DIALOGUE OF CIVILIZATIONS: William Jones and the Orientalists

The authors describe how this happened, set against the turbulence of the times in India. The work of the early British scholars aroused the curiosity of scholars in Germany where Indology and Sanskrit studies rose to brilliant heights. The vast and comprehensive work of German scholars made Berlin the Benaras of India. Since Germany had no empire in India, German Indology was different in flavour and spirit from British Indology. Simultaneously Russian Indology developed on its own, with a growing sympathy for a nation of great heritage who was under alien rule. Their contribution to Indology in the nineteenth and twentieth century was formidable. Italy and Hungary too had their share of outstanding Indologists and Tibetologists. The authors give a comprehensive description of the contribution of these great scholars. The theory of civilization, its clashes, conflicts, and interactions is discussed at some length with erudition and originality