(21 March 2016) Dennis Abrams writing for Publishing Perspectives describes the imbroglio surrounding the Murty Classical Library of India, an ambitious project to translate ancient Indian texts into English. Harvard University Press is the publisher and Sheldon Pollock, a Sanskrit scholar, is the general editor of the series.
The catalyst for the ill will from scholars in India appears to be Pollock’s words of support for dissident students at JNU. This morphed into an attack on his credibility to manage the Murthy Classical Library of India. The series is supported by the high profile Murthy family of Infosys thus ensuring a huge amount of publicity.
It’s a fascinating story which touches on the credibility of Sanskrit scholars in North America and in India itself. The story is well summarised by Dennis Abrams on the Publishing Perspectives website.
