[INDOLOGY] Statement Regarding the Murty Classical Library of India

Thu Mar 7 09:14:37 UTC 2024

I agree with you wholeheartedly Andrew about the need to carve out some
actual, concrete autonomy, and I think it's a very important point.
Granted also what you point out about the academic institutions' (and their
administrators') overwhelming cynicism, we still at least have the power as
a community (don't we?) to generate some bad press for MCLI/HUP's wrong
turn.  Even if it affects nothing on the ground, it would at least give
form to our recognition of a distinction between the original vision and
what seems to be emerging now. Maybe we could do a collective, open letter?
At least the Wire would probably report on it. We could use Bob's letter to
the provost as a basic model and then incorporate other feedback from list
members, and then collect as many signatures as possible (being careful not
to impugn anyone personally who has not had the chance to present their
case, as Brendan sagely advises us). Do people think this is worth doing?
On Wed, Mar 6, 2024 at 1:28 AM Andrew Ollett via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I very rarely write to this list to simply voice an opinion, but I think I
> will break my own rule in this case, because the question has arisen of
> what we, as scholars, can do in a situation like this. The answer, I am
> sorry to say, is not very much. That is by design. MCLI is published by
> Harvard University Press, which, while technically a non-profit, is a
> non-profit the same way that Harvard University is, with an endowment
> bigger than the GDP of most countries. The press is a business, concerned
> with brands, markets, and intellectual property. When there was a general
> editor, it was somebody's job to care about scholarly matters, but that has
> not been the case at MCLI for several years now. The big picture is that,
> once the decision was made to house MCLI at a big, rich, prestigious,
> complex, institution, "their reality is the one that matters" (as someone
> closely involved with MCLI once said). The editors and translators of the
> series ultimately work for the institution, as HUP has demonstrated on
> multiple occasions, most recently with the firing of the entire editorial
> board.
>
> That is unfortunate, especially because I had hoped that a big endowment
> would free the series from some of the caprices of patronage that we might
> have worried about (remember CSL?). But even if the "portfolio" of MCLI has
> a lot of money attached to it, it's still not a portfolio that we, the
> scholars, have any control over whatsoever, or any right to. (Indeed, I had
> to sign away all of my rights for my translation of *Līlāvaī*, and I
> would bet that the same is true for every other book published in the
> series.)
>
> If we, the scholarly community, ever undertake a project like this again,
> I would hope that its future would depend to a much greater extent on the
> people who actually do the scholarly work.
>
> Andrew
>
> On Tue, Mar 5, 2024 at 5:01 PM Jan E.M. Houben via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> Dear All,
>>
>> Thanks for drawing attention to this disturbing situation.
>> While profoundly appreciative and grateful for the monumental
>> achievements of MCLI so far, thanks to the generous funding and the
>> engagement of sincere scholarship and administration, I fully support both
>> points brought forward by Brendan.
>> Perhaps so, but it is indeed questionable whether anything can be
>> expected by writing to the current interim provost or any senior
>> administrator at Harvard University, who, no doubt having more pressing
>> concerns at present, are only in the most formal way "ultimately
>> responsible" for what happens according to MCLI's self-adopted and
>> self-funded mission https://www.murtylibrary.com/about/our-mission
>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.murtylibrary.com/about/our-mission__;!!PvDODwlR4mBZyAb0!VRoFhlGaTHSMWZrn2rTDcvTLVPiRBIzl7uhjRqSLi4ShVFHnQrCO1dXUbEIuSk1fVYkViLEksH_54ukz4LZ1HQVOBFVK$>
>>
>>
>> All best,
>>
>> Jan Houben
>>
>> On Tue, 5 Mar 2024 at 15:33, Brendan Gillon via INDOLOGY <
>> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>>
>>> Dear colleagues,
>>>
>>> I too agree that the Murty Classical Library of India is a valuable book
>>> series and its discontinuation would be a loss to Indology. I would be
>>> happy to sign a letter to that effect.
>>>
>>> I would in no circumstances sign a letter censuring someone without
>>> having heard the accused person's side of the story. It is a fundamental
>>> principle of law: `audi alteram partem' (`let the other side be heard').
>>>
>>> Cordially yours,
>>>
>>> Brendan Gillon
>>>
>>>
>>> On 3/5/24 02:20, Asko Parpola via INDOLOGY wrote:
>>>
>>> This is a stain on Professor Parimal Patil and on Harvard University. I
>>> do hope the Provost of Harvard will set the matter right.
>>>
>>> Asko Parpola, Professor Emeritus of South Asian Studies, University of
>>> Helsinki
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 4. Mar 2024, at 20.58, Robert P. GOLDMAN via INDOLOGY
