Clay Sanskrit Library

The Clay Sanskrit Library is a series of books published by New York University Press and the JJC Foundation. Each work features the text in its original language (transliterated Sanskrit) on the left-hand page, with its English translation on the right. The series was inspired by the Loeb Classical Library, and its volumes are bound in teal cloth.

The Clay Sanskrit Library (CSL) is the product of the JJC Foundation, a charitable foundation established by John P. and Jennifer Clay, along with New York University Press. John Peter Clay was born in Paterson, New Jersey in 1934. He won a scholarship to attend St Paul’s School, London in 1947. In 1951, he was offered a full scholarship by the Queen’s College, Oxford, where he achieved a First-class degree in Sanskrit, Old Persian and Avestan. He was then appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Queen’s College. On leaving Oxford, John joined Vickers da Costa, a stockbroking firm based in the City of London. He spent 25 years at Vickers, becoming Deputy Chairman and an elected Member of the council. In 1982, He left Vickers and moved to New York City, where he founded the international investment management company Clay Finlay Inc.

In the late 1990s, when he was semi-retired, John decided to return to his early passion, Sanskrit literature: he envisioned a series that would make the classics easily available to the general public for the first time. He shared his ambitions for the CSL with Richard Gombrich (also an alumnus of St Paul’s School, London), who was the Boden Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford University from 1976 to 2004. Richard Gombrich was appointed General Editor of the Clay Sanskrit Library. Sankrit scholars Somadeva Vasudeva and Isabelle Onians were appointed Associate Editors, and thirty leading academics from eight countries were appointed to produce new translations of classical Sanskrit texts. In 2007, Sheldon Pollock joined Richard Gombrich as Co-General Editor, and Richard Gombrich resigned in early 2008. In 2009, the CSL ended its initial project and in 2010 Pollock joined the Murty Classical Library of India, which seeks to publish works in Sanskrit as well as other Indian languages. John Clay died in 2013, following complications from multiple sclerosis.

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