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@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

All best,

Jan Houben
On Tue, 5 Mar 2024 at 15:33, Brendan Gillon via INDOLOGY <indology@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@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@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 (archana.faculty.ucdavis.edu)

Graduate Advisor, Graduate Program in the Study of Religion (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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Brendan S. Gillon                       email: brendan.gillon@mcgill.ca
Department of Linguistics
McGill University                       tel.:  001 514 398 4868 
1085, Avenue Docteur-Penfield
Montreal, Quebec                        fax.:  001 514 398 7088 
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webpage: http://webpages.mcgill.ca/staff/group3/bgillo/web/
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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
https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben
https://www.classicalindia.info
LabEx Hastec -- L'Inde Classique augmentée: construction, transmission
et transformations d'un savoir scientifique

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