MANUSCRIPT LIBRARIES OF INDIA ORIGIN, GROWTH AND PROBLEMS
by
M. K. Kumbhar
A Master's Dissertation, submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Master of Arts degree of the Loughborough University of Technology
September 1990
Supervisor: Dr. R. P. Sturges Department of Library and Information Studies
(c) Kumbhar, 1990 To my gurus
Bhavatam vastuni bhavadabhyah samarpaye
Dr. M. I. Prajapati S. c. Biswas
Dr. R. P. Sturges N. S. Yajnik CONTENTS
page
Abstract 'i V
Acknowlegements V
Foreword vii Chapter
1 Heritage of manuscripts in India : an introduction 1
1.1 Definition of manuscript 1 1.2 Literary tradition and manuscripts 2 1 . 3 Manuscripts and their catalogues 3 1.4 Importance of manuscripts 4 1.5 Concluding remarks 6 References 8
2 Ancient period : 3000 B.C. to 1200 A.D. 9
2.1 Antiquity : the Indus valley civilisation 9 2.2 The Aryan civilisation 10 2.2.1 Brahmanical sources and manuscript libraries 11 2.2.1.1 The Vedic period 11 2.2.1.2 The post Vedic period 12 2.2.2 Buddhist sources and manuscript libraries 13 2.2.2.1 Background 13 2.2.2.2 Accounts of Chinese pilgrims (Fa-hsien, Hiuen Tsang and I-tsing) 15 2.2.2.3 Educational establishment and manuscript libraries (Taksasila, Nalanda, Vallabhi, and Vikramsila) 17 2.2.3 Jain sources and manuscript libraries 22 2.2.3.1 Background 22 2.2.3.2 Pioneering attempts 23 2.2.3.3 Contributions of Siddharaj and Kumarapal 24 2.3 Concluding remarks 25 References 27 3 Medieval period : 1200 - 1800 A.D. 29 3.1 Background 29 3.2 The Delhi Sultanate 1206 - 1526 29 3.3 The Mughul Dynasty 1526 - 1857 31 3.4 Minor Muslim kingdoms 37 3.5 Hindu kingdoms 38 3.6 Concluding remarks 41 References 43
4 Modern period : 1800 - 1947 A.D. 45 4.1 Background 45 4.2 Pioneering attempts : 1784 - 1867 46 4.3 Renaissance period : 1968 - 1900 49 4.4 National Awakening period : 1900 - 1947 52 4.5 Concluding remarks 54 References ss
5 Post independence period : 1947 - 1990 56 5.1 The Sanskrit Commission and follow up actions 56 5.2 Contribution of some of the newly established institutions 57 5.3 The New Catalogus Catalogorum and other related bibliographical works 59 5.4 Types of manuscript centres (Oriental institutions, Academic establishments, Jain bhandars, Private collections etc.) 61 5.5 Notes on some of the leading institutions (Adyar Library, Madras, Asiatic Society, Calcutta, B.O.R.I.,Poona, L.D. Institute, Ahmedabad, Oriental Institute, Baroda, Sarasvati Bhavan, Varanasi, T.M.S.S.M.L., Thanjavur) 68 5.6 Concluding remarks 84 References 86
.6 Islamic manuscript libraries 87 6.1 Historical background 87 6.2 Critical appraisal 88 6.3 Notes on some of the leading institutions (Khuda Bakhsh Library, Patna, Aligarh Muslim University Library, Raza Library, Rampur, Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad) 89 6.4 Concluding remarks 95 References 96
7 Overseas Indic manuscript centres 97 7.1 Historical background 97 7.2 Notes on selected countries's Indic manuscript centres. (Bangladesh, France, Germany, Nepal, Pakistan, United Kingdom, U.S.A.) 98 7.3 Concluding remarks 109 References 111
8 Writing materials and the art of writing 113
8. 1 Background 113 8.2 Writing materials (Birch bark, Palm-leaf, Paper, stone, Metal plates, Bricks, Wooden boards, Leather, Cloth, Ink, Pen) 113 8.3 Concluding remarks 126 iii
References 128 9 Management issues 130 9.1 Organisational s.et-up 130 9.2 Technical issues 131 9. 2.1 Classification 131 9. 2.1 Cataloguing 132 9.3 Preservation of manuscripts 142 9.3.1 Traditional methods 142 9.3.2 Modern technique 145 9.4 Concluding remarks 150 References 152 10 Epilogue 154 Appendices
I Alphabetical list of some of the leading manuscript centres in India and the number of manuscripts preserved therein 159 II Chart showing the number of Indic manuscripts preserved in Western countries 162 III Chart showing the number of Indic manuscripts preserved in United Kingdom, institutions lOti Bibliography 167 Illustrations 1 Map (Leading Indian manuscript centres on map) following forward page 2 Plates 1 - 4 following page no 09 ABSTRACT
India possesses a rich heritage of manuscripts related to her art, culture, literature etc. These manuscripts are considered as a very important resource for the study of ancient and medieval India. Normally, these manuscripts were' written during the 9th to the 19th century, except for the few manuscripts and fragments dated since 2nd century A.D. onwards. It is roughly estimated that there are over 3.5 million manuscripts written in various languages and scripts, and on different types of materials preserved in India. Unfortunately, during the medieval period, thousands of valuaole manuscripts were destroyed by Muslim invaders. However, the Muslim rulers' attempts to promote Islamic art, calligraphy and culture are noteworthy. From 1868 onwards, attempts were made to collect manuscripts from different authorities and places, to be made available to the public. The British Government of India and the Western orientalists played a key role in conducting surveys and in collecting and preserving manuscripts. During the early 20th century several more important manuscripts have been discovered and a number of institutions devoted to oriental studies have been established. All these institutions have succeeded in building up rich manuscript collections and in publishing catalogues, of which there have been about 725 to date. Because of a lack of photocoping and microfilming facilities in several institutions and the fact of the manuscript being in distant and many different places, and the lack of up to date union catalogues (both general and subject) these manuscripts are not very accessible. There is a need to conduct a thorough and intensive survey at national level to collect all these scattered manuscripts. The Government of India should establish a national manuscript library, where manuscripts can be easily accessible to all users. Alternatively, these manuscripts including the overseas collections, should be microfilmed at an early date and copies should be provided at prominent oriental study centres in the country. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This dissertation was prepared under the valuable guidance of Dr. R. P. Sturges. He took a keen and unusual intrest in the subject and provided kind help and encouragement. Moreover, the subject for which I opted was mainly due to his inspiration and moral support. I express my deep gratitude and reverence to him. I am grateful to the Department of Culture, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, and the British Council for sponsoring and providing opportunities of advanced studies in the field of library and information studies. I would like to express my deep gratitude to Mr. S. C. Biswas, ex-Director, Central Secretariat Library, New Delhi, for his kind and multifaceted help and constant encouragement. I am in debt to Ms. Sandra Ramjattan for thoroughly checking the manuscript and grammatically correcting it. She had spontaneously offered her services without the least material interest. I am equally grateful to Ms. Janet Stevenson, Language Tutor for thoroughly going through the text and making it sound.
