The study of India has thrived in Oxford since 1830 when the Boden Chair of Sanskrit was created. A community of Indic scholars flourished in Oxford’s colleges and libraries until Indian Independence brought this chapter to a close. With the Indian Institute’s resources dispersed and its teaching posts closed, the sense of community amongst scholars and students of Indian languages and culture was lost.
The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies marks a return to a focus on Indian studies at Oxford, inaugurating a new era of scholarship in Indian cultures and religions.
1830 Colonel Joseph Boden of the East India Company endows the Boden Chair in Sanskrit. The Chair was established to further Christian missionary work in India. Its first occupant was H. H. Wilson, who had published the first Sanskrit-English dictionary.
1848 Friedrich Max Müller moves to Oxford as Professor of Comparative Philology.
Müller became the general editor of the Sacred Books of the East, and devoted 30 years of his life to translating the entire Rig-veda, and editing the text with Sayanacharya’s fourteenth century commentary.
1860 Sir Monier Monier-Williams succeeds Wilson as the Boden Professor in Sanskrit.
1871 First Indian Students at Oxford University (entry was no longer confined to members of the Church of England)
1883 Monier-Williams establishes the Indian Institute at Oxford. The Institute was established as a training ground for the Indian Civil Service and Indian students.
1936 H. N. Spalding endows the Spalding Chair of Eastern Religions and Ethics at All Souls College. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, later President of India, held the chair from its inception until 1952.
1961 The Indian Institute moves to the newly built Oriental Institute. Its art collection moves to the University’s Ashmolean Museum.
1983 The Centre for Indian Studies is established at St Antony’s College with financial assistance from the Indian government.
1997 The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies is founded.
2006 The OCHS is granted the status of a Recognised Independent Centre of Oxford University.