David Brick, Assistant Professor of Sanskrit Literature, also works on pre-modern India. In his research, Brick focuses mainly on the social history of ancient and medieval India and on the vast classical Hindu legal tradition of Dharamasastra. A few of the many topics that Brick has written about include: sati (widow-burning); the origin and evolution of the institution of widow-asceticism; inheritance law; systems of sin and ritual expiation; theories and rituals of gifting; and the early sociolinguistics of Sanskrit.

Coming from teaching Sanskrit at Yale University, Brick is excited to get the opportunity to teach at a large public university in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan. He is deeply humbled by the illustrious scholars of Sanskrit in U-M's past.

This Fall 2018 semester, David Brick will be teaching ASIANLAN 151: First Year Sanskrit and ASIAN 255: Hindu Myth.

More information about David Brick and his research interests can be found on his faculty page on our website.