I must accept that without the help of several scholars, institutions, librarians, colleagues and friends, this dissertation would not have been completed on time. I expressed my respectful regards to all of them. But, among them, mention must be made of Dr. K. V. Sharma, an eminent Sanskrit scholar who had tendered great help in providing the literature with spontananeous spirit. I pay my humble regards to him. I am equally grateful to my friends and colleagues Mr. Inder Deo, Assistant Director, Central Secretariat Library, New Delhi, Ms. Madhuri Bhatia, Dr. Usha Rameshvar, Ms. Raj Kishori Verma and Mr. B. M. Malappa for supplying voluminous materials. Their whole-hearted support enabled me to complete the work. I am also grateful to Muni Johrmalji, Seva Mandir, Jodhpur, N. S. Yajnik, ex-Principal, Arts and Science College, Palanpur, Dr. M. I. Prajapati, Principal, Arts and Commerce College, Thara, Dr. Gangadharan, Reader, Dept. of Sanskrit, Uni. Of Madras, Dr. Ramesh Betai, Director, L. D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, Mr. N. P. Jain, President, B. L. Institute of Indology, Delhi, Dr. w. P. Marett, D.L.I.S., Loughborough Uni., Dr. Vasudha Dalmia-Luderitz, Uni. of Tubiengen, Ms. Kanta Bhatia, South Asia Bibliographer, Uni. of Pennsylvania Library, P. Titus, Kerala Uni. Library, Trivandrum, J. rt B. Katz, Indian Institute, Oxford, Dr. Allen, the Wellcome Institute, London and Ms. Biswas, India Office Library, London who provided numerous information which I requested from them. I am also thankful to my friend Mr. Ramaiah for going through the text and making some useful suggestions. I must say that without the active and effective services of the Inter Library Loan Section of the Pilkington Library, I would not have been able· to do the work smoothly. This section provided several rare publications which were very helpful to me. I am sincerely thankful to my friends Mr. Amrit Patel, Ramajibhai Savani and Manorbhai Patel for helping in more than one way. And last, but not least I am grateful to my wife Mrs. Kantaben, and our children Saroj, Devayani, Hetal and Angiras for their patience and moral support. FOREWORD
This dissertation is a byproduct of a project title "Survey of Indian Manuscript Centres" conducted by Biswas and the present author during the year 1988 1989. This was sponsored by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, New Delhi.
The present author visited leading manuscript centres in India and collected the data regarding availability of manuscripts, their catalogues and all other related information • In addition to this, a questionnaire was sent through the post to about 700 institutions, but the response was only ten per cent. On the basis of the collected data, the following two works are under preparation.
1 • Bibliographic Survey of Catalogues of Indic Manuscripts
2. Directory of Indian Manuscript Centres Some of the leading manuscript centres on map
• Nag pur ubaneswar •Ahmednagar •: Poona
'· .Udupi ~ rupati · BangaJ-ore • Madras .. . • $ • • • anjavur () (_ rur \\. ' ~
~ 5,000 10,000 manuscripts • 10,000 25,000 n • 25,000 50,000 n • n • 50,000 75,000 ' 75,000 - 100,000 " ' 100,000 - 150,000 n CHAPTER 1
HERITAGE OF MANUSCRIPTS IN INDIA : AN INTRODUCTION
1.1 Definition of manuscript
According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, a manuscript is "any document written by the human hand (lat. manuscriptum} with the aid of pen, pencil or other instrument which can be used with cursive facility, as distinguished from an inscription engraved with chisel or grater, worked labouriously. By usage the word has come to be employed in a special sense to indicate a written work of the ancient world or of the middle ages; collections of such "ancient manuscripts" being highly prized and being stored for preservation in public libraries. The manuscript was the vehicle for the conservation and dissemination of literature, and
discharged all the functions of the modern book. " ( 1 ) • In this dissertation, the term manuscript has been considered for any handwritten literary work only. No archival documents have been taken into account.
For the word "manuscript", Sanskrit and allied languages have used several terms, such as hasta grantha,
hastalikhita, hastalikhita grantha, hastalikhita pothi, hastalikhita pustaka, hastaprat, hastaprati, hathaprat, pandulipi, pothi, punthi,. All these words are in 2 current use and expressing the same meaning.
1.2 Literary tradition and manuscripts
India possesses a rich and enormous cultural heritage of manuscripts since the ancient period. India, probably possesses the largest number of manuscripts in the world. It is mainly due to her centuries-old prosperous literary tradition and late arrival of the printing press. Although the first printing press was established in 1556, up till the end of the 18th century its effect was negligible. Dr. Raghavan states that "for nearly 4000 years, Sanskrit has been continuously active, and perhaps no other language coming from antiquity has put forth such an enormous account of literature" (2). In the course of time, several new languages were derived from Sanskrit, such as Pali, Prakrit, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi etc. All these languages including Sanskrit, and the Dravidian group of languages produced a tremendous amount of literary work. These are found written in various
scripts and on a variety of writing materials, such as birch-bark, palm-leaf, paper, stone, copper plates etc. It is worthwhile to mention that Sanskrit is written in
several scripts, in Devanagari, Sharada, Bengali,
Grantha, Malayalarn etc. whereas each modern Indic language has its own individual script (with some
exceptions). 3 1.3 Manuscripts and their catalogues
In India, manuscripts are scattered in several places [see map], and preserved in various types of academic and research institutes, temples, mathas, Jain bhandars, traditional pandit families, individual persons, madrasas, mosques etc. In the absence of any kind of thorough and intensive census, it is difficult to guess at the total number of manuscripts preserved in India. However, it is roughly estimated that over 3.5 million may be preserved. Among them, there may be about 67% Sanskrit, 25% modern Indian languages, and 8% Arabic, Persian and Urdu manuscripts. Of them, only
about one million manuscripts have their printed catalogues. It has also been observed that several collections are still lying about without even any basic listing. Over all, these manuscripts have been described in about 725 (1400 vols I parts I facs.l including lists and catalogues published in periodicals, journals etc.) titles of catalogues so far published up to 1990. Of these, about 300 titles were published in overseas countries.
In addition to India, there are about 60,000 Indic manuscripts preserved in about 20 Western coutries also [For the number of manuscripts preserved in each country and language please refer to Appendix 2 and 3] (3). 4 Apart from this, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Srilanka, Tibet, China, Japan etc. also possess nearly one hundred thousand Indic manuscripts.
