The master of 20th century Indology

Professor RN Dandekar, one of the key contributors to various Indology institutions, Vedic studies, critical scholarship in Ancient Indian studies, and translations, was born today in 1909.

Professor RN Dandekar; Source: Public Domain

Representing, as some have called it, the “peak of Indian Indology in the 20th century”, Ramachandra Narayan Dandekar was born on the 17th of March, 1909. Dandekar dominated the academic world of Pune and had a large influence on Sanskrit and other Indologic studies in India for much of the 20th century.

Born into a family where taking up traditional Sanskrit scholarship was a norm, Dandekar would try to serve it in a different way. Joining the Deccan College in Pune, he would try to apply the new linguistic and historical scholarship being developed to his long-standing tryst with Sanskrit.

Studying extensive Western scholarship on Indian matters, especially the likes of Max Muller, Pischel, Hillebrandt and others. Sometimes agreeing, mostly disagreeing with them, Dandekar followed the Indian tradition of Indologists like Bhandarkar, who would develop their own separate views.

His contributions to Vedic studies, where he created a very extensive bibliography on all the source material arranged section-wise for any aspiring student wishing to dabble in Vedic studies. Contributing to this bibliography felt like one of his life’s biggest tasks, and he would do it single-handedly, updating it time and again till his life ended.

His translations of Srautakosa into English, and his discussions on all of the Vedic deities individually and exhaustively, and his concept of evolving mythology - one which grows over time, would be well-regarded by fellow scholars and students. He was one of the first to introduce heavily critical studies into Sanskrit and Indologic studies - encouraging his students to counter-question each and every scholar on authority for the material they were reading.

Also serving as an honorary secretary of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute from 1939 to 1994, he would develop the institution as one of the premier ones for Indian studies - arguing for modernisation, computerization and all other reforms needed to prop up the organisation. He would pass away in December 2001.