Not the End of the Book: Reviving Indian Classical Literature
VIEW EVENT DETAILSSpanning Sanskrit, Persian and Dravidian literature, many classic Indic texts have never reached a wide global audience, while others are becoming increasingly inaccessible even to Indian readers. From Sufi Lyrics to Therigatha: Poems of the First Buddhist Women, the Murty Classical Library of India aims to reintroduce key literary works of India from the past two millennia to a new generation of readers. Providing modern English translations of classical works alongside the original regional script, the volumes seek to engage a broader audience with India’s rich classical literature, and bridge the gap in knowledge between the contemporary transformation of Indian languages and their pre-modern varieties. Join Rohan Narayana Murty as he shares his aspirations for the Murty Classical Library, in conversation with Rahul Jacob as the duo discuss the importance of preserving classical literary heritage in a rapidly digitizing world.
Rohan Narayana Murty founded the Murty Classical Library of India (MCLI) to showcase a rich Indian intellectual history to the world. He is a Junior Fellow at the Society of Fellows at Harvard, where he is a computer scientist. He has a PhD in Computer Science from Harvard and an undergraduate degree from Cornell. His graduate work at Harvard on optimizing spectrum use for scaling up wireless networks has won several awards and fellowships in computer science.
Rahul Jacob is managing editor of Business Standard newspaper. Between 1998 and 2013, he was a foreign correspondent for the Financial Times, London, most recently as its South China correspondent based in Hong Kong. Rahul was part of a team of FT reporters who were runners up for the Society of Newspaper Publishers award for human rights. He is the author of Right of Passage: Travels from Brooklyn to Bali.