Wilhelm Halbfass, philosopher and Indologist, is a committed participant in the dialogue between India and Europe, whose reflections on the Indian tradition and its Western perception are accompanied by reflection on and critical examination of the Western tradition. In this innovative combination of Indological research and philosophical-hermeneutical research in the history of ideas, he demonstrates a purpose more ambitious and a scope wider than Edward Said's who constructed the Western study of the so-called Orient as an attempt to deprive it of its identity and sovereignty, and who perceived the pursuit of Oriental Studies in Western universities to be an extension of a fundamentally political will to power and domination. Without denying the domination of the dialogue between India and Europe by the West, Halbfass goes beyond that to show a different way of approaching Indian thought; he strives to establish the presuppositions and prerequisites that would make a true dialogue and mutual understanding between Indian and Western intellectual cultures possible.The papers in the present volume originate from twenty-three scholars of Indology, philosophy, religious studies, comparative theology, classics, folkloristics and political theory, working in eleven countries spread over three continents. They address central issues of Halbfass' work; his critical responses to them commence with an extensive essay in which he assesses in a masterly manner the state of Indian studies almost twenty years after the publication of Said'sOrientalismz.

Beyond Orientalism.

Karin PREISENDANZ

History

Rodopi Bv Editions

This book presents a collection of the latest research on ayurveda by an international group of leading historians of medicine and Indian culture. The book begins with papers by C Pecchia and P A Maas that reveal some of their discoveries resulting from their work on a critical edition of the Vimanasthana of the Carakasamhita. K Preisandanz presents a study of the early phases of formal Indian philosophy in the Carakasamhita arising out of the same project. D Wujastyk reports on the recent discovery of a Nepalese manuscript of the Sushrutasamhita that pushes back our physical evidence for the text by almost a thousand years. A Cerulli discusses the interplay of medicine, government, and religion in an 18th-century Sanskrit allegorical play. K G Zysk discusses the Siddha tradition of medicine and alchemy in Tamil Nadu, and his co-authored chapter with T Yamashita reports on their progress in editing and translating an early commentary on the Carakasamhita. M Sankaranarayana discusses the relationship of clinical practice and ayurvedic theory in modern Kerala, and P Ram Manohar explores the combinatorics of Indian pharmacology in an innovative 13th-century Keralan ayurvedic text. The meticulous studies in this book advance the boundaries of the modern knowledge of ayurveda. At the same time, they demonstrate a range of original methodologies for deepening our understanding of this scholarly, traditional medicine of South Asia, while also directly speaking to the unique problems presented by the modern reception of Sanskrit medical works after centuries of manuscript transmission.

Medical Texts & Manuscripts in Indian Cultural History

Dominik Wujastyk

Anthony Michael Cerulli

Historical Study & Educational Resources

Manohar

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Books by Karin PREISENDANZ