Throughout the long history of Indian literature's introduction to France in the 19th century, Nerval, along with Joseph Méry, remains the translator of the first Indian play ever to have been performed on a French stage.

From circulation to translation - 19th-century translations from Sanskrit - Diversification in the 20th-21st centuries and its limits

"If there are no more readers for good books in France, there are still some in Bombay." James Darmesteter, 1891.