Gains in translation

Manmatha Nath Dutt was one of India’s greatest translators, from Sanskrit to English (he also wrote other books).  He died in 1912.  Before 1914, there was no proper copyright legislation in India.  The present Copyright Act of 1957 was preceded by a Copyright Act of 1914.  Before that, the applicability of copyright legislation was tenuous, though British legislation (dating from 1911) existed. Stated simply, there was no copyright on Dutt’s works. The fact that his children lived in far-flung places (two were abroad) probably also meant no one was interested in pursuing copyright on his works.  Hence, some of his