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Murty Classical Library of India

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Set of classic books of Indian literature

The Murty Classical Library of India began publishing classics of Indian literature in January 2015. The books, which are in dual-language format with the original language and English facing, are published by Harvard University Press. The library was established through a $5.2 million gift from Rohan Murty, the son of Infosys co-founder N. R. Narayana Murthy and social worker and author Sudha Murty. The series will include translations from Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, other Indian languages and Persian. It will include fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and religious texts from all Indian traditions including Buddhism and Islam. The projected 500 volumes, to be published over a century, have a corpus of thousands of volumes of classic Indian literature to draw on.

Until 2022, Sheldon Pollock served as the general editor of the library. Pollock had previously edited the Clay Sanskrit Library.

Inception

Sheldon Pollock was searching for a sponsor to continue the work of Clay Sanskrit Library, whose funding had ended in 2008. Rohan Murty, as a PhD student in Computer Science at Harvard University, was taking courses in ancient Indian literature and philosophy from the Sanskrit Department and developed a deep interest in ancient Indian texts. The two were brought together by Gurcharan Das, leading to the establishment of the Murty Classical Library under the auspices of the Harvard University Press.

Volumes

January 2015

  • Therigatha: Poems of the First Buddhist Women, translated from Pali by Charles Hallisey, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press (January 2015), hardcover, 336 pages, ISBN 9780674427730.
  • The Story of Manu, by Allasani Peddana, translated from Telugu by Velcheru Narayana Rao and David Shulman, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press (January 2015), hardcover, 656 pages, ISBN 9780674427761
  • Sur's Ocean: Poems from the Early Tradition, Surdas, edited by Kenneth E. Bryant, translated from Hindi by John Stratton Hawley, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press (January 2015), hardcover, 1072 pages ISBN 9780674427778
  • Sufi Lyrics, Bullhe Shah, edited and translated from Panjabi by Christopher Shackle, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press (January 2015), hardcover, 496 pages, ISBN 9780674427747
  • The History of Akbar, Volume 1 (the Akbarnama), by Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, edited and translated from Persian by Wheeler Thackston, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press (January 2015), hardcover, 656 pages, ISBN 9780674427754

January 2016

January 2017

  • The History of Akbar, Volume 3 (the Akbarnama), by Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, edited and translated from Persian by Wheeler Thackston, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press (January 2017), hardcover, 704 pages, ISBN 9780674659827
  • The Killing of Shishupala, (the Shishupala Vadha) by Magha, edited and translated from Sanskrit by Paul Dundas, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press (January 2017), hardcover, 832 pages, ISBN 9780674660397
  • In Praise of Annada, Volume 1, (Annada Mangal) by Bharatchandra Ray, translated from Bengali by France Bhattacharya, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press (January 2017), hardcover, 560 pages, ISBN 9780674660427
  • The Life of Harishchandra, (Harishchandra Kavya) by Raghavanka, translated from Kannada by Vanamala Viswanatha, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press (January 2017), hardcover, 688 pages, ISBN 9780674545663

January 2018

  • The History of Akbar, Volume 4 (the Akbarnama), by Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, edited and translated from Persian by Wheeler Thackston, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press (January 2018), hardcover, 656 pages, ISBN 9780674975033
  • The Epic of Ram, Volume 3 (the Ramcharitmanas) by Tulsidas, translated from Hindi by Philip Lutgendorf, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press (January 2018), hardcover, 336 pages, ISBN 9780674975019
  • The Epic of Ram, Volume 4 (the Ramcharitmanas) by Tulsidas, translated from Hindi by Philip Lutgendorf, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press (January 2018), hardcover, 368 pages, ISBN 9780674975026
  • The Life of Padma, Volume 1 by Svayambhudeva, translated from Prakrit languages by Eva De Clercq, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press (January 2018), hardcover, 768 pages, ISBN 9780674660366
  • Risalo, by Shah Abdul Latif, edited and translated from Sindhi by Christopher Shackle, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press (January 2018), hardcover, 704 pages, ISBN 9780674975040

January 2019

January 2020

January 2021

  • The History of Akbar, Volume 7 (the Akbarnama), by Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, edited and translated from Persian by Wheeler Thackston, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press (January 2021), hardcover, 800 pages, ISBN 9780674244160
  • Poems from the Satsai (the Satasai), by Biharilal, translated from Hindi by Rupert Snell, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press (January 2021), hardcover, 192 pages, ISBN 9780674987074
  • Lilavai by Kouhala, edited and translated from Prakrit by Andrew Ollett, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press (January 2021), hardcover, 432 pages, ISBN 9780674247598

February 2022

Formats

Paperback versions of the books are available throughout the Indian subcontinent for the equivalent of USD 3 to USD 5, depending on the volume's size. Electronic editions of the works are planned for the future.

