The first Sanskrit text to be translated into Latin
Fun fact from 'Eaten by a Fish'
The first Sanskrit text to be translated into Latin was the invocation "Om srii naraina nama" — by St Francis Xavier, in a letter dated 15 January 1544! This was probably the first original Sanskrit text known in Europe. In the same letter, Francis Xavier says that Sanskrit in India was equivalent to Latin among Europeans.
Sources
Kochhar, Rajesh. The Vedic Peoples: Their History and Geography. New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, 2009. p.5
Amaldass, A. (1992) 'Jesuits and Sanskrit Studies'. In Jesuits in India: In Historical Perspective. ed. T.T. De Souza and C.J. Borges, 209-231. Goa: Xavier Centre of Historical Research. an essay by A. Amaldass (1992)
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