Società Indologica

In 1987, the city of Udine held an international congress in memory of Luigi Pio Tessitori on the first centennial after his birth. The proceedings of the congress, subsequently published (Luigi Pio Tessitori, Brescia, Paideia, 1990), focused on the wide array of topics which held the interests of this scholar from Friuli, and on the continuing relevance of his research on various aspects of literary and religious tradition, especially in the field of the history of mediaeval and modern Indo-Aryan languages. The congress proved to be a point of departure. The Società Indologica «Luigi Pio Tessitori» was established in Udine on 29 November 1993 with the aim of furthering studies of Tessitori's work and bringing his unpublished writings - hitherto entrusted to his nephew, Dr. Peano, and deemed worthy of attention by acknowledged specialists - to press. The Società also aims to study the collection of Indian manuscripts in the custody of the «Vincenzo Joppi» Municipal Library in Udine and the private papers conserved at the residence of Tessitori's nephew, Dr. Guido Peano.

The Società has established contacts with scholars belonging to numerous academic institutions: the University of Udine, the International Centre for Plurilingualism in Udine, the Società  Filologica Friulana «Graziadio Isaia Ascoli» in Udine, the Accademia di Scienze, Lettere e Arti in Udine, the University of Trieste, the University of Venice, the University of Milan, the University of Turin, the University of Genoa, the University of Pisa, the University of Rome, the University of Florence, the Istituto Universitario Orientale in Naples, the Centro di Studi sul Medio ed Estremo Oriente in Turin, the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris, the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris, the University of Cambridge, the University of Heidelberg, the University of Delhi, the Jawaharlal Nehru University, the University of Rajasthan in Jaipur, the University of Jodhpur, the Institute of Rajasthan Studies in Jaipur, the Apabhramsa Sahitya Academy in Jaipur, the Rajasthan Institute of Folklore in Jodhpur, the French Institute in Pondicherry, the Osmania University and the Telugu University in Hyderabad, the B.M. Birla Science Centre in Hyderabad and the Adyar Library of Madras.

In addition to its research activities, the Society intends to undertake initiatives which, while still respecting the highest academic levels, are aimed at a wider public. Finally, the Society intends to publish both academic and non-specialist works of quality as well as the opera omnia of Luigi Pio Tessitori.