Hindu Media Wiki

Who was the first to use the term ‘lekhya’ for a legal document? In which text is that usage attested and how far back in time does that go? Sentences that appear to be fairly precise answers to the above questions are found dispersed in the scholarship of Patrick Olivelle[1], who has been hailed by Dominik Wujastyk[2] as “...the world's leading authority on the history of Indian dharma”[3]. In this paper, the above-mentioned sentences are foregrounded, analysed and responded to. This analysis seeks to present evidence of serious fallacies manifest in some of the statements alluded to above, and conclusions thereof, which have been presented as being significant not just for Indian jurisprudence but also for India’s cultural history itself. Finally,  specific, case-based, evidence of demonstrably contentious statements featuring in a  Murty Classical Library of India volume are provided in response to inputs invited, in public, by the individual who has reportedly set up Murty Classical Library with a $5.2 million endowment[4].

[1] https://minio.la.utexas.edu/colaweb-prod/person_files/0/836/A%20Olivelle%20CV.pdf. Accessed on Dec 02 2020

[2] https://ualberta.academia.edu/DominikWujastyk/CurriculumVitae. Accessed on Dec 02 2020

[3] See ‘Reviews’ in http://cup.columbia.edu/book/a-dharma-reader/9780231179560. Accessed on Dec 02 2020

[4] “I want to hear in which book we have published, in which line or page, there is a problem; and in what context, and why it is a problem. That is useful to me. Then, we can discuss.” https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/interviews/sheldon-pollock-is-central-to-the-classical-library-project-says-rohan-murty/articleshow/51238856.cms. Accessed on Dec 02 2020