Hermann Kulke

Hermann Kulke (* 1938 in Berlin ) is a German Indologist. He studied Indology, Asian history and political science in Freiburg and Madras.

Work

In 1967 he received his doctorate in Freiburg with a thesis on Chidambaram Mahatmya, the founding legend of the 12th century the Nataraja temple in Chidambaram. From 1967 to 1988, he worked at the South Asia Institute of Heidelberg University as an assistant and associate professor in Indian history. In 1975 he qualified as a professor there. From 1988 to 2003 he held the Chair of Asian History held at the History Department of the University of Kiel. Numerous research trips to Sri Lanka, India, and Indonesia and Cambodia followed.

Visiting professorships in Bhubansewar / Orissa (1978/1979), to the Asiatic Society, Calcutta (1986) and at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi (1992 ), and Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore (1987 ), and on Asia Research Institute, University of Singapore, he held in succession.

The work and areas of interest Kulkes are the history of Asia with a focus on India and Southeast Asia, particularly early state development, history, regional cultures (especially Orissa ), and Indian influences in Southeast Asia and Indian Ocean Studies.

Kulke participated as project member on the first Orissa Research Project of the DFG via the Jagannatha cult of a particular form of Lord Vishnu and the temple and chariot festival ( Ratha Yatra ) in the city of Puri in Orissa from 1970 to 1975 in part. Some 25 years later he took over the management of the second Orissa project (1999 to 2005). After the first project with the political and religious centers (see: Jagannath Temple ) had explained along the coast, the second project pursued the study of the history and local traditions of the ethnic groups and tribal residents in the hinterland of Orissa.

He was also the coordinator of the DFG priority program " Controversial centers: design and transformation of socio-cultural identities in the Indian region of Orissa " (1999-2005).

Kulke is a brother of the journalist Ulli Kulke.

Awards

  • 2006: Gold Medal of the Asiatic Society in Calcutta
  • 2010: Padma Shri
  • 2011: Cross of Merit 1st class of the Federal Republic of Germany
Thillai Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram Odisha Jagannath Temple, Puri Dietmar Rothermund Integrated Authority File
388490
de