Persecutors Won't Read The Classics

The hounding of Prof Sheldon Pollock is the project of a misguided coven of academics

Shelly’s Voice *Persecutors Won't Read The Classics*

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Updated: 04 Mar 2016 11:13 pm

A petition seeks the removal of Sheldon Pollock as editor of the Murty Classical Library

Academics behind it say Pollock disrespects India, his writings distort Indian thoughts and ideals

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For nearly six years, the prestigious Murty Classical Library of India (MCLI) has been persevering on its ambitious goal of translating classic Indic texts which it hopes will reach a new generation of readers. But does it fit—or even aspire to do so—into the Make in India ‘ethos’? Apparently not, bizarre though the question may seem. A move to sack renowned Sanskritist Sheldon Pollock of Columbia University, who heads the translation project created by Rohan Murty, son of Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy, emerged last week in an online petition on the portal change.org. Signed by 132 Indian academics, it sought the removal of Pollock as the chief editor of MCLI because of his views which, they alleged, echoed those of “Macaulay and Max Weber”. His previous writings were ‘deeply flawed’, and ‘misrepresented’ Indian cultural heritage, the petition went.