Study

The study programmes of the department are designed to impart a well grounded and comprehensive understanding of the cultural and religious history of South Asia at the graduate and post-graduate levels. Accordingly the focus is to enable a good foundation of Sanskrit language as its knowledge is essential to access the vast amount of primary sources. Apart from a good grasp of the grammar and usages, methods to read, analyze and interpret the ancient sources in a critical manner are necessary for reconstructing the history of ideas. In addition to a well grounded training in philological and critical reading of texts, the study programmes in Heidelberg focus on situating them in their respective contexts. This ethno-indological approach requires training in theories and methods of anthropology and social sciences.