1.4 Importance of manuscripts 1.4.1 Literary and historical importance
The world of scholars has acknowledged that India is one of the four main cradles of civilisation (4). During her glorious period several subjects like philosophy, literature, astrology, astronomy, medicine, chemistry, architecture etc. were developed to their peak. All these subjects generated enormous literature, and a substantial part still survives. But, these manuscripts are invariably a very important source to study, ancient Indian art;' culture and history. Although the more famous and. important works have already been published, '. a systematic and intensive survey could still be helpful in revealing several known (by title) and unknown works. Several authors whose works have not yet been discovered have been referred to by eminent authors like Yask, Panini, Patanjali, Kalidas, Shankaracharya, Abhinavagupta etc. It is worthwhile mentioning that some of the very valuable works such as Kautilya's Arthasastra (4th century B.C.), Bhasa's thirteen plays (around 1st century), Ashvaghosa's Sariputraprakarana (2nd century A.D.) etc. were discoverd only in the early 20th:century. 5 In addition to the subject (textual importance) value, several manuscripts also contain colophons (prasasti) written by scribes. These serve to throw light on · the contemporary history, culture and society, and sometimes, also provide a genealogy of the contemporary king or donor of the manuscript, the place of copying, name of the scribe, date of copying etc. This information is vital in fixing the period of the author and work. It is interesting to note that a text of a particular manuscript may be the same as some other manuscripts, but colophons always differ from one manuscript to another. It means that each and every manuscript has its own distinctive importance. Moreover, for textual criticism, it is essential to collate all available manuscripts. These manuscripts are equally important for paleographical study. Eminent scholars like Burnell and Buhler prepared their very authentic works i.e. South Indian paleography (1878), and Indian paleography (1904) respectively, mainly on the basis of manuscripts.
1.4.2 Artistic importance
In addition to literary and historical importance, manuscripts are equally important if one wishes to study the history of painting and calligraphy. Hundreds of manuscripts are found with profuse illustrations and 6 illuminations [for specimens please refer to plates 1 to 4], and written with superb calligraphy. In India, book illustrati.on was started during the Pala dynasty in 8th/9th century. But, it flourished much more during the medieval period. Under the Akbar rule, the Mughul School of Painting produced several high ranking artistic manuscripts. Of them, Akbarnama, Razmanama, Khamsa of Nizami, Diwan of Hafiz are noteworthy. Among other Muslim miniature painting centres, Bijapur, Golkonda, Hyderabad etc. were also famous. Similarly, under the Hindu rulers several painting schools also flourished. Generally, among the Hindu and Jain works, Bhagavatapurana, Gitagovinda, Ramayana, Mahabharat, Kalpasutra, Kalakacharyakatha etc. are found illustrated using gold, silver, blue, red etc. colours. Another important point to be made is that except for textual users, art historians and painters who are interested in observing the use of colours have invariably to consult original manuscripts. For this types of users photocopied or microfilmed copies are not useful.
1.5 Concluding remarks
To conclude, keeping in view the enormous subject value, antiquity, variety of languages and scripts, paleographical importance, illuminations and illustrations, and the variety of substances used as 7 writing materials, culturally, Indian manuscripts possess a unique and vital importance. It seems worthwhile to quote a fitting Persian verse, which also hints at the eternal relevance of manuscripts.
'~gar firdaus bar ru-i-zamin ast
Hamin ast, hamin ast, hamin ast" ( 5)
(If there be no earth an asylum of bliss It is this, it is this, and ah! it is this) 8 REFERENCES
1 • Encyclopaedia Britannica : a dictionary of arts, sciences, literature and general information, 11th ed. , vol. 17 . 1911 , 618.
2. RAGHAVAN, V. Manuscripts, catalogues, editions, 1963, 1.
3. PEARSON, J. D. Oriental manuscripts in Europe and North America :a survey, 1971, 347-390. 4. BASHAM, A. L. ed. A cultural history of India, 1975, 1. 5. SARKAR, Jadunath. Ancedotes of Aurangzib ... and historical essays, 1912, 242. FYom ~MS . Astasahasrikaprajnapara m ita Written in Vikr amsila AD 1967 Britis h Librar y Or. MS . 6902,f.336a .
From a MS . Brahmavaivarta Pur a ~ a AD 1836 - 37 Britis h Library Or . 11387,f.142a .... DJ kA A k b a r n m Fvo~onV\S . Razmnama (Mahabharata) FI"Om 1.. 1.s • a a British Library, London. Or . 1206.f,17b British Library, London . Or . 12988,£.103, Painted by Bhagwan AD 1598 Painted by Ganga Sen a nd Narsingh AD 1603 - o~ CHAPTER 2
ANCIENT PERIOD : 3000 B.C.- 1200 A.D.
2.1 Antiquity : the Indus valley civilisation
The recent excavation at Mohenjodaro, Harappa, Lethal etc. and its finds have proven that India was one of the pioneering countries of the world's primitive civilisation. It flourished around 3000 B.C., and was a contemporary of Summer, Akikad, Babylon, Egypt and Assyria(1). During the excavation at Mohenjodaro in 1922 - 1923, more than 500 seals containing a species of pictorial writing were discovered, but now await deciphering (2). This consists overall of only 396 signs ( 3) . According to Dr. Pusalkar, "the script found
is in of one stage only, so that we can not trace its genesis from the pictographic to the ideographic or phonetic, or its later development to any of the scripts
of India" (4).
Hence, the question arises is whether the art of writing
prevailed in this era. Whatever the position, the earliest specimens of writings are only available through the Ashokan inscriptions, dated 3rd century B.C. which were written in Brahmi and Kharosthi scripts. On the contrary, the Nile civilisation consists of several documentary proofs of the existence of not only the art 10 of writing, but of libraries in this period. Jackson states that " one of these houses of rolls has been identified among the ruins of the Sun God temple of at Heliopolis, it is dated about 1800 B.C. and many similar institutions are referred to in subsequen.t Egyptian records" {5). Besides this, the existence of the most celebrated Alexandria Library's {3rd century B.C. to
645 A.D.?) is a fact well known to us. Whereas the
Indus valley civilisation has not provided any reliable evidence of the existence of libraries, and it is too early to hypothesize the existence of libraries in this
era.
2.2 The Aryan civilisation
How and when did the Indus valley civilisation come to
an end ? This is not known, but it was after that era
the Aryan civilisation developed. Since its inception
{2500 B.C.?) to 6th century B.C., not a single reliable
record.is available to show the existence of libraries.
Only from 6th century B.C. onwards are some sporadic
references available which could denote the existence of
manuscripts. To study this one may try to find out
about the development of the art of writing and
libraries from the following traditions and their
sources.
