New research by Cambridge university to reveal how Sanskrit scholarship flourished even during colonial era

LONDON: Whilst most people associate Sanskrit scholarship with the Vedas, new research by Cambridge scholars plans to show that between 1650 and 1800 a golden age of Sanskrit scholarship took place even when Britain was tightening its grip on India. Yet the erotic plays and poems, legal literature, and philosophy produced are barely known about, nor have they been translated. The largely forgotten literary figures and their works are neglected treasures of India’s intellectual achievement, argues the research team, led by Dr Jonathan Duquette, scholar of South Asian religions at the University of Cambridge. “The assumption in the field was that by 1700 nothing interesting was happening in Sanskrit scholarship, but we are trying to prove that until the late 19th century, it was very vi