(On leave 2004-2005)
Wales Professor of Sanskrit
Dept. of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Harvard University
2 Divinity Avenue
617-496-2990
Office Hours:
Thursday 3:00pm - 4:00pm
Wales Professor of Sanskrit since 1987, Michael Witzel received his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Erlangen-Nurnberg, Germany. Before coming to Havard, he worked in Nepal and taught at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands and the University of Tubingen in Germany. His research interests are Sanskrit, Vedic, Hinduism, Himalayan Studies and Eurasian mythology.
His publications include "Vala and Iwato: The Myth of the Hidden Sun in Indian, Japan and Beyond" (forthcoming); "Sur le chemin du ciel", "Looking for the heavenly casket"; "On the Origin of the Literary Device of the 'Frame Story' in Old Indian Literature"; "How to Enter the Vedic Mind? Strategies in Translating the Brahmana Text"; Rgvedic History: Poets, Chieftains and Politics"; "Sarama and the Panis: Origins of Prosimetric Exchange in Archaic India"; "Macrocosm, Mesocosm, Microcosm: The persistent nature of 'Hindu' beliefs and symbolical forms".
Indian
Studies 211. Archaic Indian Religion: The Vedas. Seminar
Catalog Number: 6441
Indian
Studies 206. Old Indian and Eurasian Creation Myths: Seminar
Catalog Number: 0923
*Indian
Studies 117 (formerly *Indian Studies 216). Early History of South Asia
Catalog Number: 4919
[Indian Studies 201. Materials
and Methods of Indian Studies: Proseminar]
Catalog Number: 5406
[Indian Studies 203. Select
Topics: Survey of Middle Indic Languages and Literatures]
Catalog Number: 3570
[Indian Studies 205a. South
Asia as Understood Through Its Regions I: Seminar]
Catalog Number: 0460
[Indian Studies 205b. South
Asia as Understood Through Its Regions II: Seminar]
Catalog Number: 2317
[Indian Studies 207a. Understanding
Indian Ritual]
Catalog Number: 1214
[Indian Studies 207b. Understanding
Indian Ritual]
Catalog Number: 8416
Sanskrit 101b. Elementary Sanskrit
Catalog Number: 6892
Sanskrit 102b. Intermediate
Sanskrit II
Catalog Number: 4916
[Sanskrit 201br (formerly Sanskrit
201ar). Philosophical Sanskrit]
Catalog Number: 5965
[Sanskrit 204ar. Introduction
to Vedic Sanskrit and Literature]
Catalog Number: 6123
[Sanskrit 204br. Introduction
to Vedic Sanskrit and Literature]
Catalog Number: 8944
[Sanskrit 214. Ritual Sutras]
Catalog Number: 6626
[Sanskrit 215ar (formerly Sanskrit
215). Dharmasastra and Arthasastra]
Catalog Number: 6599
Nepali 101. Introductory Nepali
Catalog Number: 3039
Thai 101a. Introductory Thai
I
Catalog Number: 5395
Thai 101b. Introductory Thai
II
Catalog Number: 6557
[Thai 102a. Intermediate Thai
I]
Catalog Number: 8582
[Thai 102b. Intermediate Thai
II]
Catalog Number: 3751
Dept. of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Harvard University
Michael Witzel Personal Home Page
ASLIP: The Association for the Study of Language in Prehistory
(including the journal "Mother Tongue" and the newsletter "The Long Ranger")