A.N.D. Haksar

A.N.D. Haksar (1930–2014) was a distinguished Indian diplomat and classicist who became one of India's finest translators of its once-neglected Sanskrit poetry and prose. His modern verse translations include The Hitopadesa, the Kama Sutra and the great collections of the Vidyakara and Bhartrihari, making the anthology-spice of Sanskrit literature flow into crisp, fun English.

After three decades in the Indian Foreign Service, ending as ambassador, Haksar returned to the Indian Civilisation's Sanskrit texts with the eye of a critic and the ear of a poet. He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi for translation, and his editions are the way most Indian readers now meet the classical writers of the ancient courts.