Making of Western Indology

Rosane Rocher is Professor Emerita of South Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. Her research interests include the history of Indology and of linguistics, particularly in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.Ludo Rocher is Emeritus W. Norman Brown Professor of South Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. His research interests include the cultural history of India through the ages, with particular focus on the development of Hindu law and its adaptation in the Anglo-Indian courts.

• 1. From Heir to the Crown to Turnspit (London, 1765-1782) 2. Against the Grain (Rural Bengal, 1783-1795) 3. Law and Sanskrit (Mirzapur, 1795-1801) 4. Matter of Duty (Calcutta, 1802-1807) 5. Theorist of the Bengal Government (Calcutta, 1807-1814) 6. Promoting India (London, 1815-1827) 7. Sunset (London, 1827-1837) 8. Legacy

"Quoting extensively from every available source, including family papers, and weaving a dense network of information, while remaining readable and jargon free, this relatively concise but extremely thorough study captures in judicious detail the way in which knowledge for its own sake grew out of knowledge required to rule Bengal... Obviously,this brief review cannot do justice to such a polymath. Perhaps it is most appropriate to conclude with the opinion of Wilhelm von Humboldt, cited by the Rochers, that while Colebrooke lacked “the soaring mind and spirit of Jones”, he surpassed Jones in his “sober insight and judgement.” - Andrew Robinson; Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (2012).