(Professor of Sanskrit and Indo-Iranian Studies)

In 1880 Lanman came to Harvard University, where he became editor of the Harvard Oriental Series in 1891.  During his tenure as editor, many texts were translated from Sanskrit for the first time.  In 1884, he published A Sanskrit Reader, with Vocabulary and Notes, and offered a prize to any student who discovered an error the text.  Bernard discovered one, but instead of the five-dollar prize Lanman treated the young man to several conversation-filled dinners.  Lanman’s Reader would become the standard text for English-speaking students learning Sanskrit.