>>> <indology at list.indology.info> <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>>>
>>> This is deeply disturbing although, alas, hardly surprising. It
>>> reflects, no doubt ,political interference with this groundbreaking and
>>> outstanding scholarly series. List members should add their voices to those
>>> of  the  former members of the editorial board.
>>>
>>> Dr. R.P. Goldman
>>> William and Catherine Magistretti Professor of Sanskrit Emeritus
>>> and
>>> Joint Editor of the South Asia Across the Disciplines  Publication Series
>>> Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies
>>> Berkeley, CA 94720-2540
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mar 4, 2024, at 8:29 AM, Archana Venkatesan via INDOLOGY
>>> <indology at list.indology.info> <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>>>
>>> Dear Respected Colleagues,
>>>
>>> With apologies for cross-posting, please see the attached communication
>>> from the former editors of the Murty Classical Library of India.
>>>
>>> Archana
>>>
>>> --
>>> *"When writers die they become books, which is, after all, not too bad
>>> an incarnation."*  Jorge Luis Borges
>>>
>>> Archana Venkatesan
>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://archana.faculty.ucdavis.edu/__;!!PvDODwlR4mBZyAb0!VRoFhlGaTHSMWZrn2rTDcvTLVPiRBIzl7uhjRqSLi4ShVFHnQrCO1dXUbEIuSk1fVYkViLEksH_54ukz4LZ1HQ5m-sDk$>
>>>  (archana.faculty.ucdavis.edu
>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://archana.faculty.ucdavis.edu/__;!!PvDODwlR4mBZyAb0!VRoFhlGaTHSMWZrn2rTDcvTLVPiRBIzl7uhjRqSLi4ShVFHnQrCO1dXUbEIuSk1fVYkViLEksH_54ukz4LZ1HdG3Fawl$>
>>> )
>>> Graduate Advisor, Graduate Program in the Study of Religion
>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://religionsgrad.ucdavis.edu/__;!!PvDODwlR4mBZyAb0!VRoFhlGaTHSMWZrn2rTDcvTLVPiRBIzl7uhjRqSLi4ShVFHnQrCO1dXUbEIuSk1fVYkViLEksH_54ukz4LZ1Hd8dQt7j$>
>>> (2022-2024)
>>> *Professor, Religious Studies and Comparative Literature*
>>> Phone: 530-754-2821 (Office)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> <Statement regarding the Murty Classical Library of India.pdf>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> INDOLOGY mailing list
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> INDOLOGY mailing listINDOLOGY at list.indology.infohttps://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology__;!!PvDODwlR4mBZyAb0!VRoFhlGaTHSMWZrn2rTDcvTLVPiRBIzl7uhjRqSLi4ShVFHnQrCO1dXUbEIuSk1fVYkViLEksH_54ukz4LZ1He0GwDDe$>
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> Brendan S. Gillon                       email: brendan.gillon at mcgill.ca
>>> Department of Linguistics
>>> McGill University                       tel.:  001 514 398 4868
>>> 1085, Avenue Docteur-Penfield
>>> Montreal, Quebec                        fax.:  001 514 398 7088
>>> H3A 1A7  CANADA
>>>
>>> webpage: http://webpages.mcgill.ca/staff/group3/bgillo/web/ <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://webpages.mcgill.ca/staff/group3/bgillo/web/__;!!PvDODwlR4mBZyAb0!VRoFhlGaTHSMWZrn2rTDcvTLVPiRBIzl7uhjRqSLi4ShVFHnQrCO1dXUbEIuSk1fVYkViLEksH_54ukz4LZ1HYGzZRQw$>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> INDOLOGY mailing list
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>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> *Jan E.M. Houben*
>>
>> Directeur d'Études, Professor of South Asian History and Philology
>>
>> *Sources et histoire de la tradition sanskrite*
>>
>> École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE, Paris Sciences et Lettres)
>>
>> *Sciences historiques et philologiques *
>>
>> Groupe de recherches en études indiennes (EA 2120)
>>
>> *johannes.houben [at] ephe.psl.eu <johannes.houben at ephe.psl.eu>*
>>
>> *https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben
>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben__;!!PvDODwlR4mBZyAb0!VRoFhlGaTHSMWZrn2rTDcvTLVPiRBIzl7uhjRqSLi4ShVFHnQrCO1dXUbEIuSk1fVYkViLEksH_54ukz4LZ1HQBPnK29$>*
>>
>> *https://www.classicalindia.info*
>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.classicalindia.info__;!!PvDODwlR4mBZyAb0!VRoFhlGaTHSMWZrn2rTDcvTLVPiRBIzl7uhjRqSLi4ShVFHnQrCO1dXUbEIuSk1fVYkViLEksH_54ukz4LZ1HfWEaW8C$>
>>
>> LabEx Hastec -- *L'Inde Classique* augmentée: construction, transmission
>>
>>      et transformations d'un savoir scientifique
>>
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>>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>

-- 
Jesse Knutson PhD
Professor of Sanskrit Language and Literature
Department of Indo-Pacific Languages and Literatures
University of Hawai'i, Mānoa
461 Spalding

E io ch’avea d’error la testa cinta,
dissi: «Maestro, che è quel ch’i’ odo?
e che gent’ è che par nel duol sì vinta?

Ed elli a me: «Questo misero modo
tegnon l’anime triste di coloro
che visser sanza ’nfamia e sanza lodo.

Mischiate sono a quel cattivo coro
de li angeli che non furon ribelli
né fur fedeli a Dio, ma per sé fuoro.

Caccianli i ciel per non esser men belli,

né lo profondo inferno li riceve,
  ch’alcuna gloria i rei avrebber d’elli». (Inferno 3.31-39)
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