Leiden University was, and still is, the centre of classical Indological studies in the Netherlands. Today, the Sanskrit studies are part of the section India and Tibet of the School of Asian Studies within the Leiden Institute for Area Studies (LIAS). The department has a chair in Sanskrit (1865-present), which includes Vedic, Middle-Indo-Aryan, and religious (hinduistic) studies. The department of Sanskrit together with New-Indo-Aryan, Tibetan, Dravidian languages, and (cultural) history and art and archaeology formed the Indological Kern Institute in the period 1925-2010.

Chair in Sanskrit: 1865-present
The academic study of Sanskrit was initiated by the Orientalist Hendrik Hamaker (professor between 1817 and 1835). His successor in teaching Sanskrit, the professor in Hebrew Anthonie Rutgers, was a great advocate for the establishment of a Sanskrit chair in Leiden. His and other people’s efforts were rewarded in 1865, when the chair for Sanskrit, the first in the Netherlands, was founded. This chair was held in succession by Hendrik Kern, Jacob Speijer, Jean-Philippe Vogel, F.B.J. Kuiper, Hans-Peter Schmidt, Michael Witzel, Henk Bodewitz, Arlo Griffiths and, at present, by Peter Bisschop.