South Asian Studies Overseas: At The Crossroads of South Asia-Mindness in Britain, Australia, and New Zealnd

Abstract

It is particularly apposite to review the state of South Asian studies in Britain, Australia, and New Zealand for the crossroads of their development and provision have dearly been reached. In the late 1960s, when I first became "South Asia-minded," South Asian studies were flourishing and clearly mainstream. Everywhere one looked there was expansion and funding with research activity and publishing output to match. In Britain, schools of postgraduates had gathered round A. L. Basham and

Kenneth Ballhatchet at SOAS ' and c.c. Davies and J. Gallagher at Oxford; another school was starting to gather round Eric Stokes and Anil Seal at Cambridge. At Canberra, Anthony Low had turned the Australian National University into a world class centre for the study of modern India, and A.L. Basham" was about to turn it into a world class centre for the study of ancient India as well. New Zealand boasted an enclave of expertise on Sikhism which centred on Hew McLeod at Dunedin. Most

their products soon scattered to universities around the world either going straight to "chairs" or soon to be elevated to them. It was something of a migratory merry-go-round. To New Delhi from London went Romila Thapar; R.J. Moore started at SOAS before heading for Canberra and eventually Adelaide; Peter Reeves did the round trip leaving Perth for Sussex before returning to Perth. Ravinder Kumar became Director of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library via Canberra and Sydney. And so on and so forth. These were heady and exciting times.