Indian scholars seek removal of professor from Harvard project aimed at for translating ancient texts

sparks outrage among Hindu right

A group of Sanskrit scholars in India are is calling for the removal of an American professor working on a
from a groundbreaking $5 million project on to translate Indian classics at Harvard University to be
removed because of his deep antipathy to Indian ideals and culture, according to a Change.org
petition filed Saturday.
Columbia University Professor Sheldon Pollock, a respected Sanskrit scholar and the author of "The
Language of Gods in the World of Men: Sanskrit, Culture, and Power in Premodern India," is the editor
of the Murty Classical Library of India a $5 million project by Harvard University Press to publishfor
publishing dozens of Indian classical texts with English translations.

Moretranslations.
More than 132 professors from some of Indias most prominent universities -- some of them from the
Hindu right -- have signed a Change.org petition thatthe petition, which calls for Pollocks removal as
editor. The and "mentor" of the Murty Classical Library of India series; the projectMurty Classical Library
of India is funded by a Harvard graduate Rohan Murty, the son of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murty.

[Indian students called it free speech. The government called it sedition.]

TheThe petitioners Indian scholars argued that the work of translating the ancient texts should be done
in India and not outsourced wholesale to American Ivy Leagues.

Ramesh C. Bhardwaj, professor and head of the Department of Sanskrit at Delhi University, said that the
issue was an academic one, rather than personal. He said that

Pollock had associated himself with Marxist scholars in India, he said, andIndia and that his work does
not provide the true picture of Indian heritage. Neither Pollock nor Harvard University Press
immediately returned emails requesting comment.

The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi i, with the support of Hindu nationalists, has been is
trying to promote pride in India's centuries-old knowledge systems and to reinvigorate Sanskrit, India's
ancient language, with classes and a new government committee to expand Sanskrit in schools and
colleges.

[Is Hindi making a comeback in India after years of pursuit of English?]

College campuses across India have been embroiled in a series of controversies in recent months, with
critics charging that Modi's nationalist government has been acting to suppress dissent. at left-leaning
institutions. The education minister, Smriti J. Irani, vehemently denied this charge in an interview with
The Washington Post last week.

Pollock was among a group of Western academics who signed a petition in support of students at on the
campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi who were arrested and charged with sedition after
they allegedly chanted anti-India slogans at a rally, another strike against Pollock, his critics wrote. The
issue blew up into a national debate about freedom of expression and nationalism.

It is crystal clear that Pollock has shown disrespect for the unity and integrity of India, the Indian
scholars wrote, adding that such an individual cannot be considered objective and neutral enough to be
in charge of your historic translation project.

They also asked for clarification on how Sanskrit words that are non-translatable words would be
treated, whether there would be any link between the ancient texts and present day social and political
problems and whether theoretical methods in Europe would be used to interpret the Indian texts.
We The scholars petitioned Narayana Murthy and Rohan Murty you to reconstitute the editorial group
of your projectthe project, noting that with the following ideals in mind:

There must be a written set of standards and policies for the entire project, pertaining to the
translation methodologies, historical assumptions and philosophical interpretations that would be used
consistently in all volumes.