The Institute of Indian Civilization (renamed Indian Studies in 2001, and Center for Indian and Central Asian Studies in 2022) was founded in 1927 at the University of Paris by Emile Sénart, Alfred Foucher and Sylvain Lévi. Its library opened at the Sorbonne in 1929. In 1969, it was transferred to the Maison de l'Asie (Paris 16th), and in 1973 came under the supervision of the Collège de France. In 1990, it moved to 52, rue du Cardinal-Lemoine, on a plot of land belonging to the former École Polytechnique, in what is now the Institut des Civilisations du Collège de France.
From 2017 to 2020, while the Institut des Civilisations was being built, the library was housed on the Belle-Gabrielle site, in the Bois de Vincennes between Paris 12th and Nogent-sur-Marne. Between 2020 and 2021, all the collections will return to the premises of the Institut des Civilisations, 52, rue Cardinal-Lemoine, Paris5e.
During the periods of confinement and closures due to relocation and works, the link with the community of researchers on the Indian world and Central Asia was maintained by diversifying and promoting the digital offering, as well as monitoring and disseminating news via mailing lists. The acquisition policy has continued unabated (2427 monograph titles acquired between 2017 and 2023), following the criteria of the documentary charter, formalized and published online since 2018.
The period from 2017 to 2023 was also an opportunity to continue work on enhancing the heritage collections through the restoration of several works (manuscripts on poles, on paper, bronze sculptures), the digitization and online publication of documents, in partnership with researchers from various backgrounds (Collège de France, Monash University, Heidelberg University, EFEO, etc.). This work has been the subject of feedback and conferences at various study days and symposia.
The library collaborated with the Musée des Arts Asiatiques Guimet on the Nepal Art of the Kathmandu Valley exhibition (2021-2022 : loan of works and scientific contribution to the catalog) and the DAFA centenary exhibition (loan of photographs).
The center also continues to publish through the Publications de l'Institut de civilisation indienne collection, distributed until 2021 by De Boccard.
The library's staff are active in research, publishing and presenting papers at conferences, colloquia and seminars in France and abroad, on topics related to the study of the collections (material properties of manuscripts on poles, Nepalese iconography...), history of collections, history of Indianism, studies on Sylvain Lévi), as well as on personal research themes (history of Indian art, evolution of the symbolic status of images, Buddhist reuse in Hindu temples, tantric temples and cults in India, Vedic and Sanskrit epic literature). They also give occasional talks to students and contribute to communication initiatives aimed at the general public (popularization articles and short articles in the Colligere research notebook).
The Centre d'études indiennes et centrasiatiques is part of various national and international collaborative networks : DocAsie, the Patrimoines partagés France-Asie du Sud project, the Association française des études indiennes. It collaborates with various institutions on projects : EFEO, INHA (Agorha), BNF, Musée Guimet and research teams.
Illustration : manuscript dedicated to the cult of the Hindu god Shiva(Śivadharma corpus, MS.SL.57,11th century CE) depicting the god Vishnu in his hybrid form of man-lion (Narasiṃha).