- Brahmanical sources (2500 B.C. to 1200 A.D.) 11 -Buddhist sources (6oo B.C. to 1200 A.D.) - Jain sources (600 B.C. to 1200 A.D.) z.2.1 Brahmanical sources and manuscript libraries : (2500 B.C. to 1200 A.D. ) 2.2.1.1 The Vedic period (2500 B.C. to 600 B.C.)
During this period Vedas (Rgveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda), Brahmans, Aranyakas, Upanishadas etc. were composed in Sanskrit language and were preserved by oral transmission for centuries. Hence, it is called sruti vangamaya i.e. revealed literature. Among them the Rgveda is the oldest work. The Anuvakanukramani notes that the Rgveda contains 1,017 poems, 10,580
verses, 153,826 words and 432,000 syllables ( 6) • According to Winternitze, the beginning of the vedic literature goes back to 2000 B.C. or even 2500 B.C. (7). It is very clear that since the inception of the Aryan Civilisation, literary creation was in vogue, and the education system was oral. The Rgveda has also indicated the existence of this system through the frog hymn (7. 103), although, the Upanishadas contain several references to subjects to be taught. For instance, the Chhandogya Upanishada (7.1.2) contains the list of the following subjects : grammar, mathematics, the science of portents, chronology, logic, ethics, politics, the science of weapons, astronomy, the science of serpents, the fine arts, mythology etc. (8). This 12 means that all these subjects were known to Vedic India. Generally, it is accepted by scholars that the art of writing was known to Vedic India. To conclude, according to Mookerji " •• • it has been assumed that
there was not evolved at that time the art of writing as an aid to memory and education nor the concept of letters or alphabets as the basis of writing. It has been believed that Sruti or Veda should appeal to the
ear not t:he eyes and was not reduced to writing" ( 9) •
2.2.1.2 The post vedic period (600 B.C. to 1200 A.D.)
During this period, enormous literature was written in Sanskrit and in newly developed Pali, Prakrit and
Apabhrams languages in various forms and subjects. Since the very beginning of this period, reliable evidence is available which shows the existence of the art of
writing and manuscripts. In Astaddhyayi, Panini (4th cent. B.C.) a wellknown grammarian, refers to several
terms, such as lipi (script), libi (script), lipikar
(scribe : 13. 2. 21), grantha (book: 1.3.75, 4.3.87, 4.3.116), which denoted the existence of manuscripts. Kautilya (4th cent. B.C.) indicated that preliminary
training of lipi ( script) and samkhya (numbers) should be given to a child, before he was admitted to the
school. The Mahabharat (Santiparva. 305) also referred to a practice of reading manuscripts. But the education system was oral. Moreover, the Brahmanical education ------
13 system was not organised on an institutional base, rather, it was individualised. Hence, the manuscript collections activities did not flourish during the early period. Only from the 7th century onwards do we have clear evidence of existence of libraries (10) .. Bana (620 A.D.), a wellknown prose writer of Sanskrit had in his employment, a reader of manuscripts (11). The South Indian inscription (11th cent. A.D.) no. 277 of 1913 indicated the establishment of the Saraswati Bhandar (library) (12). King Bhoja of Malawa (1018- 1060) was a man of literature and a patron of poets, and established a college and library at Dhara. His library was known as Vagadevi Sala (Goddess of learning). However, Mithila, Benaras, Kamarupa, Kashmir etc. were the prominent learning centres, but unfortunately, nothing is known about their manuscript collections.
2.2.2Buddhist sources and manuscript libraries : (600 B.C. to 1200 A.D.) 2.2.2.1 Background
Buddhism was founded by Gautam Buddha in 6th century B.C., and it remained in active existance in India upto the 12th century. It played a crucial role in the political and cultural life of India. The Buddhist literature contains considerably more sound references related to the existence of the art of writing and libraries. The Vinaya pitaka refers to the words 14 lekhaka (writer : 4.8) lekhapeti (caused to be writer : 2.110) akkharika (letter game) which indicates the art of writing. The Jatakas have frequently used the words sippam vacheti (getting the science read). The Lalitavistara has listed the names of 64 scripts. In the Ashokan inscriptions (3rd century B.C.) the Buddhists texts were prescribed for daily recital by monks.
Davids and Oldenberg point out, that "there is not the least trace of any reference to manuscripts in the detailed accounts which Vinaya texts give off the whole of the personal property of the Buddhist Aramas and Viharas Along with manuscripts there are no references to such accesories of writing as ink, pen, style, leaves or other materials for writing... The disuse of writing was more probable due to the scarcity of any convenient practical material on which the known
characters might be inscribed" ( 13) • But according to Warder, "It appears that during the Buddha's lifetime and for some centuries afterwards nothing was written down : not because writing was not in use at the time but because it was not customary to use it for study and teaching. It was used in commerce and administration, in other words for ephemeral purposes; scholars and philosophers disdained it, for to them to study a text presupposed knowing it by heart" ( 14). But it is said that after the parinirvana (death) of the Buddha, a conference was held at Rajagrha to compile the doctrine 15
of the discipline. Watters has found from the Chinese texts that "in the original Jetavana monastery • • • the libraries were richly furnished, not only with orthodox literature but also with vedic and other non-Buddhistic works, and with treatise on the arts and sciences together in India at the time" (15). Now we will try to
look at the accounts of Chinese pilgrims who provide
some important information.
2.2.2.2 Accounts of Chinese Pilgrims
We are getting much more creditable information from a
variety of Tibetan and Chinese sources about ancient India in general and particularly Buddhist India. Among
them Fa-hsien, Hiuen-tsang and I-tsing's travel accounts provide first hand information. The main purposes of
their being to India to procure sacred manuscripts and to learn about Buddhism from the holy land. Mookerjee
rightly observes that "India was in those days the holy land of China and other countries, teeming with centres of Buddhist faith and learning, to which the devout youth of the foreign countries were flocking for their instruction" (16). Saletore has find out that 57
Chinese, Japanese, and Korean pilgrims visited India during 629 to 671 A.D. Also one pilgrim from central India had visited China with 1500 Mahayana and Hinayana
texts in 655 A.D. This practice continued until the end
I' of 12th century A.D.(17). 16
2.2.2.2.1 Fa-hsien (399- 414 A.D.)
Fa-hsien came to India in 399 A.D. After visiting several Buddhist centres in India, he stayed at Patliputra for three years, learning to write and speak
- Sanskrit (or Pali), and copying out the Disciplines. He found manuscripts in a Mahayana (Greater Vehicle) monastery and got a copy of the text accepted at the first Great Assembly. Besides this, he also obtained Abhidharma, a complete copy on (Yen ?) sutra, Vaipulya parinirvana sutra etc. which he copied out. At the end of his journey, he stayed two years at Tamluk (at the
mouth of Hoogly) for the same purposes (18).
