With an aim to open the vast repository of Sanskrit literature to the world, the Sanskrit department in the University of Burdwan plans to come up with the an encyclopedia on Sanskrit literary works.

Funded by the University Grants Commission under the Departmental Research Support scheme, the Rs 31 lakh-worth project is aimed at making the works, published in the 3,500-year-old language, accessible to the vast pool of English speaking people across the globe.

Researchers say that with the completion of the book titled — Encyclopedia of Sanskrit Literary Works up to 12 Century AD (published work) — all classical Indian literature, including Mahabharata, Ramayana , Gita Govind of Jaidev and Meghadoot of Kalidasa, will be available in English in an abridged form.

Biswanth Mukherjee, co-ordinator of the project, said that 10 professors and a number of research students are working on the subject. “We will come up with five printed volumes of the encyclopedia along with the digitised work by 2012,” said Mukherjee.

The literary works have been categorised into poetry, prose and drama, of which, the department claims, the compilation of poetry works is almost complete.

“There are a number of scholars around the world who are interested in the various works here but face the problem of language barrier,” said Bhaswarjyoti Ghosal, a reader from the department working on the project.

“Once the barrier is bridged, the acceptance of the language and its literature will increase across the world,” Ghosal added.

The encyclopedia has generated enthusiasm in the academic circles with Sanskrit language experts from a number of states universities — Calcutta University, Jadavpur University, Rabindra Bharati University, Vishwabharati University and university like Tirupati University and Lalbahadur Shastri — expressing interest in working for the project.

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