“With lucidly-written accounts, of varying lengths, this Dictionary attempts to unfold all that anyone would want to know about Vedic/post-Vedic/classical India : its religions, mythology, pantheonic/legendary personages, schools of philosophy, sacred and secular texts, arts, antiquities, sciences, geography, rituals, customs, and the like; and, these besides English equivalents/definitions of myriad Indic, largely Sanskrit, terms. For its sheer authenticity, the late John Garrett had drawn on a whole line-up of eminent Orientalists: from Max Muller to Monier Williams, from H.H. Wilson to John Muir. No wonder, the author, himself a celebrated scholar, invested over two-decade-long effort to compile this reliable, neatly exhaustive Classical Dictionary.

For well over a hundred years, Garrett’s work has been recognized as a classic in its own right. Now reaching it out afresh to the present-day international scholarship, this edition has been recomposed in its entirety. And its lay-out as well has been improved in certain user-friendly ways. Also introduced here, for the first time, are standard diacritical marks to help readers comprehend the transliteration of Indic sounds.

 As ever, it remains an unfailing companion of researchers, scholars and general readers, involved with Indological studies.”