2.2.2.2.2 Hiuen-Tsang (629- 645 A.D.)
The second important Chinese pilgrim was Hiuen-Tsang who
visited India from 629 645 A.D. He brought 657
manuscripts from China (19). He extensively toured a major part of the country and provided copious accounts
of approximately 5000 active Buddhist monasteries (20).
One of the most striking points of his travelogue is
that whenever he found stocks of manuscripts or met the Buddhist scholars, information was invariably provided. He found manuscripts at Gandhara, Kashmira, Matipura,
Kanchipura, Nalanda, Dhanakatakh, Vallabhi, Svetapura, Monghyr, Kanyakubja etc. monasteries. During his visit 17 to Kashmira, the king especially appointed 20 scribes to copy manuscripts for him and five men to act as attendents (21). He also noted that the Gandhara king Kaniska (1st century) ordered that all the tripitaka manuscripts to be collected and also called a conference to write down commentaries on it. Accordingly, Upadesasastras, Vinayasastras and Abhidharmasastrs' commentaries were written down on copper plates each containing 100,000 stanzas (22).
2.2.2.2.3 I-tsing (671 - 695 A.D.)
I-tsing visited India from 673 - 685 A.D. He toured only the major Buddhist centres and stayed at the
Nalanda for 10 years (675- 685). He noted that the Vedas have been handed dow.n from mouth to mouth, not
transcribed on paper or ~eaves. In every generation
there exist some inte~~igent Brahmans who can recite the
100,000 verses (23) He also stated that from gifts some portion is spent in copying the scriptures and gifts of non-Buddhistic books are to be sold (24). This means, the monasteries were only used to keep Buddhistic works only. During his stay in India, he collected some 400 Sanskrit texts, amounting to 500,000 slokas (25).
2.2.2.3 Educational establishments and libraries
2.2.2.3.1 Taksasila 18 Taksasila was a famous educational centre during the pre and early Buddhist period. Students from distant parts of the country, like Mithila, Benaras, Kuru, Ujjain, Maghadha, Lata etc. used to come for higher studies.
According to Jain "it was famous for its teachers, though these teachers were not members of any organised institution ~ike col~ege or university but every teacher assisted by his advanced students, formed an institution himse~f" (26). Prasenjit, king of Kausal, a contemporary of Lord Mahavira and Jivaka, a distingushed medical specialist, studied there. During this period, the oral education system was in vogue and written literature was not used at all. Hence, we can not say anything about the manuscript collections.
Moreover, nothing is known or depicted anywhere about the existence of libraries in Taksasila.
2.2.2.3.2 Nalanda University
The Nalanda was the first famous and leading educational institution in ancient India. It was a modern university, which had a systematic library which consisted of a huge collection of manuscripts. It flourished during.the Gupta and Pala dynasties, who were patrons of Buddhism, from 7th to 12th centuries, although the construction of the Buddhist monasteries was started since the 5th century onwards. I-tsing states that "in the Nalanda monastery the number of 19 priests is immense, and exceeds three thousand ••• There are 8 ha~~s and three hundred apartments in this monaster"y (27). Hiuen-Tsang witnessed an eighty feet high copper image of Buddha (28). He noted that there was a practice of a pre-admission test, and. that only those who were deeply versed in old and modern learning were admitted, with only two or three students out of ten succeeding (29). Several students from distant countries like Mongolia, China, Korea, Tibet, Tokhara etc. came to India to study at the Nalanda and secured valuable manuscripts of Buddhism (30). It was more famous for its eminent scholars like Silabhadra, Dharmakirti, Gunamati, Sthiramati, Santaraksita, Kamalasila etc. who wrote several scholarly works and enriched Buddhism.
According to Tibetan sources, three huge buildings were used for housing books. The library was known as Dharmaganja ( mart of religion). The three buildings were named as Ratnasagara, Ratnodadhi, and Ratnaranjaka. The Ratnasagara was a nine storey building which housed sacred manuscripts like Prajnaparamitra and tantrika works like Samajaguhya etc. (31). Houen-Tsang stayed here and copied 124 Mahayana texts and other works amounting to 520 fascicules (32). It is said that the monks also kept their private collection of manuscripts which after their death were to be deposited in the library. According to the Nalanda copper plate 20 grant of Devapal Deva (815 - 854), there was a regular practice of copying manuscripts for the library from reserved funds (33). Lastly, it is sad to note that nothing is known about the library management and librarianship, and whatever little information is available, is only preserved in Tibetan and Chinese sources.
The university was destroyed by Muslim invaders at the end of the 12th century. Perhaps it was the first and last great univerity of India until the establishment of modern universities in 1858.
2.2.2.3.3 Vallabhi University
Next to the Nalanda, the Vallabhi University was a prominent centre of learning. This flourished under the patronage of the Maitrak kings during 475 - 775 A.D. Besides this, Dhruvabhatta, son in law of emperor Harsh, was also one of the patrons. It was famous for Hinayana studies while the Nalanda was known for Mahayana studies. Both universities also taught several other secular subjects. According to Hiuen-Tsang, Sthiramati and Gunamati were once in charge of the monastery which consisted of some hundred Sangharams with about 6000 priests (34). The copper plate inscription of Guhasena, dated 559 A.D. indicates that the university also had a library. There was also a provision made for books to be 21 purchased from royal grant (35). It continued until the end of the 12th century.
2.2.2.3.4 Vikramsila University
The Vikramsila university was established by king
Dharmapala (770- 819). It was famous for Mahayana studies. It consisted of 108 temples and 6 colleges in the monastic establishment of Vikramsila (36). Several students from Tibet used to come to study. In the 12th century there were 3000 students and also had a library.
It was destroyed by Bakhtyar Khilji at the end of the 12th century. Maulana Minhaja-ud-Din, a contemporary
Muslim historian has noted that "There were great number of books there, and, when all these books came under the observation of the Musalmans, they summoned a number of Hindus that they might give them information respecting the import of these books; but the whole of the Hindus had been killed. On becoming acquainted [with the contents of these books], it was found that the whole of that fortress and city was a college, and in the Hindui tongue, they call a college or Bihara" (37).
However, it is still doubtful whether Bakhtyar Khilji destroyed the Nalanda or Vikramsila.
Other prominent centres of the Buddhist studies were also Odantapuri, Jayendravihara, Somapuri, Jaggadal etc. 22
Besides Buddhism, they also provided education in secular sciences and housed a good collection of manuscripts. But we have little information about it.
2.2.3 Jain sources and manuscript libraries : (600 B.C.
to 1200 A.D. ) 2.2.3.1 Background
Jainism is one of the important religions of India. Its influence and contribution in the development of Indian art, architecture, literature, philosophy, culture etc. is significant. According to the Jaina traditions, after the death of Mahavira (527 B.C.) frequent famines occurred resulting in heavy fatalities among the Jain monks. They had been preserving sacred texts by heart.
