Sheldon Pollock is the leading North American Indologist and his magnum opus, The Language of the Gods in the World of Men: Sanskrit, Culture, and Power in Premodern India, is a field-defining classic. Pollock takes himself to be a fierce critic of Max Weber, but in fact his comparative historical approach shares much with Weber, and where it is wanting Pollock’s text would have benefited from more, not less, Weberian influence. Pollock’s vision of language history and his views on religion and legitimation are considered in detail.