Harvard’s Murty Classical Library 'dismisses' 5 editorial board members

The public statement, claiming to be on behalf of all five suspended members, said they were suspended during the last week of January 2024 “without cause, explanation, or documentation”.

Murty Classical Library of India (MCLI) has “summarily dismissed” five members from the Editorial Board, by the chair of its oversight board, Professor Parimal Patil of Harvard University, according to a public statement shared on X by Rajeev Kinra, one of the suspended members.

The suspended members are Professor Whitney Cox (University of Chicago), Professor Maria Heim (Amherst College), Professor Rajeev Kinra (Northwestern University), Professor Francesca Orsini (SOAS, University of London), and Professor Archana Venkatesan (University of California, Davis), as per the statement.

The library was founded in 2010 at Harvard University by Rohan Murty, son of Infosys founder Narayana Murthy.

A public statement from myself and the other (now former) members of the editorial board of the Murty Classical Library of India. Please share. #academictwitter #MCLI pic.twitter.com/tkzZMzvMVg

— Rajeev Kinra (@rkkinra) March 4, 2024

The mission of the library is to “present the greatest literary works of India from the past two millennia to the largest readership in the world…translated into English by world-class scholars, reflecting the highest standards of contemporary book design, and featuring elegant, newly commissioned typefaces, these volumes are a modern invitation to diverse pre-modern literary worlds in languages such as Bangla, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Pali, Panjabi, Persian, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu”.

The suspended members claim they were suspended during the last week of January 2024 “without cause, explanation, or documentation”.

“The Library has been without a General Editor since 2022 after the founding General Editor, Professor Sheldon Pollock, was forced to resign, also with no reason given, two years before his planned retirement. Professor Patil determined that no successor would be appointed. We repeatedly expressed concern not only about that decision and its likely effect on the series, but about the lack of transparency in decision-making, in the acquisition and approval of new projects, and in the issuing of contracts; and about the opaque and uncollegial management style of Professor Patil and Harvard University Press,” the statement said.

“....Together we were responsible for editing and supervising the translation and publication of 43 books under contract, in Apabhramsha, Bangla, Hindi (Brajbhasha and Avadhi), Kannada, Pali, Panjabi, Persian, Sansk Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. Who is to undertake this work in the future and what is to become of the translations currently being edited? There has been no further communication from the Board or the Pre particular, there has been no notion of the future direction of the Library or of the status of works already under contract,” the statement added.