Faculty of Humanities/Arts

The only Dutch chair in New-Indo-Aryan languages existed from 1960 to 1981 at the Amsterdam University (UvA) and was held by Koenraad de Vreese. In 1969 the chair was extended to include Dravidian languages as well. After the closure in 1988 of the department of Indian languages, founded in 1960 and consisting of a Sanskrit and a Hindi section, Dick Plukker (lecturer in Hindi) and Jouthe Roodbergen (associate professor in Sanskrit) founded the India Institute in order to continue the study of Indian languages and cultures. Up to the present the India Institute is a succesfull private enterprise.

At Leiden University, language courses in Hindi and other New-Indo-Aryan languages were started soon after the foundation of the Kern Institute in 1925. In 1964, a more solid base was created by the establishment of the chair for modern South Asian history. The first professor of this chair was Jan Heesterman, who earlier taught Hindi at Utrecht. His teaching commitment included modern Indian languages. In Utrecht, Heesterman’s successor in Hindi was Peter Gaeffke. He was succeeded by Theo Damsteegt who also taught Old Hindi and who continued his work in Leiden from 1992 to 2009. In Groningen, Hindi was taught by Alan Entwistle.

Courses in other New-Indo-Aryan languages were given on the initiative of individual scholars. Thus, Sanjukta Gupta taught Bengali in Utrecht, while George van Driem and Mark Turin taught Nepali in Leiden.

Amsterdam University (UvA): department of Indian languages

Leiden University: Kern Institute

Utrecht University: Indological Department

Groningen University: Institute for Indian languages