Criticism on the choice of General Editor

In March 2016, a petition initiated by Indian academicians demanded that Sheldon Pollock be removed from the editorship of the Murty Classical Library of India. The petition cites Rajiv Malhotra's book The Battle for Sanskrit, in which Pollock is a major topic. Malhotra criticizes Pollock for his methodologies, which are not being led by a traditional Dharmic point of view, and uses political philology which unearths "social abuses in the texts (against dalits, women, Muslims) as the predominant quality of those texts". According to Malhotra, Pollock takes an activist stance, calling "his peers to expunge the Sanskrit tradition of its inbuilt oppressiveness" which he describes as prescriptivism. Malhotra rejects these approaches, regarding them as a "bias" which threaten traditional approaches of Sanskrit texts. He adds, it is unfortunate that most Hindus are "largely unaware of what he has written."

In a response, Rohan Murty stated that Sheldon Pollock will continue his position, saying that the library will commission the "best possible scholar for that particular language. We will not judge on nationality, gender, race, creed or colour." He further questioned the intentions of the petitioners, noting that none of the petitioners had tried to contact him for the past six years.

2022 dismissal of Pollock

In 2022, Professor Parimal G. Patil of Harvard, the chair of MCLI's oversight board, forced Pollock to resign from his position as General Editor two years before his term was up. No replacement was appointed.

2024 editorial dismissals

In January 2024, Patil, who was still serving as the chair of the MCLI's oversight board, dismissed five of the eight members of the editorial board. The five members dismissed were Whitney Cox of UChicago, Maria Heim of Amherst, Rajeev Kinra of Northwestern, Francesca Orsini of SOAS University of London, and Archana Venkatesan of UC Davis. Patil named two new members of the editorial board, poet and critic Ranjit Hoskote and translator Mini Krishnan.

The five dismissed board members wrote an open letter criticising Patil's "opaque and uncollegial management style" and claiming that no explanation had been given for the dismissals. According to the dismissed members, Patil had entirely ceased communication with the editorial board for the prior eighteen months. They requested the office of Harvard University provost John F. Manning to investigate the matter.

See also

Notes

  1. This is the first complete English translation of Bhāravi's Sanskrit poem. The work was translated into German by Carl Cappeller in 1912 as Volume 15 of the Harvard Oriental Series.
  2. See 132 Indian academicians call for removal of Sheldon Pollock as general editor of Murthy Classical Library for a link to the petition.

References

  1. Masoom Gupte (11 December 2014). "Rohan Murty debuts at Jaipur Literature Festival". The Economic Times.
  2. "Murty family gift establishes Murty Classical Library of India series". Harvard Gazette. 29 April 2010.
  3. ^ Jennifer Schuessler (2 January 2015). "Literature of India, Enshrined in a Series: Murty Classical Library Catalogs Indian Literature". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  4. Elizabeth Kuruvilla, The modern revivalists, LiveMint, 24 Jan 2015.
  5. Appleton, Naomi. "Charles Hallisey: Therigatha: Poems of the First Buddhist Women:(Murti Classical Library of India.) – Book review" Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 78.03 (2015): 635–636.
  6. Thomas, F. W. 1917. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 869–77.
  7. "A literary colossus". Harvard Gazette. 5 March 2015.
  9. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Murty Classical Library Translations Not Reviewed by Traditional Sanskrit Scholars' Panel #1. YouTube.
  10. —— (26 July 2008). "Towards a Political Philology: D. D. Kosambi and Sanskrit" (PDF). Economic and Political Weekly. 43 (30): 52–59.
  11. "interview with business standard - The Battle for Sanskrit". The Battle for Sanskrit. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  12. Divya Shekhar & Indulekha Aravind, Rohan Murty says American Indologist Sheldon Pollock to stay, The Economic Times, 3 March 2016.
  13. Sudha Pillai, It is always nice to disagree, but don't be disagreeable, Bangalore Mirror, 3 March 2016.
  14. ^ "Exits Rock Murty Classical Library, Once Feted for New Translations of Rare Manuscripts".

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