He is a scholar of Sanskrit and ancient Indian literature and intellectual history. His research and writing centers upon the translation of the gigantic, 2000 year old Indian epic, the Mahābhārata, and the interpretation of it as a work of religious, philosophical and political literature in its historical context. He is the general editor of the University of Chicago Press ten volume translation of the Mahābhārata and is also the translator for a large segment of that series – the portions presenting hundreds of chapters of political, social, religious, and philosophical teachings that form the foundation of classical Hindu religions. This segment of the Mahābhārata comprises about twenty percent of the whole epic and his contribution forms Volumes 7 and 8 of the series.