author
Sivachandra Vasu
A 19th-century Indian scholar and translator, he is remembered for opening classical Sanskrit learning to English readers while also writing vividly about everyday Hindu society in Bengal.
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About the author
Born in 1861 and dying in 1918, Sris Chandra Basu—also rendered as Srish Chandra Vasu or Sivachandra Vasu—was an Indian Sanskrit scholar, judge, writer, and translator. He is associated with Allahabad and with the Panini Office, a publishing venture through which several of his works appeared.
He became especially known for translating important Sanskrit and yoga-related texts into English, including works such as the Gheranda Samhita and the Siva Samhita. Those translations helped introduce a wider English-reading audience to classical Indian philosophical and spiritual literature.
He is also linked with The Hindoos as They Are, a work on the manners, customs, and inner life of Hindu society in Bengal. Across his writing and translations, his legacy is that of a bridge-builder between traditional Sanskrit scholarship and readers encountering these texts in English.