India and South Asian resources

June 9, 2009 10:22 PM

Dr. Frances W. Pritchett, Professor of Modern Indic Languages at Columbia University, New York, has created a superb online collection of resources, all about India and South Asia, its art, history, literature, architecture and culture. Her Indian Routes section (the Index page) is a particularly rich resource. Her vast, colorful and informative site also has many great images. Check out her "scrapbook pages" on the Princes l the Ghaznavids l British Rule l Women's Spaces l Perspectives on Hinduism.

Photos of Professor Pritchett and her encyclopedic page of links about India/South Asia, Morningside Mix.

posted by nickyskye (14 comments total)

Seriously cool!
posted by strixus at 11:15 PM on June 9, 2009

Thanks for the site. Time to learn about my history now.
posted by manny_calavera at 12:33 AM on June 10, 2009

Wow nickyskye another great post. Thank you so much. I'll be here for the rest of the day.
posted by adamvasco at 2:13 AM on June 10, 2009

This is a wonderful resource, and thank you very much for this post.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 8:44 AM on June 10, 2009

This is great! Thanks, nickyskye.
posted by homunculus at 10:24 AM on June 10, 2009

Very Informative, but a warning: Comic Sans ahead!
posted by whimsicalnymph at 1:10 PM on June 10, 2009

Wow! This is amazing. How did you find this nickyskye?
posted by bluefly at 2:21 PM on June 10, 2009

Comic Sans ahead!

give me Comic Sans anyday, ahead of that annoying fake westernised Devanagari script that is almost de rigeur in Indian-related design.
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:59 PM on June 10, 2009

I had the good fortune to learn Urdu from Prof. Pritchett. I must have been her worst student ever, but she was great.
posted by mds35 at 6:43 PM on June 10, 2009 [1 favorite]

Holy moly! This really is quite an online treasure trove. Thanks for the links!
posted by mds35 at 6:49 PM on June 10, 2009

Home from work at last. Oh YAY, so pleased visitors to this thread are happy with the links. That's so satisfying. I worried about the comic sans thing, thanks for being gracious about it. I expect users of the font intend to put others at ease, make the place look friendly but it always embarrasses me a bit, like a shag rug that I try not to notice but somehow is always an eyesore. the site deserves a good Helvetica.

bluefly, I found Pritchett's site by accident while looking up links for a post I made a while back on Indian royalty. Her web creation was so vast, it seemed like a waste to use the site link merely for just one topic. Having lived in India for a decade, I always felt daunted by the complexity of its history and never learned it, except in odd snippets. Pritchett's site is so well organized the big brocade of Indian history is much more manageable.

mds35, wow, so you studied Urdu with Pritchett? I am so jealous of that privilege. Urdu (or its relative, Hindustani) comes quite in handy all the time on any given day in NYC.
posted by nickyskye at 7:52 PM on June 10, 2009

mds35, I'm pretty sure the title of Prof. Pritchett's Worst Student went to me, circa '98-ish. she visibly shuddered every time I strolled into her classroom, (inevitably) late and unprepared. sigh.
posted by junebug at 3:14 PM on June 12, 2009

junebug, I think I was in the class just before you. I took Hindi/Urdu with Pritchett and Bedi from 2005 to 2007, then a third year of Hindi with Dr. Bedi (I think I actually cried at the final) and a 20th Century South Asian lit class with Pritchett that was phenomenal.

I was one of two videshi's in the class. The other guy was a pretty good student. I felt a bit disadvantaged since most of the other students grew up hearing it as a child, but I think I still got a lot out of the class. I have never been to India or Pakistan, but my Hindi has been put to good use in NY, Boston and Rome.
posted by mds35 at 10:59 AM on June 17, 2009

I took Hindi/Urdu with Pritchett and Bedi from 1995 to 1997... how time flies!
posted by mds35 at 11:08 AM on June 17, 2009