Sheldon Pollock Introduction: Working Papers on Sanskrit Knowledge-systems on the Eve of Colonialism

The essays that follow are working papers in the collaborative project Sanskrit Knowledge-Systems on the Eve of Colonialism (SKSEC), which investigates the substance and social context of Sanskrit science and scholarship from about 1550 to 1750.1 These two centuries witnessed a flowering of intellectual life characterized by, among other features, an increase in the production of texts across disciplines, the rise of a new (or newly reinvigorated) interdisciplinarity, and the introduction of important new discursive practices and conceptual categories. This dynamism lasted until the consolidation of colonial power, whereupon a decline set in that ended the age-old power of Sanskrit learning to shape Indian intellectual history. Whether there was always and everywhere a causal relationship between the rise of colonial power and the decline of Sanskrit science and scholarship remains to be determined; in the domain of literary culture more narrowly conceived, this deterioration seems to have had a different history and to have been conditioned by set of political and cultural factors entirely unconnected with colonialism.2 That in most disciplines Sanskrit knowledge proved completely powerless in the face of its colonial counterpart is hardly open to dispute. Yet simply to state the fact is not to explain it, and explanation without understanding the nature of this knowledge is reckless. There are three main objectives of the SKSEC project (whose initial phase, supported by funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Science Foundation, runs from 2001– 2004). First, we are attempting to inventory as completely as possible scholarly production during these two centuries in eight disciplines (vyākaran. a, mı̄mām. sā, nyāya, dharmaśāstra, alaṅkāraśāstra, āyurveda, jyotis. , prayoga), and to create a comprehensive digital archive of texts. Some two hundred and fifty works have been photographed to date, a figure that represents about one-sixth of the goal set for the first phase. This archive will eventually be accessible to scholars worldwide; where permitted by lender guidelines, selected manuscripts will also be made available on the project website. Second, we are collecting social-