UK: Oxford agrees to reprint controversial Indian work

18 December 2011

In a bow to pressure from scholars worldwide, Oxford University Press has said it will immediately reprint The Collected Essays of AK Ramanujan, an Indian scholar, poet and translator, and another book containing his work, writes Jennifer Howard for The Chronicle of Higher Education.

It announced the decision in a statement sent to more than 450 scholars who signed a letter of protest in November. The scholars expressed deep concern about censorship and the role of the press in controversies in India over Ramanujan's essay, "Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translation".

The essay traces the historical and cultural evolution of the Ramayana epic, a text central to Hinduism, through many incarnations in Asian cultures and religions.

In October, the University of Delhi dropped the piece from its undergraduate curriculum because of complaints from some conservative Hindus. The press was also sued in an Indian court by a plaintiff who accused it of publishing work that offended Hindu sensibilities.
Full report on The Chronicle site

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