Anoop Chandola

Anoop Chandola (December 24, 1937 – January 31, 2024) was an American linguist-anthropologist. He was born into a Brahmin family and raised in the mountainous region of Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India.

He attended the Christian Messmore Intermediate College of Pauri, a Methodist school run by Indian Christians of Chinese origin. After completing a year of intermediate education, he joined D.A.V. College of Lucknow for his second and final year, majoring in Hindi literature. He later pursued undergraduate studies in Economics, Sanskrit, and English literature at the University of Allahabad.

Academic career and research

After teaching for three years at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University and the M.S. University of Baroda, Chandola moved to the United States in 1959 on a research assistantship and a Ford Foundation Scholarship. He earned a Master of Arts in Linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley, and later completed a PhD in Linguistics at the University of Chicago.

Chandola served as a visiting professor at several prestigious institutions, including the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Washington, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and the University of Texas at Austin. He was a full tenured professor at the University of Arizona, where he also developed a Hindi language program and taught Indo-European linguistics.

As a graduate student, he helped develop the Hindi teaching program alongside Professors John Gumperz and Norman Zide. His PhD dissertation (1965) presented the first syntax of Garhwali, a central Pahari language of the Indo-Aryan group. Chandola was one of the founders of the Linguistics Program at the University of Arizona and pioneered a new method of language teaching called "Language-Culture Lab."

Chandola authored and co-authored over twenty books covering topics from linguistics and music to Indian culture and religion, including the Indian diaspora in the United States. He was a founding scholar in the field of musicolinguistics, developing a theoretical framework for the discipline. His research also focused on Garhwali folk music, particularly "pandau," (Chandola as a linguist, spells it as "pandau," but it is usually referred to as Pandav) a traditional folk-dance based on the ancient Mahabharata epic performed in the Garhwal region of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. He also collaborated with scholars in other fields such as artificial intelligence and law.

One of Chandola’s notable contributions is his work on "contactics" and "contactism." He describes contactics as the behavioral science of human contact, while contactism is the philosophy behind human contact. He views these concepts as crucial for promoting world peace and fairness in human interactions. He elaborates on these ideas in his novel Discovering Brides.

Chandola was a member of several professional organizations, including the American Anthropological Association, the Association for Asian Studies, the Linguistic Society of America, and the Linguistic Society of India. His academic contributions extended to sociolinguistics, syntax, translation studies, and interdisciplinary research.

Literary career

Following his retirement in 2003 as Professor Emeritus of East Asian Studies at the University of Arizona, Chandola transitioned into fiction writing. His novels explored multicultural themes with an Indo-American focus, often incorporating ancient Indian mythology and religion to address modern social issues.

Personal life

Chandola was married to Sudha Chandola, an acclaimed writer with a doctorate in Indian folklore, who was by his side until his passing. Despite being born into a Brahmin family and witnessing religious rites performed by his father, Chandola identified as an atheist and believed religion was a cultural construct designed for behavioral satisfaction. He performed Hindu rituals, such as weddings and funerals, for friends and family but found them emotionally challenging. His progressive views extended to supporting diverse social communities and advocating for animal rights.

He was also deeply interested in yoga as a philosophy and practice. In his later years, he lived in Tucson, Arizona, and the greater Seattle area with his son, Manjul Varn Chandola, and his granddaughter, Prasha Reva Chandola.

Selected publications

Academic books

• Hindi Newspaper Reader - co-authored with Colin P. Masica, C.M. Naim, John Roberts (University of Chicago)
• The Poems of Surdas - co-authored with S. M. Pandey and Norman Zide (University of Chicago)
• Music As Speech: An Ethnomusicolinguistic Study of India
• The Way to True Worship: Popular Story of Hinduism (Published by The University Press of America, Lanham, New York City, London, 1991)
• Folk Drumming in the Himalayas: Linguistic Approach to Music (Published by The AMS Press, New York, 1977. Research supported by the US National Science Foundation)
• Systematic Translation of Hindi-Urdu into English (Published by The University of Arizona Press)
• Contactics: The Daily Drama of Human Contact (Published by AMS Press, New York, 1992)
• Mystic and Love Poetry of Medieval Hindi: With Introduction, Texts, Grammar, Notes, Translations and Glossary (Published by Scholarly Press)
• On the non-existence of phrase and transformation: VP and the brain operations (Published by The University of North Carolina)
• The Second Highest World War: The Rama Theater

Novels

• In the Himalayan Nights
• The Dharma Videos of Lust: Mysteries of Indian Religions
• The Second Highest World War: The Rama Theater
• Discovering Brides

Reviews

Chandola's books have been reviewed in literary journals and newspapers. Some of the reviews include:

• The Dharma Videos of Lust, reviewed by Arup Chakraborty, Hindustan Times, by Alexis Blue Lo Que Pasa; by J.C. Martin The Arizona Daily Star; by Ellen Tanner Marsh, Best Seller Author of New York Times; by Michael Witzel, the Wales Professor of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Harvard University
• In the Himalayan Nights, reviewed by Glen Jennings in Cha: An Asian Literary Journal; by Grady Harp, Top 50 Amazon Reviewer; by Laurie Hanan, Author; by Ekraz Singh in Existere: A Journal of Arts and Literature, York University; by Sukriti Tolani in The Hindustan Times

References

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