hijack- However, my fear is that the hegemo- 1st, 1968. For many years, he also served ings or earthquakes – the usual occasions ny of Western values will continue in as Executive Director of the South Asia when German media turn their attention the far too rapid process of globalisa- Institute, a task that more than once towards South Asia – he consistently gave tion and the sometimes disgusting clash required his full attention in order to ensure radio and television interviews. In recent of religions, civilisations and cultures. the survival of the institute against attempts years, his department has become a reliable This makes our modest contribution of restructuring or budget cuttings. and commonly used source of informa- in this institute to an understanding of tion for journalists. His concern to bring each other more necessary than ever. The academic oevre of Dietmar Rother- South Asia into the consciousness of the Ger- mund is impressive. He has authored no man public also led him to establish the fewer than 38 monographs in addition to Heidelberg South Asia Forum which serves 20 books edited by him and of course nu- as a platform of exchange between schol- ars, businessmen and politicians. The 11th CONTENT meeting, „The Industrialization of India“ Farewell to Dietmar Rothermund 1 Royal Rajput Murals – 10 was held at Heidelberg in July 2001. Three Decades of German as taught at the SAI Research on India Dietmar Rothermund made his experi- Agricultural transformation and 11 ence and knowledge available to numer- The Sanskrit Summer School 3 ecological sustainability in a ous organizations and institutions. He is Speaking Sanskrit in Heidelberg Western Himalayan District: Mandi member of the Board of Directors of the (Himachal Pradesh, India) Intensive Hindi Course 4 German Asian Society (Deutsche Conferences 13 Gesellschaft für Asienkunde), member of Sruti: A Discourse on Nature 4 Staff News 14 the Indo-German Consultative Group, of Orality and Its Transmission Forthcoming Events 15 and, since 1996, he is President of the Research Projects 15 European Association of South Asian Bridging the Legal Traditions: 5 Branch Offices 17 Studies. On a European level, the European In memoriam Dieter Conrad Lectures 20 Conference of Modern South Asian Stud- Youth in Sri Lanka 7 Selected Publications 21 ies deserves special mention as it emerged A Focal Research Area of the Staff 26 from a symposion initiated by Dietmar South Asia Institute Rothermund in 1966. In September 2002, New Reading Room and 28 the 17th edition of this conference will Medical Anthropology at the SAI 9 Information Centre return to its place of origin, Heidelberg. In All quiet on the water front? 10 India, his name is a synonym of „German Sharing a river remains difficult, research on India“ – and it is even said even among friends SAI-REPORT 2001 that for many years the South Asia Insti- The retirement of Dietmar Rothermund his successor will have taken over in spring tute was commonly known in India as did not mean that he was tired of aca- 2002. His friends, colleagues and pupils „Dietmar’s Institute“. A more formal demic work. During the past summer term wish him continued academic productiv- appreciation of his work on the history he held classes on Indian History at the ity as well as good health and all the best of India was the award of the Hemchan- University of Vienna, and he will of course for the future. I dra Raychaudhury Gold Medal by the continue to look after „his“ students of Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1994. history at the South Asia Institute until The Sanskrit Summer School Speaking Sanskrit in Heidelberg By Christoph Emmrich and Srilata Müller The Sanskrit Summer School first came cants from which we chose 16 students Classical Indology plans to hold the course into existence in Autumn 2000. The idea (mainly German) with a minimum of 3 every second year in future. In contrast was to enable those interested in Sanskrit semesters of Sanskrit Studies. The course to last year, this year’s group included Studies to approach the language not just was structured in such a way that they had nationalities on an almost global scale as a literary one but also as a spoken one. a definite course plan - including gram- with participants from Sweden, Switzer- It was felt that to learn to articulate oneself mar - during the first part of the day. This land, Austria, Italy, China, Vietnam and, in Sanskrit would also make it possible included a revision of and oral exercises on of course, Germany. A further change in for students to feel less self-conscious declensions and conjugations as well as respect to last year’s course was the high about their pronounciation in class and be the introduction of new vocabulary through number of postgraduates (60 % as com- able to internalize the syntax of the lan- dialogue. The exercises were frequently pared to none last year) and compara- guage in a natural way. As it was explic- repeated not just during one particular les- tively advanced students (70% above the itly stated in the poster the main aim was son, but also on subsequent days and a 6th semester as compared to 20% last to make the study of Sanskrit „a playful certain level of memorization was encour- year). This shows that spoken Sanskrit experience and demystify it“. The teacher, aged as part of the language training. There not only is felt to be a welcome addition Shri Sadananda Das, is a Junior Research was practice in the recitation of vedic to a student’s curriculum, but that - Fellow at the Indira Gandhi National Cen- hymns or subas.hitas as well as the reading researchers too may profit from this expe- - tre for the Arts and was a DAAD Research of stories from the Puran. as in the after- rience for their work. Comments by appli- Fellow at Tübingen. He has an M.A. in noon. The course culminated with a play cants have shown that the attraction of Sanskrit and is currently working on his staged by the students in Sanskrit, which the course offered lies, firstly, in the pos- Ph.D. while holding an assistantship at was a great success. itive response to last year’s performance, the Alice Boner Foundation, Varanasi. He The Summer School 2001, which is joint- secondly, in the reputation of Shri San- has had many years of experience in offer- ly organized by Prof. Axel Michaels, dananda Das and, last but not least, in the ing such courses and this, above all, guar- Christoph Emmrich and Dr. Srilata Müller, international appeal of Heidelberg and anteed the success of the Sanskrit Summer took place from August 8 to 31 with a the South Asia Institute in particular to School. In 2000, we had over 45 appli- total of 14 students. The Department of students and researchers alike.