Living Indology at MAE in the 1920s and 30s

The tradition of studying “living India” since the late 19th century. developed in the India Department of the Academic Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. Continuing the legacy of Ivan Minaev, A^ander and Ludmila Meerwart in 1914-1918 collected in South Asia objects that were significant for local cultures and recorded ethnographic information in inventories. These collections formed the basis of the MAE’s classic exhibition “Peoples of South Asia”, which lasted until 2023. The Meerwarths created the Indian Department of the MAE in 1924. Indologists-graduates were invited to work there. In 1920s A. Meerwartt taught “living Indology” (languages, history, ethnography, art of India) to students from various faculties and departments of the Leningrad Oriental Institute, the Leningrad Institute of Living Oriental Languages, the State Institute of Art History, etc. In the 1930 s Virendranath Chatopadaya, Head of the Cabinet of India, also actively participated in the Oriental studies in Leningrad universities. In the 1930s Orientalists B. V. Semichev and V. E. Krasnodembsky worked in the Cabinet of India. There were significant time gaps between the appointments of heads of the India Department, so there was no direct succession. But the rich potential of museum materials and the education they received allowed scientists to work in their specialty and promote Indian culture in Russia through museum means.