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The Centre of the EFEO in Pondicherry
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In 1955 Jean Filliozat, the director of
the EFEO from 1956 to 1977, took the initiative of establishing
a centre for interdisciplinary research about India in Pondicherry.
Thus the creation of the French Institute of Pondicherry
(IFP), came to be taken into account in the treaty governing the
former French trading port on Indian soil. In 1956, Jean Filliozat
opened a centre of the EFEO in Pondicherry. The programmes
of research of the EFEO and of the IFP are conducted in close collaboration
and under the scientific direction of members of the EFEO. In 1964
the EFEO first acquired its own independant buildings in Pondicherry.
The fields of research of the centre include ancient and modern
literature in Sanskrit and Tamil (Paninian grammar,
the Tamil grammatical tradition, Sanskrit plays, devotional Tamil
poetry, Cankam literature, inscriptions, etc.), Vaishnava iconography
and tradition of military architecture as well as the study
of the ancient Pondicherry.
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The centre serves as the base for French, European
and Indian researchers. Its ranks are swelled by researchers on field-trips
and it welcomes doctoral students. The centre houses part of the library
of the IFP, as well as the library holdings of the EFEO. The two institutions
have collaborated in building a very substantial archive of photographs.
The Lecturers
Dr. Eva Wilden: has studied German Literature, Philosophy and Indology in Duesseldorf, Tuebingen and Hamburg. She defended her doctoral thesis in 1996 in Hamburg (Veda - "The circulation of Sacrificial Gifts"). She began to study of Classical Tamil in1994 with Prof. S.A. Srinivasan (Hamburg). In 2003 Eva Wilden has submitted a habilitation thesis on "Literary Techniques in Old Tamil Cankam Poetry as can be Gathered from the Kuruntokai", including an "Annotated Translation of the Kuruntokai". Since September she is a scientific member of the EFEO and works on a critical edition of the Narrinai.
