A Major Activity Of The Sahitya Akademi Is The Preparation Of An Encyclopaedia Of Indian Literature. The Venture, Covering Twenty-Two Languages Of India, Is The First Of Its Kind. Written In English, The Encyclopaedia Gives A Comprehensive Idea Of The Growth And Development Of Indian Literature. The Entries On Authors, Books And General Topics Have Been Tabulated By The Concerned Advisory Boards And Finalised By A Steering Committee. Hundreds Of Writers All Over The Country Contributed Articles On Various Topics. The Encyclopaedia, Planned As A Six-Volume Project, Has Been Brought Out. The Sahitya Akademi Embarked Upon This Project In Right Earnest In 1984. The Efforts Of The Highly Skilled And Professional Editorial Staff Started Showing Results And The First Volume Was Brought Out In 1987. The Second Volume Was Brought Out In 1988, The Third In 1989, The Fourth In 1991, The Fifth In 1992, And The Sixth Volume In 1994. All The Six Volumes Together Include Approximately 7500 Entries On Various Topics, Literary Trends And Movements, Eminent Authors And Significant Works. The First Three Volume Were Edited By Prof. Amaresh Datta, Fourth And Fifth Volume By Mohan Lal And Sixth Volume By Shri K.C.Dutt.

Sanskrit Has An Unbroken Literary Tradition Of At Least Three Thousand Years. As The Principal Language Of Indias Thought And Culture For Much Of This Time, It Has A Unique Position In National Identity.The Vast Literature Of Sanskrit Is A Major Component Of Indias Cultural Heritage. Its Study Occupies An Important Place, Both In Traditional Learning And In Current Scholarship About Indic Civilization. But The Fruit Of This Knowledge Has, To A Considerable Extent, Stayed Within The Domain Of The Specialist.While The Great Sacred And Philosophical Works Are Well Known, Other Aspects Of Sanskrit Literature Have Had Comparatively Less Public Exposure.The Present Volume Seeks To Fill This Gap For General Readers, Both In India And Abroad. Focused Mainly On Classical Literature, It Is Based On Scholarship Of The First Rank And Attuned To A Broader Interest.Sixteen Distinguished Indian And Foreign Experts Comment Here On Different Aspects Of Sanskrits Literary Treasure House, Ranging From The Famous Epic, Dramatic, Poetic And Prose Works To Anthologies, Epigrams And The Inscriptional Poetry Found In And Outside India. Also Reviewed Are Sanskrit Linguistics, Poetics And Mathematics, Together With Contemporary Writings And Modem Sanskrit Studies Abroad.This Book Gives Revealing Glimpses Of A Magnificent Literature. It Includes Also An Introductory Overall Appraisal From The Vedic Times Onwards. A Special Feature Is A Select Anthology Of Translated Excerpts From Celebrated Sanskrit Classics To Enable The Literature To Speak For Itself.