That was the other thing that drew me to India-the language. In high school my Latin teacher taught me Greek unofficially on Monday nights. I loved Greek; I loved the idea that there was another script. And then my Latin teacher told me there was a language that was even older and more interesting than Greek: Sanskrit. So everything started coming together-the art, the literature, the language.

On the aspect of her studying Sanskrit. - Q&A with Wendy Doniger, the Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor and author of The Hindus