John Dargavel Smith is a former professor of sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

 at Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

.

His studies have primarily focused on topics in the language/literature/culture of Rajasthan

Rajasthan

Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...

. Much of this time was devoted to a major project on the hero-deity Pabuji

Pabuji

Pabuji is a folk-deity of Rajasthan in India. He lived in 14th century in Rajasthan. He was one of four children of Dhadal Rathore of village Kolu, two boys and two girls...

: this was published in 1991 as The epic of Pabuji (Cambridge University Press

Cambridge University Press

Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...

).

He earned a BA degree in Oriental Studies (sanskrit and hindi

Hindi

Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

) 1968 and a PhD

PHD

PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 in 1974. He was appointed Lecturer in Sanskrit at the School of Oriental and African Studies

School of Oriental and African Studies

The School of Oriental and African Studies is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London...

 1975; University Lecturer in Sanskrit at Cambridge 1984, and became promoted Reader in Sanskrit, October 2001. He retired in september 2007.

Smith is interested in Hindu mythology

Hindu mythology

Hindu religious literature is the large body of traditional narratives related to Hinduism, notably as contained in Sanskrit literature, such as the Sanskrit epics and the Puranas. As such, it is a subset of Nepali and Indian culture...

 and epic narrative. In 2009 he published an abridged translation of the Mahabharata

Mahabharata

The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....

 with Penguin Classics. Professor Smith is also interested in the application of computers to textual study.

Selected publications

• The Vīsaḷadevarāsa: a restoration of the text. Cambridge: C.U.P., 1976
• The epic of Pābūjī
  Pabuji
  Pabuji is a folk-deity of Rajasthan in India. He lived in 14th century in Rajasthan. He was one of four children of Dhadal Rathore of village Kolu, two boys and two girls...
  
  : a study, transcription and translation. Cambridge: C.U.P., 1991
  • The epic of Pabuji [popular second edition]. New Delhi: Katha, 2005.
• The Mahābhārata
  Mahabharata
  The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
  
  : an abridged translation. Penguin Books, 2009.