So far, it's the place of Sanskrit in the undergraduate Oriental Studies Tripos that is affected, but the Sanskrit scholars at Cambridge think more cuts are on the way (if someone doesn't jump in with some endowed chairs). This discussion of the university's status in the scholarship of a major liturgical language of Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism covers the issue pretty well.
Cambridge closes door on Sanskrit, Hindi Rashmee Roshan Lall LONDON: Cambridge has finally closed the door on Sanskrit as a hallowed subject of undergraduate study, nearly one-and-a-half centuries after it first established a chair in the 3,000-year-old language. The Times of India sought ? and received - confirmation of the university's decision within hours of Cambridge honouring Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with a doctor of law degree, in what some scholars believe to be the most cynical form of "tactless academic marketing". On Thursday, Dr Gordon Johnson, Director of the Centre for South Asian Studies at the University of Cambridge confirmed that "Sanskrit and Hindi will no longer be offered to undergraduates within the Oriental Studies Tripos". But Johnson insisted that "South Asian Studies are thriving at the University of Cambridge and an agreed plan for their expansion is underway. Students continue to study specialist papers with a South Asian content in History, Geography, Economics, Social and Political Sciences, Social Anthropology, Divinity and Archaeology ". Even so, Dr John Smith, reader in Sanskrit at Cambridge, told TOI that it is "not a trivial decision...this is a decision about letting the subject wither on the vine. It is an administrative decision but should actually have been an academic one".....[more in article] To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
