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Roland Lardinois, Scholars and Prophets. Sociology of India from France 19th-20th centuries. New Delhi: Social Science Press, 2013"Scholars and Prophets: Sociology of India from France 19th – 20th centuries is being translated from L’invention de I’ Inde. Entre ésotérisme et science, and deals with the historical genesis of the long and rich scholarship on India in France since the beginning of 19thcentury, with particular reference to the work of Louis Dumont. It considers the works of scholars and the essayists, poets, or esotericists who published on India and shows that Dumont has been influenced by both groups. This understanding illuminates the main criticism that is still addressed to Homo hierarchicus, that in this book Dumont mistook the internal Brahminical view point on the caste system for a sociological view. In the last chapter, the book contrasts Dumont’s work with issues raised by McKim Marriott’s project and the Subaltern Studies from India. It defends that the core issue dealt with by all scholars is the epistemic status given to scientific knowledge of Indian society. In the course of explaining the French intellectual tradition, the author relates many fascinating interactions and little known anecdotes of famous men and women which capture the intellectually vibrant climate of the time. Both scholars and students of the social sciences will find this book very useful."Contents:Introduction: Genesis of the sociology of IndiaPrologue: René Daumal and the autofiction of the cultural fieldPart OneThe Genesis of a Savant Milieu (1795-1927)Chapter 1. The struggle for academic legitimacyChapter 2. Orientalist knowledge and prophetic discoursesChapter 3. The Struggle for institutional autonomyPart TwoScholars and Prophets (The interwar period)Chapter 4. The field of scholarship on India in the 1930sChapter 5. Scholarly practicesChapter 6. Prophetic strategiesChapter 7. Hinduism as a disciplinary issuePart ThreeSocial Science and Indigenous Science(Second half of the 20th century)Chapter 8. Louis Dumont and the indigenous scienceChapter 9. Louis Dumont and the cunning of reasonChapter 10. The Avatara of scholarship on IndiaConclusion. Sociology put to the test of IndiaPostscript. Note on the construction of a research subjectAppendix: Multi Correspondence AnalysisPostface to the English-language editionList of documents, tables, figuresSources and bibliographyIndexAcknowledgmentsReviews:Jules Naudet, « The Fascination for India », La Vie des idées, 11 March 2013. Available online.Rosane Rocher, "New Perspectives on the History of Indian Studies in Continental Europe", Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 129, N.4, Oct.Dec. 2009. Available online.François Leclercq, « Roland Lardinois, L’invention de l’Inde: Entre ésotérisme et science », South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal, January 2010. Available online.Gisèle Sapiro, "Roland Lardinois, L’Invention de l’Inde. Entre ésotérisme et science", TRANSEO, Ausgabe 01 - January 2009. Available online.