• Indology sees itself as philology or philologically oriented cultural studies. The subject of the subject is the languages, cultures, and history of the Indian subcontinent from the oldest textual witnesses from around 1500 BC-to the present. 
  • The region - comparable in size and diversity to Europe - is home to ancient civilizations associated with the "world religions" Hinduism and Buddhism as well as Jainism, which is about the same age.