Remembering Sir Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar: Life and Legacy (A Death Centenary Tribute)

Contents: I. General Estimates. 1. Introduction/K. Paddayya. 2. The Orientalism Debate and Responses from the Orient: Contributions of Sir R. G. Bhandarkar/Madhav M. Deshpande. 3. Sir RGB: An Indologist or an Orientalist?/K.M. Shrimali. 4. Professor Sir R.G. Bhandarkar KCIE: Career and Contributions/Uma Vaidya. 5. Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar’s Framework of Social Reform/Avanish Patil. 6. Dr. R.G. Bhandarkar and Prarthana Samaj/Dilip S. Joag. II. Sanskrit and Philological Studies. 7. Vedic Foundations of Natyasatra and Ancient Indian Theatre/Radhavallabh Tripathi. 8. On the Usage of Compounds in Sanskrit: Panini and His Commentators in Mahimabhatta’s Perception/C. Rajendran. 9. The Sulabha-Janaka Dialogue in the Mahabharata: A Forgotten Chapter in the History of Indian Eristics/N.K. Sundareswaran. 10. A Few Interesting Sanskrit Numerograms (Bhutasamkhya): Searching for the Roots/Debarchana Sarkar. 11. On R.G. Bhandarkar’s Article “A Review of Martin Haug’s: Aitareya-Brahmana”/Jayashree Sathe. 12. Sir Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar: A Sanskrit Grammarian of the Nineteenth Century/Prasad Joshi and Shilpa Sumant. 13. On R.G. Bhandarkar’s Contributions to the Comparative and Historical Study of Indo-Aryan Languages: The Case of His Wilson Philological Lectures/Panchanan Mohanty. 14. The V-CP RAH Progressive Aspect Construction in Dialects of Marathi: Sociolinguistic and Historical Analysis of an Isogloss/Sonal Kulkarni-Joshi and Praffulla Meshram. III. Historical, Socio-Religious and Archaeological Studies. 15. Bhandarkar’s Approach to Ancient Indian History and Subsequent Theoretical Perspectives/R. Mahalakshmi. 16. Early History of the Deccan: R. G. Bhandarkar and Beyond/Aloka Parasher Sen. 17. A Three-fold Tyranny: Bhandarkar’s Vision of Society and Social History/Kumkum Roy. 18. Apropos Vaisnavism, saivism and Minor Religious Systems by Professor R.G. Bhandarkar/A.P. Jamkhedkar. 19. The Vedic Rudra: From Bhandarkar’s Study on saivism to Recent Publications/Kristoffer af Edholm. 20. An Appraisal of Structural Stupas in Maharashtra/Reshma Sawant and Gurudas Shete. 21. Buddhist Structural Remains in Andhradesa: A Review/E. Sivanagi Reddy and P. Srinath Reddy. 22. Contributions of R.G. Bhandarkar to Epigraphic Studies/Abhijit Dandekar. 23. R.G. Bhandarkar and Creation of a Vital Research Resource: Manuscript Collection, Study and Curation/Shreenand Bapat and Amruta Natu. 24. R.G. Bhandarkar as a Pioneer-Exponent of Holistic and Scientific Methodology, and an Advocate of Educational Idealism, Universal Humanism and Higher Spiritualism/K. Paddayya. Index. 

This volume, arising from an international seminar held at the Deccan College in Pune in 2025, is aimed at honouring the memory of the revered and arguably the most celebrated Indologist of modern India, Sir Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar, to mark his death centenary. As is well known,

Sir Bhandarkar distinguished himself by conceptualizing Indological research in a holistic perspective and by putting forward a critical, comparative and historical methodological framework for realizing this objective. His works and writings still retain their inspirational value for students and researchers and are vitally important for arriving at a true and objective understanding of ancient India and its rich and multifaceted legacy. Bhandarkar also played a key role in ushering in a socio-religious renaissance in western India.

The volume comprises 24 essays contributed by senior and reputed scholars spread across the country and, in two cases, from outside the country. Section I has six essays, four of which are overall estimates of Bhandarkar’s academic contributions, one about his approach to social reforms and another about his close and promotional association with Prarthana Samaj. The next eight papers making up Section II are devoted to Sanskrit and philological studies and the topics covered by these include Rigvedic origins of theatre, commentaries on ­­­Paninian grammar, the famous Sulabha-Janaka dialogue, Sanskrit grammar, Bhandarkar's comparative study of the Indo-Aryan family of languages and some results of the Marathi dialects survey. Section III comprises ten essays relating to historical, socio-religious and archaeological studies. These deal with the assessment of Bhandarkar's own contributions to and later developments in research in the domains of historical studies proper, social reforms, religious studies, field archaeological and epigraphical research, and manuscript collection and curation. The volume concludes with comments on Bhandarkar's advocacy of educational idealism, humanistic universalism and higher spiritualism.

It is hoped that this volume, while simultaneously briefing readers about recent advances in Indology, will serve to bring Bhandarkar's rich legacy alive and inspire and guide the minds of students, teachers and independent scholars.