Vedic Scholars from The West

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The present work primarily aims at acquainting the general public and lovers of Sanskrit with the pioneer Vedic Scholars of the West who have done yeoman service to the cause of Sanskritic studies in general and Vedic studies in particular, by giving a short biography and selected bibliography with a candid estimation of their works.

The author, Dr. Madhusudan Mishra (born 1964), passed his post-graduation in Sanskrit from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar (1985) securing the first class first position. A brilliant student throughout his career, he had his M. Phil (1987) and Ph. D (1993) from the University of Poona. He also worked in the Vaidika Samshodhana Mandala, Pune, the premier Yeclic Research Institute in India, in the Avesta and Kanva Samhita projects from 1987-1992.

A regular contributor to the leading search journals, he continues to write on Puranic Mythology and traditional Archaeology, Indian Linguistics, Vedic literature and folk culture. He has already published three books and is presently engaged in his mega-project : Ganega : Fictions and Facts.

This anthology is a collection of articles on some of the distinguished Vedic scholars from the West who have done yeoman service to the cause of Sanskritic studies. Some of these articles originally appeared in their translated form in the "Veda-Pradipa" (a monthly magazine in Hindi published by Sri Gangegvarananda Prathistana, Nasik, Maharastra). I wish to record my sincere thanks to Sri Gangegvarananda Institute for their encouragement in publishing these articles for the first time.

In fact, as early as 1988, Dr. T.N. Dharmadhikari, formerly Director, Vaidika Samshodhana Mandala, Pune, had suggested to me to write articles on individual Vedic scholars form the West highlighting their personal as well as academic life, which would help the general readers and also the student-scholars in Sanskrit to know some-thing about the prominent Vedists of the World. I accepted his suggestion with delight and wrote twenty two articles in the series which are being published now in a book form. I wish, I would have included some more scholars in this book. But due to unavailability of data and paucity of time at my disposal I could not proceed further. I crave the indulgence of the scholars for this short coming.

While preparing this book I have taken help of numerous publications. I wish to record my high sense of indebtedness to them.

I shall certainly fail in my duty if I do not keep on record the inspiration and help I have received from Dr. T.N. Dharmadhikari, Prof. Dr. A.C. Swain, Dr. Haramohan Mishra, Dr. S.N. Mohapatra and Mrs. Minati Mishra, my colleagues at Pune and Sambalpur.