A History of Indian Literature v1.c4.1

v1.c4.1

Both in Santiniketan, where I held the visiting professorship at Viśvabhāratī University in 1922-23, and elsewhere in India, I often heard expressions of regret that my ‘History of Indian Literature,’ written in German, was not accessible to the majority of Indian students. I talked about this to some of my Indian friends, and one day Professor Taraporewala suggested that an English translation might be published by the University of Calcutta. He spoke about it to the late Sir Asutosh Mookerjee, the great champion and inspirer of Oriental Studies in Calcutta University, who at once showed great interest in the work, and at his suggestion the Syndicate of the University agreed to undertake the publication. It was not difficult to find a translator. When I came to Poona in November 1922, to visit the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, I was introduced to Dr. S. V. Ketkar, the learned Editor of the Marathi Encyclopædia, and to my great surprise he showed me two big volumes, containing a typewritten English translation of the first two volumes of my “History of Indian Literature.” The translation, I understood, was the work of Mrs. Ketkar, who had made it for the use of her husband, not for publication. Mrs. Ketkar, being German by her mother tongue, English by education, and Indian by marriage, seemed to me as if predestined for the work, and she agreed to revise and rewrite her translation for the purpose of publication.