The South Asia Institute (SAI) is an interdisciplinary center of the Ruprecht-Karls University Heidelberg, Germany for research and teaching on

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...

. In German, it is known as the Südasien-Institut. The regional focus of the research and teaching at SAI are the countries

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Maldives Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. Due to their close linguistic, cultural, and historical ties with the South Asian subcontinent, adjacent regions such as

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

are also often included in the work done at the South Asia Institute.

Brief history and location

SAI was founded at the

Heidelberg University } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

in 1962 by

Werner Conze Werner may refer to: People * Werner (name), origin of the name and people with this name as surname and given name Fictional characters * Werner (comics), a German comic book character * Werner Von Croy, a fictional character in the ''Tomb Rai ...

and Wilhelm Hahn. It was then located at the campus in Neuenheimer Feld, where it continued to be based for over half a century. In April 2019, SAI was shifted to the campus in the Bergheim locality of

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

. There, this institute now forms one of the four constitutive institutes of

's Centre for Asian and Transcultural Studies (CATS) - the others being the Centre for East Asian Studies, the Department of Ethnology, and the Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies. The library and collections of the former SAI were merged with those of the three other constituent institutes of CATS to form the CATS library, located in the middle of the new CATS campus. The current building housing SAI, like the other buildings of CATS, was built between 1869 and 1876, and served as a part of the Neues Akademisches Krankenhaus (New Academic Hospital) in Heidelberg. The location of CATS is right next to Bismarkplatz, one of the main commercial and transport hubs of Heidelberg. SAI has branch offices in New Delhi (India), Islamabad (Pakistan), Kathmandu (Nepal), and Colombo (Sri Lanka).

Faculties and courses offered

Currently, SAI has seven departments, each headed by a professor: Development Economics, Anthropology, Geography, History of South Asia, Cultural and Religious History of South Asia (Classical Indology), Modern South Asian Languages and Literatures (Modern Indology), and Political Science. Each department of SAI conducts research, at the professorial, postdoctoral, doctoral, and masters levels. SAI offers the following degrees fully devoted to South Asia: * M.A. in Development, Environment, Societies, and History in South Asia * M.A. in Cultural and Religious History of South Asia * M.A. in Communication, Literature, and Media in Modern South Asian Languages (KLM) * Master of Arts, Health and Society in South Asia (MAHASSA, an MA degree) * B.A. in South Asian Studies SAI also offers language courses in

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

References

External links

sai.uni-heidelberg.de
* https://www.uni-heidelberg.de/en/study/all-subjects/south-asian-studies {{authority control Educational institutions established in 1962 Heidelberg University Indology Social science institutes Earth science research institutes Anthropological research institutes Economic research institutes Political science in Asia Human geography Research on poverty Religion academics

Brief history and location

Faculties and courses offered

See also

References

External links