A History of AIIS
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1920s
T
he many efforts that led to the founding of the AIIS in 1961 began nearly four decades earlier. In the early 1920s, excavations and dramatic discoveries at Mohenjo Daro prompted the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) to extend their focus beyond the Indus Valley and into India. For this reason, just a few years after earning his PhD in Indology from Johns Hopkins University, W. Norman Brown was chosen by the AIA to investigate the possible establishment of an American “school” in India. This planted a seed that would germinate and grow throughout the next forty years of Brown’s career.
Rewa Palace, Assi Ghat, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, March 1966.
The interwar period was a productive time for such plans. In 1926, Brown was appointed to an endowed chair in Sanskrit at the University of Pennsylvania and was also elected Chair of the American Oriental Society (AOS) committee on the establishment of an American School of Indo-Iranian Research. Two years later, with the financial support of eight American universities, AIA and AOS together submitted their plan to establish such a “school” to the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS).
1930s
W
ith its approval, in 1930 this committee transferred from AOS to ACLS and became the Committee on Indic and Iranian Studies (CIIS). With Brown as Chair, CIIS organized and incorporated an American School of Indic and Iranian Studies (ASIIS) in Washington D.C. in 1934 and established an Indic section within the U.S. Library of Congress before their efforts were interrupted by World War II.
First Seminar, Rewa Palace, Assi Ghat, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, April 1966.
Although the onset of the second World War halted the efforts of CIIS, the war contributed to the increased study of India in two ways. First, the events of the war revealed that the US was woefully ignorant of and had a scholarly lack of concern for most of the world apart from Western Europe. Second, more than 100,000 Americans ended up going to South Asia during the war. Together, these factors motivated many of the first generation of American scholars of South Asia and contributed to the postwar development of South Asian Studies as a new academic discipline. Brown, however, thought that education in South Asian languages, cultures, and current events should be a standard part of American higher education and not just a strategic concern in times of crisis.
Although the onset of the second World War halted the efforts of CIIS, the war contributed to the increased study of India in two ways. First, the events of the war revealed that the US was woefully ignorant of and had a scholarly lack of concern for most of the world apart from Western Europe. Second, more than 100,000 Americans ended up going to South Asia during the war. Together, these factors motivated many of the first generation of American scholars of South Asia and contributed to the postwar development of South Asian Studies as a new academic discipline. Brown, however, thought that education in South Asian languages, cultures, and current events should be a standard part of American higher education and not just a strategic concern in times of crisis.
1940s
A
fter the war, some federal financial support for international studies became available through the GI Bill and the Fulbright Act of 1946, but the funding was limited by other budgetary priorities. Two philanthropic foundations, the Rockefeller Center and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, stepped in to support such work by giving universities grants intended to support the country becoming more literate in international affairs. This led to the opening of the Department of South Asian Regional Studies at the University of Pennsylvania in 1948, with Norman Brown as its Chair.
Dr Edward C. Dimock, President, American Institute of Studies; Mr Pradeep Mehendiratta, Vice President, American Institute of Studies and Professor Frederick M. Asher, Chief Court House, Ramnagar, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, January, 1975.
1950s
Two years later, the CIIS merged with the Social Science Research Council to form the Joint Committee on Southern Asia, and the idea of establishing a “school in the field” was revived. After the Government of India responded favorably to the State Department’s inquiry about potentially establishing an American Institute of South Asian Studies in India, a planning conference was held at the University of Pennsylvania. At this meeting, Brown proposed Deccan College in Pune as the ideal site for the Institute, since his vision was of a research and residential campus inspired by the model of the Athens School.
In 1954, the Rockefeller Foundation made Deccan College an even more attractive place for the Institute when it gave a grant to the College to support the modernization of its linguistics program and to promote the study of India’s major languages. As a result of this funding and the efforts of S. M. Katre, Professor of Linguistics and Director of the Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, the College became a nexus of American research in India, with graduate students and research scholars coming regularly for two-year stints.
Left image: Vimana from east; Brihadesvara Temple; Daksina Meru Thanjavur District Tamil Nadu India. ACSAA_00192 Negative No.: Michigan – ACSAA (Set 1, Dravidian Temples, Sculpture, and Paintings). Copyright:© Regents of the University of Michigan, Department of the History of Art, Visual Resources Collections.
Bottom image: Mandapa, south side, wheel: fourth on south side; Sun temple; Konark Puri Odisha India. Accession No.: ACSAA_01083 Negative No.: Michigan – ACSAA (Set 10, Architecture and Sculpture of Orissa). Copyright:© Regents of the University of Michigan, Department of the History of Art, Visual Resources Collections.
1960s
S
imultaneously but unconnected to the plans of CIIS, Henry Hart at the University of Wisconsin was working with the Carnegie Corporation to set up an Academic Year Abroad program in India for undergraduates modeled on the work of Milton Singer at the University of Chicago. Serendipitously, Hart and Brown each approached the U. S. Embassy in New Delhi to discuss funding at around the same time; told that they would have more success if they combined their proposals, they submitted, in January, 1961, a joint one seeking funding for the establishment of the American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS).
Seminar on Harappan Civilization in the Indian Subcontinent organised by Professor Gregory Possehl, University of Pennsylvania on behalf of American Institute of Indian Studies & was held at Nedou’s Hotel, Srinagar, Kashmir, June 22-24, 1979.
The following months saw meetings and conferences in New York, San Francisco, and Chicago and, by April, the proposal had secured the support of fifteen American universities. AIIS was incorporated just six months later on October 4th, 1961. Brown, Singer, and Hart were elected President, Vice President, and Secretary, respectively. The following year, AIIS was approved by the Government of India and its headquarters was established in Pune on the Deccan College campus.