Indology is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent (most specifically the modern-day states of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal), and as such is a subset of Asian studies.

Indology may also be known as Indic studies or Indian studies, or South Asian studies, although scholars and university administrators sometimes have only partially overlapping interpretations of these terms.

The term Indology or (in German) Indologie is often associated with German scholarship, and is used more commonly in departmental titles in German and continental European universities than in the anglophone academy. In the Netherlands the term Indologie was used to designate the study of Indonesian history and culture in preparation for colonial service in the Dutch East Indies.

Specifically, Indology includes the study of Sanskrit literature and Hinduism along with the other Indian religions, Jainism, Buddhism and Pāli literature, and Sikhism. Dravidology is the separate branch dedicated to the Dravidian languages of South India.

Daisaku Ikeda (池田 大作, Ikeda Daisaku^?, born January 2, 1928, Japan) is president of Sōka Gakkai International (SGI), a Nichiren Buddhist lay association which claims 12 million members in 192 countries and territories, and founder of several educational, cultural and peace research institutions. Ikeda was listed in the Watkins' Mind Body Spirit magazine as one of the 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People in 2012.

Daisaku Ikeda was born the fifth son of seaweed farmers in Ōta, Tokyo. He had four older brothers, who fought in World War II, two younger brothers, and a sister. During the war, his eldest brother, Kiichi Ikeda (1916-1945), was killed and his familyʼs home destroyed. As a child, he suffered from poor health and later tuberculosis; at the time, doctors had predicted that he wouldn't survive beyond the age of 30.

In August 1947, he met Jōsei Toda at a Sōka Gakkai discussion meeting and, later that month, joined the organization. In 1948, Ikeda made the decision to sacrifice his schooling in order to dedicate his full, unreserved efforts to helping Toda resolve the financial situation then confounding him, and go on to fulfill greater dreams for world peace. Initially, this involved working for Toda's publishing business. In return, Toda pledged to give Ikeda a thorough, university-level education in literature, history, chemistry, physics, economics, law, mathematics, and organization theory. Ikeda regarded Toda as his spiritual mentor. In his writings, Ikeda states that Toda exerted the greatest influence on him through “the profound compassion that characterized each of his interactions”. Ikeda became President of Sōka Gakkai in 1960, after which he began traveling abroad to realize Todaʼs vision of expanding the Soka Gakkai movement.