Dear colleagues,

With thanks to Herman Tull, I just found out that an essay of mine was reprinted without my knowledge or mention of the source from which it was taken, and, worst of all, with misrepresenting changes. 

My original essay "Sanskrit and Related Studies in the United States: 1960–1985" was written for, and published in the proceedings of, Indological Studies & South Asia Bibliography - a Conference, convened in Calcutta at the National Library of India by its then director, the late great historian Ashin Dasgupta, in which I participated in 1986 (pp. 61–92).  A pirated reprint has since appeared in the volume Sanskrit Studies outside India (On the occasion of 10th World Sanskrit Conference, Bangalore, Jan 3–9, 1997 [which I did not attend]), New Delhi: Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, 1997, edited by the Sansthan's then director, Dr. K.K. Mishra, under the truncated title "Sanskrit Studies in United States" (pp. 97–152).  I do mind the deletion of "and Related Studies," since it was the very point of my essay to assess the state of Sanskrit studies contextually, particularly in connection with area studies, religious studies, and Indo-European linguistics.  Yet worse is the deletion of the period "1960–1985" and passing off the essay as if it was still current 11 years later.  I notice that essays about Sanskrit Studies in other parts of the world included in the Sansthan's volume were current, mentioning dates up to 1996. 

Since then, an online version of the Sansthan's volume has appeared, which omits the two appendices in my essay (pp. 128–152, equivalent to pp. 77–91 of my original essay).  As a consolation, perhaps, the online version mercifully also omits the list of contributors to the Sansthan's volume (pp. 153–154), in which the 5 half-line entry that concerns me manages to feature 4 mistakes: misspelling my name "Roscher," misnaming my department "South Asian languages," mauling the name of my university as "University of Peninsula," and then again the State in which I reside as "Peninsula."  This performance brings back to my mind the French phrase with which one of my high school teachers greeted anything stupid one of us students had done: "Dépêchons-nous d'en rire, de peur d'en pleurer" ("Let's hasten to laugh at this, lest it bring us to tears").     

I earnestly request scholars who might be interested in this topic to bear in mind the purpose and date of my essay and, if any might wish to quote it, to do so with its full, original title, including the period covered. 

With thanks and best wishes,

Rosane Rocher
Professor Emerita of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
USA                    

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