Dispute rocks Murty Classical Library of India; editorial board dismissed without explanation

In a startling turn of events, members of the editorial board of the Murty Classical Library of India were abruptly relieved of their duties by Prof. Parimal Patil of Harvard University, who chairs the Oversight Board, in the last week of January this year. The dismissals came without any apparent reason, explanation, or documentation, said a joint statement issued by well-known scholars and professors who were part of the board.

The development comes amidst an ongoing turmoil within the library. The institution has been without a general editor since 2022 when Prof. Sheldon Pollock, the founding general editor, was compelled to resign, also without any clear justification, two years earlier than his planned retirement. Patil decided against appointing a successor to Pollock.

Members of the now-dismissed editorial board have voiced concerns about the lack of transparency in decision-making processes, acquisition and approval of new projects, contract issuing, and the opaque management style of Patil and Harvard University Press. They say that despite increasingly unclear roles and communication breakdowns with Patil over the past eighteen months, the former board members worked tirelessly with translators on book manuscripts.

Patil has attributed the breakdown in trust solely to the former board members, accusing them of losing confidence in the mission of MCLI (Murty Classical Library of India), allegations vehemently denied by the dismissed members.

Together, the dismissed members were responsible for editing and supervising the translation and publication of 43 books under contract in various languages including Apabhramsha, Bangla, Hindi, Kannada, Pali, Punjabi, Persian, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. The future of this work and the fate of translations currently in progress remain uncertain.

Seeking clarity and resolution, the dismissed board members, including Prof. Whitney Cox (University of Chicago), Prof. Mann Heim (Amherst College), Prof. Rebecca Kinra (Northwestern University), Prof. Francesca Orsini (SOAS, University of London), and Prof. Archana Venkatesan (University of California, Davis), have requested an external review of the recent developments and the future direction of the Murty Classical Library of India from the Provost's office at Harvard University, which holds ultimate authority over appointments to the Editorial and Oversight Boards as per the terms of the gift agreement establishing MCLI.

The Murty Classical Library was founded by Rohan Murty, the son of Infosys founders Narayana Murthy and Sudha Murty.