Barbara Stoler Miller
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Barbara Stoler Miller (August 8, 1940 – April 19, 1993) was a scholar of
Sanskrit literature Sanskrit literature broadly comprises all literature in the Sanskrit language. This includes texts composed in the earliest attested descendant of the Proto-Indo-Aryan language known as Vedic Sanskrit, texts in Classical Sanskrit as well as s ...
. Her translation of the ''
Bhagavad Gita The Bhagavad Gita (; sa, श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, lit=The Song by God, translit=śrīmadbhagavadgītā;), often referred to as the Gita (), is a 700- verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic ''Mahabharata'' (c ...
'' was extremely successful and she helped popularize Indian literature in the U.S. She was the president of the
Association for Asian Studies The Association for Asian Studies (AAS) is a scholarly, non-political and non-profit professional association focusing on Asia and the study of Asia. It is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. The Association provides members with an Annua ...
in 1990.


Biography

Born in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on August 8, 1940, she attended
Great Neck Great Neck is a region on Long Island, New York, that covers a peninsula on the North Shore and includes nine villages, among them Great Neck, Great Neck Estates, Great Neck Plaza, Kings Point, and Russell Gardens, and a number of unincor ...
High School on
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
, graduating in 1958. She was one of three children. She went on to
Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...
and
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, where she earned her B.A. in
philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
from 1959 to 1962 and her M.A. in Indic Studies from 1962 to 1964. During this period, she was elected to
Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
, was awarded the Montague Philosophy Prize, and was awarded her B.A. magna cum laude at Barnard in 1962. Miller proceeded to earn a Ph.D. in Indic Studies, with distinction, from the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
in 1968. She was one of the last of the era of scholars trained by the
W. Norman Brown William Norman Brown (June 24, 1892 – April 22, 1975) was an American Indologist and Sanskritist who established the first academic department of South Asian Studies in North America and organized the American Oriental Society in 1926. He was t ...
and
Stella Kramrisch Stella Kramrisch (May 29, 1896 – August 31, 1993) was an American pioneering art historian and curator who was the leading specialist on Indian art for most of the 20th century. Her scholarship remains a benchmark to this day. She researched ...
, her two supervisors. The department of Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures at Barnard College in New York City was the site of her floreat; she was made an Assistant Professor in 1968, and promoted to a full Professor from 1977 before being made the departmental head in 1979. Following her promotion in 1979, Dr. Miller was awarded the Award in Higher Education by the National Council of Women. In 1983 she was made the Samuel R. Milbank Professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures. As part of her research, Miller frequently traveled to
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. Miller edited and translated many works of Sanskrit poetry and drama. These included ''Bhartrihari: Poems'' (1967): ''Phantasies of a Love-Thief: The Caurapancasika Attributed to Bilhana'' (1971): ''Love Song of the Dark Lord: Jayadeva's Gitagovinda'' (1977): ''The Hermit and the Love-Thief: Sanskrit Poems of Bhartrihari and Bilhana'' (1978): ''Theatre of Memory: The Plays of Kalidasa'' (1984, with Edwin Gerow and David Gitomer): and ''The Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna's Counsel in Time of War'' (1986). All of these texts were published by
Columbia University Press Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by Jennifer Crewe (2014–present) and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fiel ...
and the Bhagavad-Gita was also published by Bantam Books also. Her translation of the ''Bhagavad Gita'', the most popular of the
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
texts, was extremely successful, surpassing the popularity of many prior translations. Her work introduced a broad American audience who had not heard the ''Bhagavad Gita'' until they encountered the Bantam edition. She was known among the academic community in humanities and South Asian studies for her ability to present Indian poetry to the layperson in a manner that was aesthetically pleasing and academically rigorous. She popularized Indian literature without diluting the intellectual integrity. Miller’s enthusiasm for responsible popularization was demonstrated in the pride she took in her role as advisor to the director Peter Brooks in his production of the
Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
, which was mounted at the
Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...
in 1978 and televised on the
Public Broadcasting Service The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educati ...
