Literary classics are a bridge to our past: Rohan Murty

Bengaluru: Thanks to translations by the Murty Classical Library of India (MCLI), more than 80 universities worldwide are now studying Indian literary classics, including prestigious institutions like Harvard, Cornell, and MIT.

Founded by Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy’s son Rohan, MCLI is translating Indian literary texts from the past two millennia into English, in collaboration with Harvard University Press. Rohan shared the success of MCLI at an event in Bengaluru on Tuesday, held to mark its 10th anniversary. So far, MCLI has released nearly 50 volumes in 14 Indian languages.

Founder of the Murty Classical Library of India Rohan Murty talks at the 10 years of the library in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

The event also saw the launch of the US edition of Ten Indian Classics, an anthology featuring translations of ten works from eight Indian languages, spanning 2,500 years.

The book, launched in India last year, includes poems by Surdas, Bulleh Shah, and Mir Taqi Mir, Tulsidas’s retelling of the Ramayana, and writings by early Buddhist women. It also features the 13th-century Kannada text Harishchandra Kavya by Raghavanka, translated by Vanamala Viswanatha.

Emphasising the importance of classics, Rohan stated that literary texts are not just museum pieces but “time machines” that connect us to the past and to the people who lived before us, offering subjects worthy of debate and discussion. 

George Andreou, director of Harvard University Press, spoke as well, noting that classics are the bedrock of values and ideas for any civilisation, whether Western or Indian. In India especially, literary classics thrive in everyday life, often in the forms of poems and performances, he added 

Rohan acknowledged the challenges MCLI could face in future due to the shrinking pool of linguistic scholars. To address this, MCLI is developing computer models to capture the “essence” of various languages, which can help in interpreting unpublished works in the future. “I’m not suggesting these models can replace the depth of human intelligence,” he clarified.

The private event was attended by Rohan’s family, including his father N R Narayana Murthy, mother Sudha Murty, and sister Akshata. Also present were prominent personalities Nandan Nilekani and Mohandas Pai, as well as literary figures such as Ranjit Hoskote, Vanamala Viswanatha, Indira Peterson, and Vivek Shanbhag.

Classical singer Shubha Mudgal concluded the evening with a performance of select verses from the anthology.