This paper deals with the two general methodological approaches for the interpretation of Indian cultural phenomena, viz. the conceptual and the contextual ones. Generally, it can be said that the conceptual approach aims to express Indian philosophical ideas and cultural narratives in terms of Western philosophical discourse, whereas the contextual approach aims to reconstruct the initial context in which these ideas and narratives have been formulated. Several cases are discussed in which conceptual and textual approaches provide us with different solutions of some problems. It can be concluded that both approaches can be fruitful on different occasions.