Murty Classical Library of India


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.
WWW Official Site

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, hardcover, 336 pages,.
  • 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, hardcover, 656 pages, 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, hardcover, 1072 pages
  • Sufi Lyrics, Bullhe Shah, edited and translated from Panjabi by Christopher Shackle, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 496 pages,
  • The History of Akbar, Volume 1, by Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, edited and translated from Persian by Wheeler Thackston, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 656 pages,
January 2016
  • The History of Akbar, Volume 2, by Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, edited and translated from Persian by Wheeler Thackston, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 624 pages,
  • The Epic of Ram, Volume 1, by Tulsidas, translated from Hindi by Philip Lutgendorf, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 432 pages,
  • The Epic of Ram, Volume 2, by Tulsidas, translated from Hindi by Philip Lutgendorf, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 560 pages,
  • Arjuna and the Hunter, by Bharavi, edited and translated from Sanskrit by Indira Viswanathan Peterson, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 480 pages,
January 2017
  • The History of Akbar, Volume 3, by Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, edited and translated from Persian by Wheeler Thackston, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 704 pages,
  • The Killing of Shishupala, by Magha, edited and translated from Sanskrit by Paul Dundas, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 832 pages,
  • In Praise of Annada, Volume 1, by Bharatchandra Ray, translated from Bengali by France Bhattacharya, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 560 pages,
  • The Life of Harishchandra, by Raghavanka, translated from Kannada by Vanamala Viswanatha, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 688 pages,
January 2018
  • The History of Akbar, Volume 4, by Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, edited and translated from Persian by Wheeler Thackston, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 656 pages,
  • The Epic of Ram, Volume 3 by Tulsidas, translated from Hindi by Philip Lutgendorf, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 336 pages,
  • The Epic of Ram, Volume 4 by Tulsidas, translated from Hindi by Philip Lutgendorf, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 368 pages,
  • The Life of Padma, Volume 1 by Svayambhudeva, translated from Prakrit languages by Eva De Clercq, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 768 pages,
  • Risalo, by Shah Abdul Latif, edited and translated from Sindhi by Christopher Shackle, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 704 pages,
January 2019
  • The History of Akbar, Volume 5, by Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, edited and translated from Persian by Wheeler Thackston, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 784 pages,
  • A Treatise on Dharma, by Yajnavalkya, edited and translated from Sanskrit by Patrick Olivelle, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 432 pages,
  • Selected Ghazals and Other Poems, by Mir Taqi Mir, translated from Urdu by Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 704 pages,
  • Remembrances, by Mir Taqi Mir, edited and translated from Persian by C. M. Naim, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 400 pages,
January 2020
  • The History of Akbar, Volume 6, by Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, edited and translated from Persian by Wheeler Thackston, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 688 pages,
  • The Epic of Ram, Volume 5 by Tulsidas, translated from Hindi by Philip Lutgendorf, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 400 pages,
  • In Praise of Annada, Volume 2 by Bharatchandra Ray, translated from Bengali by France Bhattacharya, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 720 pages,
January 2021
  • The History of Akbar, Volume 7, by Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, edited and translated from Persian by Wheeler Thackston, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 800 pages,
  • Poems from the Satsai, by Biharilal, translated from Hindi by Rupert Snell, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 192 pages,
  • Lilavai by Kouhala, edited and translated from Prakrit by Andrew Ollett, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press, hardcover, 432 pages,
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.

Controversy about 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 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 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. The petition also cites Pollock's signing of statements condemning crackdowns against student protesters at Jawaharlal Nehru University.
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 about any grievances.
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 "lack of transparency" and characterizing their dismissal as happening "without cause, explanation, or documentation." According to the former board members, Patil had entirely ceased communication with the editorial board for eighteen months prior to their dismissals. They requested the office of Harvard University provost John F. Manning to investigate the matter.