A. N. D. Haksar

Aditya Narayan Dhairyashil Haksar combined a diplomatic career with the translation of Sanskrit literature. Educated at Allahabad and Oxford, he served as high commissioner to Kenya and the Seychelles, minister in Washington, and ambassador to Portugal and Yugoslavia. His literary work eventually brought a wide range of Sanskrit writing to English readers, including political fables, satire, drama, and erotic literature. ¹

In Washington, Haksar took part in the October 1980 negotiations over the Tarapur nuclear power station. The American record names him among the Indian officials discussing a second shipment of nuclear fuel, the prospects for continued American supply, and the reprocessing of spent fuel. The talks reflected the difficulty of reconciling India's existing nuclear cooperation arrangements with American nonproliferation requirements. ²

Haksar's translations include the Hitopadesa, The Shattered Thigh and Other Plays, Tales of the Ten Princes, and the Kama Sutra. In a 2019 interview, he explained his interest in works that showed exchanges among religious and literary traditions. His Kathakautukam, for example, presented a fifteenth century Sanskrit adaptation of the Persian Yusuf and Zuleikha story. He also translated the Suleiman Charitra, which drew on stories associated with the Bible and the Arabian Nights. ^{1, 3}