Soviet Indology and the critique of colonial philology: the work of Aleksei Barannikov in the light of Dalit studies

The similarities and contacts between early Soviet Indologists and Indian Dalit intellectuals, as regards the critique of Indo-European philology is explored. Attention focuses on A.P. Barannikov’s works of the 1930s and 1940s in which colonial philology is presented as the result of collaboration between colonial and indigenous Brahman intellectuals, which challenges the common conception of such philology as a European imposition in postcolonial studies today. The eclipse of Barannikov’s work in Soviet Indology when, during the Cold War, support for a unitary Indian nationalism was promoted in opposition to Western colonial narratives, is also considered. Consideration of Barannikov’s work in the light of Dalit studies today shows its renewed relevance, and points to ways in which the limitations of some of the rigid dichotomies of Postcolonial Studies can be overcome.