Due to the famines, Bhadrabahu (4th cent. B.C.) head of the Jain monks, and having the complete memory of the sacred texts, migrated to South with his followers. In his absence, Sthulabhadra became the head and he had the
idea to write down all the texts before they became
lost. He called a conference at Pataliputra and
composed the 11 Angas. A second attempt was made after
this by Pushpadant and Bhutabali during 1st or 2nd century B.C., initiated by the Digambara sect. Then, a few centuries later Devardhigani called a conference at
Vallabhi and composed the Angas and Upangas in Vira
Samvat 980 i.e. 5th or 6th century A.D. (38). Devardhigani's contribution is highly remarkable in ------
23 terms of editing and preparing the written texts.
2.2.3.2 Pioneering efforts
It seems that manuscript collections/establishment of the Jain Bhandars (libraries) as collective attempts were started by the Bhattarakas (priests) around 8th century (39). The Jiana priests took a keen interest in the collection of manuscripts. Copying and distributing manuscripts was considered as pious work, since it was an inspiration for followers to promote the actvities. At the end of the manuscripts we find the following types of verses "one who writes or makes an individual to write, one who hears or one who makes others to hear, one who gives or one who makes others to distribute, is noble and sharer of Punya. He will surely attain Nirvan [eternal peace] some day" ( 40) • According to Or. Kasliwal on seeing the increasing number of the manuscripts day by day, the Acharyas and Head of community decided that the temples should be the place where these manuscripts should be preserved as they were the only places where the manuscripts could be kept safe and could be easily accessible to the scholars. The place began to be called by the name of Grantha Bhandars i.e. store house of knowledge. They are also called Sastra Bhandars (41). Due to royal patronage, Jain
literature and establishment of the Grantha Bhandars activities flourished during the 12th century and 24 continued to flourish in the medieval period also.
2.2.3.3 Contributions of Siddharaj and Kumarapal
In the development of Jain literary and library activities Siddharaj Jayasimha (1094 1143) and Kumarapal (1143 - 1274), patrons of Jainism and kings of Gujarat's contributions will remain praiseworthy for ever. During those days, Patan was the capital of Gujarat and was also a prominent learning centre. Hemachandracharya's profound scholarship and immense influence being responsible for the development. Siddharaj built up a good library in the palace. He conquered Malawa in 1140 A.D. and the royal collection of Malawa transferred to Patan.(42). He appointed 300 scribes to copy out 125000 copies of Siddhahemasabdanusasanam. There is also a reference in the Upadesatarangini :
n Srikumarapalena saptasatalekhakaparsvat 6 laksha 36 sahastragamsya saptapratayah sauvarnaksharah srihemachandracharyapranitavyakrana -charitadigranthanamekvimsatih pratayo lekhitah" (43). (Sri Kumarapal had appointed seven hundred scribes to copy seven copies of the Agama consisting of 636,000 verses, and twentyone copies of the works of Sri
Hemachandracharya like grammer, biography etc. all in gold letters). 25
At the close of the 12th century, King Ajaypal, the successor of Kumarapal hated Jainism and tried to destroy Jain Bhandars, but his minister Udayana transferred the collection from Patan to Jaisalmer (Rajasthan).
2.3 Concluding remarks
2.3.1 After careful observation of Brahamanical, Buddhist and Jain sources and traditions, one can conclude that the art of writing was known to India in 600 B.C., but its use was very rare and limited to commercial or administrative purposes. Moreover writing down sacred works particularly in the Brahmanical tradition was considered irreligious work. Besides, the knowledge of Vedas and other subjects by heart was considered to convey a great scholarly practice. Hence, all the scriptures remained preserved orally for centuries and were written down after several centuries of composition.
2.3.2 Education was imparted orally and this remained in practice as late as the 7th century A.D. The need for written documents were not seen.
2.3.3 The first known systematic library was developed by the Nalanda University. 26
2.3.4 Compared to all three traditions, the Buddhists' contribution in library development is notable and foremost. It was basically due to Buddhists' organised educational system whereas the Brahmanical tradition was based along individual lines.
2.3.5 During the glorious Buddhist period, several students from adjacent countries came to study and to collect manuscripts. According to a survey 1467 Buddhist Sanskrit texts have been preserved in Chinese translations and 4946 texts in Tibetan, of these some of the original texts have either been lost or are not available in India (44).
2.3.6 Since the development of the art of writing at the close of the 12th century, thousands and thousands of works were written either on birch-bark or palm-leaf but very few of them are available which were written before the 10th century. Reasons for this may be the natural - climatic conditions and Muslim invasion.
2.3.7 We have the evidence of existence of libraries since the 7th century, but except for the names of some of the libraries or at the most a little information about the richness of the collection, nothing is known. There is no record existing which provides information about library management and librarianship. 27 REFERENCES
1. MAJUMDAR, R. C. ed. The history and culture of the Indian people, vol.1, 1951, 172.
2. Ibid. I 59. 3. WHEELER, Sir Mortimer. The Indus civilization : supplementry to the Cambridge history of India, 3rd ed., 1968, 107. 4. MAJUMDAR, ref. 1, 66. 5. JACKSON, Sidney L. Libraries and librarianship in the west : a brief history, 1972, 2. 6. MACDONELL, Arthur A. A history of Sanskrit literature, 1925, 272. 7. SHARMA, Jagadish Saran. The substance of library science, 1965, 16 8. RADHAKRISHNAN, S. ed. The principle Upanisads, 1969, 468-469. 9. MOOKERJI, Radha Kumud. Ancient Indian education, 1974, 27. 10. RAGHAVAN, V. Manuscripts, catalogues, editions, 1963, 11. 11. MACDONELL, ref. 6, 20.
12. MOOKERJI, ref. 9, 371.
13. Ibid., 450-451. 14. WARDER, A. K. Indian Buddhism, 1970, 205.
15. MOOKERJI, ref. 9, 515.
16. Ibid., 492. 17. DATTA, Bimal Kumar. Libraries and librarianship of ancient and medieval India, 1970, 23. 18. FA-HSIEN. The travels of Fa-Hien or Records of Buddhistic kingdom, re-tr. by H. A. Giles, 1959, 64-66.
19. MOOKERJI, ref. 9, 503.
20. Ibid., 523. 21. WATTERS, Thomas. On Yuan Chwang's travels in India : 28
A.D. 629 - 645, ed. by T. W. Rhys Davids and S. w. Bushell, 1905, 259. 22. Ibid., 271.
23. I-TSING. A record of the Buddhist religion : as practised in India and Palay archipelago (A.D. 671 695), tr. by J. Takakusu, 1970, 182.
