La philologie comme épopée

The historiography of Indology begins with the birth of the field, at the dawn of the 19th century. It has remained a lively branch of activity and is essentially the result of work by indologists. Germany, an important center of Indology in Europe starting from the Romantic Period, made significant contributions to this tradition. Beyond their often repetitve and hagiographic nature, the texts often reveal both how actors in the field perceived Indology and its history, how they positioned themselves in relation to the field, and what image of the field they wan ted to transmit. German indologists of the 19th century, who were amateur philologists, pre sented their work in the same style as the ad ven tures of field explorers. This article analy zes how this epic stage-setting cemented the field, was used to promote it to political and uni versity powers, and served as an ambiguous ins trument of rivalry with the British colonial power

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