Five editorial board members of the Harvard University’s Murty Classical Library of India (MCLI) have alleged to have been “summarily dismissed” by Parimal Patil, the chair of the oversight board, without a cause or explanation. The allegations came in even as Patil has said the editorial members were “transitioned off” due to “administrative reasons.” Whitney Cox of the University of Chicago, Maria Heim of the Amherst College, Rajeev Kinra of the Northwestern University, Francesca Orsini of SOAS, University of London, and Archana Venkatesan of the University of California, in a statement issued on March 2 said that they were dismissed from the role of editors at MCLI in the last week of January. Those dismissed were responsible for editing and supervising the translation and publication of 43 books under contract in different Indian vernaculars. MCLI, a brainchild of Rohan Murty, son of Infosys founder Narayana Murthy, was established in 2010 at the Harvard University with an aim to translate pre-modern classical Indian texts in English. When reached out to comment, Murty declined stating he has not been a part of this board for over 10 years now. The Indian Express reached out to the five scholars as well as Patil through email. In response to the queries, Venkatesan said Patil dismissed the members on either Zoom call or via email without giving a reason. “Prof Patil dismissed us from the Editorial Board in individual phone or Zoom calls. One colleague confirmed their firing over email. We are not clear on reasons for our dismissal,” wrote Venkatesan in response to this newspaper's queries. In a note shared with members working on MCLI translations after the dismissal of editorial members, Patil cited “administrative reasons” for “transitioning off” 4 members without mentioning Venkatesan. “Each of these editors are remarkable scholars who made invaluable contributions to the series… Their transition off the MCLI Editorial Board at this time was for administrative reasons. The MCLI Oversight Board made the decision to refresh the Board in consultation with the Provost's Office at Harvard, the Harvard University Press Board of Directors, and HUP,” the note that Patil shared with The Indian Express states. Patil said in response to this newspaper's questionnaire he was in touch with “many” MCLI translators before the statement was issued. This newspaper sought clarity over administrative reasons, however, did not receive any reply from Patil at the time of publication. The statement by scholars alleged Patil viewed five editorial board members responsible for “breakdown of trust” and “lost confidence in mission of MCLI”. Venkatesan said the comments were made to members during calls with Patil, however, no concrete reason for their termination was provided. “We utterly and completely reject any accusation that we have lost faith in the mission of MCLI,” Venkatesan said.