24. Ibid. I 192.
25. Ibid. I xvii.
26. JAIN, Kailash Chand. Lord Mahavira and his times, 1974, 347.
27. I-TSING, ref. 23, 154. 28. CHAUDHURY, Binayendra Nath. Buddhist centres in ancient India, 1969, 106.
29. WATTERS, ref. 21, 165.
30. MOOKERJI, ref. 9, 564.
31. VIDYABHUSANA, S. C. Medieval school of Indian logic, 1909, 146.
32. JOSHI, Lalmani. Studies in the Buddhistic culture of India, 1967, 170.
33. DATTA, ref. 171 27-28.
34. Ibid. I 132.
35. Ibid. I 32.
36. JOSHI, ref. 27, 173. 37. MINHAJA-Ud-DIN. Tabakat-i-Nasiri .•. , tr. by Raverty, 1881, 552.
38. KASLIWAL, Kastoor Chand. Jain grantha bhandars in Rajasthan, 1967, 2-3
39. DOSHI, Saryu. Masterpieces of Jain painting, 1985, 27.
40. KASLIWAL, ref. 38, 5.
41. Ibid., 3-4. 42. BUHLER, G. Indian paleography, 1973, 119.
43. KASLIWAL, ref. 38, 8. 44. RAGHAVAN, ref. 10, 2. CHAPTER 3
MEDIEVAL PERIOD : 1200 - 1800 A.D.
3.1-Background
In India, the Muslim rule came into force in 1206 and ended in 1857. But, in fact, the Ghazni kings had been raiding Indian territories since 986-987. Mahmud Ghazni attacked 17 times between 997-1027, and destroyed hundreds of temples. Hasan Nizami, a contemporary Muslim historian has noted that while Mahmud Ghazni was at Ajmer, he "destroyed the pillars and foundations of · the idol temples and built in their places mosques and colleges, and the precepts of Islam and the customs of the Law were divulged and established" ( 1). His successors also followed along the same lines. Their sole aims and objectives were to make plunder, slay idolaters and to spread Islam.
3.2 The Delhi Sultanate 1206 - 1526 A.D.
From 1206 to 1526, the Ghuri, Slave, Khilji, Tughluq, Sayyid and Lodi dynasties ruled Northern India. Politically, it was an unstable era, even though they took some interest in the development of Islamic learning. Several mosques and madras as (Islamic colleges) were established, which were enriched with 30 manuscripts. Unfortunately, due to Islamic fanaticism, several Hindu and Buddhist temples, and educational establishments like the Nalanda, Vikramsila, Nadia, Vallabhi etc. were destroyed. All these institutions were famous for rich and huge manuscript collections. During this period one should consider the following major efforts towards the development of manuscript libraries.
3.2.1 Jalal-ud-din Khilji (1290- 1296) had very much encouraged literary and cultural activities. He established the Imperial Library at Delhi, and appointed Amir Khusrau, an eminent Persian poet and scholar, as a librarian. Apart from this, he was also appointed as a keeper of the Quran. The post of librarian was regarded with very high status in the court (2).
3.2.2 Nizammudin Auliya (14th century), a muslim saint had also built up a rich collection of Islamic manuscripts in Delhi.
3.2.3 Firuz Shah Tughluq (1347 - 1388) had also taken a keen interest in the development of art and culture. He built up a college known as Firuz-Shahi-Madrasa at Firuzabad. According to Barni, a contemporary muslim historian "the college both in literary reputation and in the beauty of its architecture and finish, it far surpassed all the other Indian madrasahs of the time" .• '31
(3). The Jwalamukhi temple at Nagarkot had a rich library, consisting of about 1300 Sanskrit manuscripts After conquering Nagarkot (1362), the Sultan ordered Azizzuddin Khalid Khani, one of the celebrated poet of that period to translate one of the books into Persian. After completion, it was titled Dalaili-Firuz-Shahi (4).
3.2.4 Sikander Lodi (1489 - 1517) was also a poet and scholar. Under his auspices, several works were translated and compiled in Persian. Mustaqi states that the Sultan "got together fine calligraphists and learned men and employed them in writing books on every sciences. He brought books from Khurasan" ( 5) • Moreover, under the orders of Sultan the Agar-mahabedak (on science of medicine and treatment of diseases) was translated into Persian.
3.3 The Mughul Dynasty : 1526 - 1857 A. D.
After the decline and fall of the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughal dynasty came into power and ruled India from 1526 1857. During this period, Islamic art, culture and calligraphy flourished much more. Almost all the kings, nobles, princes, princesses etc. used to collect manuscipts for their personal use. According to Maulana Azad, a noted educationalist, "it was the fashion for every noblemen to build up his own library. One was in fact not regarded as an arisocrat unless he had a 32 library of his own" ( 6). Several places like Agra, Delhi, Lahore, Jaunpur, Ahmedabad, Sialkot etc. flourished as prominent centres of Islamic learning. But, after all, the development and peace was for the Muslims. Normally, Persian (Muslim) poets and scholars were patronised by the state. Moreover, Persian was· introduced as the court language. Sanskrit (Hindu) poets / scholars had negligable status in the court. Similarly, there was a lack of the proper environment and state support for Hindus which was essential for progress.
3.3.1 Babar (1526- 1530), the founder of the dynasty was a poet and scholar. He encouraged calligraphy and also invented a new style of writing called "Babri hand". And sent a copy of the Quran written in that hand to Mecca (7). He also possessed good ability in selecting manuscripts. This is corroborated from the following quote from his autobiography "I went into
Ghazi Khan's book-room; some of the precious things found in it, I gave to Humayuna, some sent to kamaran
(in Qandahar). These were many books of learned contents, but not so many valuable ones as had at first appeared ( 8 ) •
3.3.2 Humayuna (1530 - 1556) was also fond of books.
His library was housed in the Purana Qila, Delhi. Nizam, a father of Baz Bahaddur was his librarian (9). While 33 he was in exile in Persia, he came into contact of Khwaja Abdu-s-samad, a well known artist, and engaged him into his service. After re-capturing the Delhi Empire he brought him to India and laid the foundation of the Mughal School of Painting.
3.3.3 Akbar (1556 - 1605) and the Imperial Library
Akbar is regarded as one of the great kings of India who provided a congenial atmosphere and equal opportunities to all the people. It is said that he was illiterate (10), but he was very fond of books. He appointed Naqib Khan, a well known scholar, as his reader who used to read him famous works of different subjects (11). His Imperial Library was enriched with all sorts of prominent works,· irrespective of any religion or language. Smith states that '~e collected an enormous library of extraordinary pecuniary value, to which probably no parallel library then existed or ever has existed in the world. All the books were manuscripts ••• "written by great men, mostly by very ancient and serious authors", adorned with extremely valuable bindings, and in many cases enriched with costly illustrations by the best artists, numbered 24000, valued at nearly six and half millions of rupees
(6463731) ••• equivalent to;l 646,373 or.£737, 169" (12). According to the Ain-i-Akbari the library was divided according to the value, subject, form - prose or verse - 34 and language of the manuscript (13). Several persons were employed in the library on various positions, such as director, librarian, calligraphers, scribes, translators, painters, gilders, cutter, binders etc. ( 14) .
