Harry Falk (Indologist)

Harry Falk is a retired professor of Indology at the Freie Universität in Berlin. He has also been Director of the Institute of Indian Philology and Art History at the Free University in Berlin. He is a noted Indologist.

Kushan era

He realized that the astrological Sanskrit-Text Yavanajātaka defined the era of the Kushans, i.e. of Kaniṣka I, as śaka 149, that is AD 227. This he linked to the long-established practice of the “dropped hundreds”, which allowed to include contemporary data from the Chinese annals Hou Hanshu. The start of the Kushan era was so defined in AD 127. In addition, it became apparent that the Kushan era was used with dropped hundreds up to the fifth century under Gupta rule in Western India.

Works

Quellen des Pañcatantra Bruderschaft und Würfelspiel: Untersuchungen zur Entwicklungsgeschichte des vedischen Opfers Schrift im alten Indien: Ein Forschungsbericht mit Anmerkungen Asokan Sites and Artefacts: A Source-Book with Bibliography Mainz 2006 The tidal waves of Indian history in "Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE" Foreign terms in Sanskrit in "The Idea of Writing: Play and Complexity Harisyenalekhapañcasika: Fifty Selected Papers on Indian Epigraphy and Chronology, 2014