To anyone who may know,

Frits Staal in the Preface to his monumental 1983 book, Agni: The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altar, wrote (p. xxix): “When the work was nearing completion, I learned that Professor Stanley Insler of Yale was translating the Ṛgveda and had completed nearly half of it.” Staal was able to include Insler’s translations of a number of Ṛgveda verses in this book. I always wondered what ever happened to Insler’s translation of the Ṛgveda, especially when I later learned of the (then) forthcoming (now published) translation by Stephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton, former students of his. Did Insler ever complete his translation? If not, will the completed portion ever be made available? I would think that the labor of a specialist like Stanley Insler is worth preserving and making available. For a text as difficult as the Ṛgveda, where there is no question of having a “definitive” translation, this would take nothing away from the carefully made translation that Jamison and Brereton labored for many years to complete.

Best regards,

David Reigle

Colorado, U.S.A.