Chair of South Asian Studies

The tradition of teaching and scholarship on South Asian topics, known as Indology, at University of Warsaw began in 1918 when Sanskrit became one of the subjects in the University curricula. The formal beginnings of the Department, however, should be linked to Prof. Stanisław Schayer, the founding father not only of the Institute of Oriental Studies but also of its Indological Seminar (1932). Its activities, suspended so soon after the outbreak of the Second World War, were resumed only in 1953 and Prof. Eugeniusz Słuszkiewicz appointed as its Head. At present, the Chair counts as the leading centre for South Asian studies in Poland.