, an event that was seen as watershed in American popular awareness of Indian culture. In addition to her major translations, Miller wrote a number of articles and edited several books, including ''Explaining India's Sacred Art: Selected Writings of Stella Kramrisch'' (1983), a work of dedicated to her former teacher; and ''Songs for the Bride: Wedding Rites of Rural India'' (1985), a book of essays by W. G. Archer, which she edited after his death. In 1989, she published another edited volume, ''The Powers of Art: Patronage in Indian Culture from 1000 B.C. to A.D. 1900'', which was derived from a symposium that she planned and conducted at the
National Humanities Center The National Humanities Center (NHC) is an independent institute for advanced study in the humanities. The NHC operates as a privately incorporated nonprofit and is not part of any university or federal agency. The center was planned under the auspi ...
in October 1985, in conjunction with the
Festival of India Festival of Chariots refers to the Ratha Yatra festivals run by the International Society for Krishna Consciousnesss (ISKCON). The main event is a chariot procession through the streets. The procession may then be followed by performing arts pres ...
in the United States. In 1977, she published a book, Love Song of the Dark Lord, the English translation of the well-known Sanskrit epic poem,
Gita Govinda The ''Gita Govinda'' ( sa, गीत गोविन्दम्; ) is a work composed by the 12th-century Hindu poet, Jayadeva. It describes the relationship between Krishna, Radha and ''gopis'' (female cow herders) of Vrindavan. The ''Gita G ...
. Miller’s work was not confined to Sanskrit; she published a translation of the Spanish poems of Agueda Pizarro de Rayo entitled ''Sombraventadora'' (''Shadowinnower'') in 1979. Miller was an active and powerful presence in shaping the future direction of Barnard and Columbia. She served on the executive committee of the Southern Asian Institute at the School of International Affairs, was president of the Society of Fellows in the Humanities, and was the co-director of the Barnard Centennial Scholars Program, and was part of the editorial board of the Columbia University Press series of Translations from the Oriental Classics. She nurtured many students and fought strongly to ensure that their talents were rewarded and encouraged by grants and research posts. At a time when female scholars were still very much in the minority, Miller was trailblazer. She served on the P.E.N. Translation Committee, as Director-at-Large of the
American Oriental Society The American Oriental Society was chartered under the laws of Massachusetts on September 7, 1842. It is one of the oldest learned societies in America, and is the oldest devoted to a particular field of scholarship. The Society encourages basic ...
, was on the board of directors of the American Council of Learned Societies and of the Taraknath Das Foundation, and she was president of the
Association for Asian Studies The Association for Asian Studies (AAS) is a scholarly, non-political and non-profit professional association focusing on Asia and the study of Asia. It is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. The Association provides members with an Annua ...
in 1990. Miller was a
Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
and was given grants by the
National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
, the
Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...
, the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
, the
American Council of Learned Societies American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
, the
American Institute of Indian Studies The American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS), founded in 1961, is a consortium of 90 universities and colleges in the United States that promotes the advancement of knowledge about India in the U.S. It carries out this purpose by: awarding fello ...
, and the Social Sciences Research Council. During the final months of her life, she continued to work from her hospital bed, finishing her translation and analysis of the
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali The ''Yoga Sutras of Patañjali'' is a collection of Sanskrit sutras (aphorisms) on the theory and practice of yoga – 195 sutras (according to Vyāsa and Krishnamacharya) and 196 sutras (according to others, including BKS Iyengar). The ' ...
, which was published posthumously as ''Yoga: Discipline of Mind and Spirit''. She died in New York’s
Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is a nonprofit academic medical center in New York City affiliated with two Ivy League medical schools, Cornell University and Columbia University. The hospital comprises seven distinct campuses located in the New Y ...
of cancer on April 19, 1993 and was survived by her husband, Maxwell Greenwood, her daughter, Gwenn A. Miller, her mother, Sara Stoler, her sister, Ann Stoler, and her brother William Stoler.


Books


Translations

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Other

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Barbara 1940 births 1993 deaths American Indologists Barnard College faculty Barnard College alumni Columbia University alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni Presidents of the Association for Asian Studies