Gunther-Dietz Sontheimer Author

Gunther-Dietz Sontheimer (1934-1992) began his contribution to our understanding of Indian culture with work on classical Hindu law (dharma-sastra) in the early 1960s. His strong interest in the normative thought of Hinduism eventually led to a major study of Hindu ethics in 1980. At the same time, the archaic world-views contained in the ancient legal texts inspired Sontheimer to go to the sources of Indian religiosity in the cults of equally ancient folk deities. He tought history of religion in South Asia at the South Asia Institute of Heidelberg University.