31 August - 3 September 1994 Toulouse, France XIITH EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON MODERN SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES By Dirk Kolff The XIIth European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies was organized by Dr. Marine Carrin and Dr. Harald Tambs-Lyche. More than 150 participants, more than ever before, attended its 19 panels. It was a lively, fruitful undertaking which ran like clockwork. The results will be published shortly in several diverse volumes in both India and Europe. FOUNDATION OF THE EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES At the suggestion of the ESF (European Science Foundation) Committee for Advanced Asian Studies, the general meeting of the Toulouse conference approved the idea of setting up a European Association of South Asian Studies and of asking a professional committee to take the necessary steps to prepare its formal inauguration. This committee consists of: -Dr Henriette Bugge, Institute of History, University of Copenhagen -Dr Marine Carrin Tambs-Lyche, cole des Hautes tudes en Sciences Sociales, University of Toulouse -Professor Dirk H.A. Kolff, Kern Institute, Leiden University, secretary -Dr Claude Markovits, Centre d'tudes de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud, Paris -Dr Richard K. Newman, Dept. of History, University College of Swansea (or another member to be proposed by BASAS) -Professor Mariola Offredi, Dept. di Studi Eurasiatici, Venice University -Professor Dietmar Rothermund, Sdasien Institut, University of Heidelberg, chairman -Professor Sergei D. Serebriany, Russian State University in the Humanities, Moscow -Professor Jaroslav Vacek, Karlovy University, Prague To be added: a classical indologist. It was agreed that the EASAS will maintain a low profile for the time being and remain separate from the series of European Conferences (the next one to be held in August 1996 in Copenhagen). A draft constitution will be prepared. The Kern Institute of Leiden University will serve as provisional secretariat of the association. It is hoped that contacts will be established soon with the European Associations of Chinese, Japanese, Southeast Asian, and Korean Studies, as well as with the ESF Committee for Advanced Asian Studies. FOR MORE INFORMATION: Dirk Kolff or Netty Bonouvri P.O.Box 9515 2300 RA Leiden The Netherlands