Prof. Stella Sandahl

Stella M. Sandahl Professor Emerita
Department of East Asian Studies, Toronto University.

As a traditionally trained European Indologist my interests are many and varied: literature, art, language, politics, social and cultural history of Classical, Medieval and Modern India. My interest in contemporary Indian is focussed on the Hindu-Muslim relations leading up to the Partition in 1947 and its still highly contentious consequences. When teaching Sanskrit and classical Hindi texts I try to highlight the close connection between literature and art in a largely visual culture.

Academic Background: Ph.D. Université de Paris Sorbonne (Indology). M.A. Université de Paris Sorbonne (Etudes Indiennes and Linguistique Generale); M.A. Stockholm University (Comparative Literature and Indology)

Selected Major Publications:

The Seven Oceans in the Purānas and elsewhere” (forthcoming). A Hindī Reference Grammar (Leiden 2000).
“The Rtusamhāra. A new approach” (Rivista degli Studi Orientali no 75, Roma 2002). Solves the longstanding problem of its authorship, which will be further documented in a forthcoming monograph.
Review articles of the Princeton Rāmāyana translation project in Acta Orientalia (Copenhagen-Oslo) Volumes I-VI 1989- 2011.
“A Good Story Spoiled: Tulasīdāsa’s rendering of the Vālmīki Rāmāyana” in Corolla Torontonensis (Toronto 1994).
Le Gītagovinda. Tradition et innovation dans le kāvya (Stockholm 1977). So far the only existing monograph of one of the most famous Sanskrit love poems.

Courses Taught: Upper level Sanskrit courses (both literary and non-literary texts) Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Hinduism and Politics The History and Politics of the Hindi Language