Shaikh Faizi (1547 - 1595), was a most celebrated man of Akbar's court, versatile scholar, poet and a author of 101 books. He had collected 4600 manuscripts. After his death (1595), his library was amalgamated with the Imperial Library. According to Badaoni (1540 - 1615), most of them were either in the handwriting of the authors or had been written in the authors' time. The collection was catalogued in three sections, the first section being divided to books of verse, medicine, astro~ogy and music; the second section to books on philosophy, religions, mysticism, astronomy and geometry; and the last section to commentaries, the traditions, books on theology, and on all other subjects connected with the sacred law (15). Badauni also noted that "many fine books which had belonged to Itimad Khan
Gujarati, and had been acquired in the conquest of Gujarat ••• were subsequently distributed by the Emperor among learned and pious men. Among the rest, he gave me a book called Anwaru-i-mashkut" ( 16) .
Akbar took a keen interest in book illustrations and paintings. Due to his generous patronage, the Mughal 35
School of Painting flourished and produced several fine artistic works, some of which survived. He set up a manuscript studio on a grand .scale, employing several Indian and Persian artists - calligraphists, painters, illustrators, binders etc. for the production of finest quality manuscripts (17). It was headed by
Khwaja Abdu-s-samad of Persia, a renowned artist and skilled calligraphist who was known by the title Shirin qalam (sweet pen). The most valuable work produced by the school is Hamzanama which consists of about 1400 paintings (18). Akbar also established a translation bureau called Maktab Khana. According to the Ain-i-Akbari, Several works of Sanskrit, Greek, Arabic and Persian were translated into other languages. All these works were written by skilled calligraphists and fully furnished with illustrations by the court painters. The Ramayan and Mahabharat which were especially prepared with illustrations for the emperor are now preserved in the Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II Museum, Jaipur (19). Some of the surviving Persian and other prominent works prepared by the school are now preserved mainly in British and Indian libraries. Das rightly observes that '~n respect of compositional unity and distribution of space and colour, they reveal a masterly command over technique and a mature and lively interest in man and nature. The paintings also reveal a superb bending of heterogeneous Persian, Pre-Mughul Islamic and indigenous, Deccanese and European artistic 36 elements into a coloured and well-blended style which became typical of the developed Akbari idiom (20).
During this reign, Abdur-Rahim-Khan-i-Khanan, a well known scholar, Hindi poet and one of the courtier's of Akbar, also possessed a very big library. Gul Badan Begam, a daughter of Babar, also indirectly spoke in her work Humayunanama about the private libraries maintained by Salima Begam, one of the Queens of Akbar, Princes Murad and Daniyal, Abdul fazal and her self (21).
3.3.4 The later Mughuls 1605 - 1857 A. D.
The later Mughuls, like Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb also took interest in the promotion of calligraphy, miniature paintings and in the development of the library. Sometimes, they used to purchase manuscripts at high cost. Martin states that "the manuscript for which Jahangir paid 3000 gold rupees, a sum equivalent tot10,000, would not fetch evenL2000 at a sale in Paris to-day." (22). After Aurangzeb (1707), his successors proved weak and were trapped in the wars of succession which resulted in the fall of the Mughal Empire. During the reign of Muhammad Shah (1712 - 1748), Nadir Shah of Iran invaded India in 1739, and plundered and massacred Delhi. Besides other valuable things, he also carried away with him the Imperial Library. Subsequently, the manuscripts were sold in 37
Persia at throw away prices (23). After this, the remaining portion of the library was looted and destroyed during the Mutiny of 1857.
3.4 Minor Muslim Kingdoms
During the period, besides the Delhi rule, some minor Muslim kingdoms also existed and they from time to time, were ruled independently in Bengal, Malwa, Gujarat, Kashmir, Khandesh, Deccan, Mysore etc. Under their patronage some of the manuscript libraries also flourished.
3.4.1 Adil Shahi or Bahmani dynasty (1489 1686) of Bijapur took a great interest in the promotion of Islamic learning, and in collecting manuscripts for the palace. Of them, only some manuscripts survived. About one hundred manuscripts of the Adil Shahi collection's are now preserved in the Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad.
Fergussion records that "some of its books are curious and interesting to any one acquired with Arabic and
Persian literature. All the most valuable manuscripts were, it is said, taken away by Aurangzib [16861 in cart loads" (24). Mahmud Gawan, a minister of Ahmad Shah Bahmani (1422 - 1435), also possessed a private library of some 35000 manuscripts.
3.4.2 The Muslim rulers of Gujarat also built up several
------38 mosques and madrasas which were well equipped with manuscripts. Among them, a madrasa known as Sham-i-Burhani, possessed a very big library. Sultan Ahmad Shah (1554 1561) also built up colleges and libraries. After his death, the royal library was presented to the Sham-i-Burhani (25).
3.4.3 Tipu Sultan of Mysore (1782 - 1799) was very fond of books. After his fall the library was captured by the East India Company and was subsequently distributed among the Asiatic Society, Calcutta, St. George Fort College Library (now G.O.M.L., Madras) and India Office Library. Its catalogue was prepared by Stewart in 1809 which describes about 1100 manuscripts in Arabic, Persian, Hindi etc. languages. Out of these, the India Office Library received 197 volumes in 1806 which included Tipu's autograph diary and manuscripts of Quran (26). Later on, about 500 more manuscripts from the Tipu's collection were transferred to the I.O.L., London.
3.4.4 The Nawabs of Oudh had also built up a huge library consisting about 10,000 manuscripts. Its partly Arabic, Persian and Urdu manuscripts were catalogued by Sprenger in 1854. During the Mutiny of 1857, the library was looted and destroyed.
3.5 Hindu Kingdoms 39
Since the very beginning of the period, besides the Delhi Sultanate, and his subsequent Mughul Empire, and some minor Muslim kingdoms, there were also several small or big Hindu kingdoms (ruled by the Hindu kings). Particularly during the Aurangzeb (1681 - 1707) rule and after that, some new powers emerged like Maratha, Rajaput, Bundela, Sikh etc. Almost all the Hindu kings were patrons of Sanskrit learning. They encouraged the copying of Sanskrit and local language works and also took a keen interest in collecting them. Besides, they had also encouraged miniature paintings. As a result, some schools of painting emerged, like Jain or Gujarati, Malawi, Bundeli, Bundi, Rajasthani, Kangra etc. and their contribution to the development of art is remarkable. All these schools had produced several profusely illustrated manuscripts.
As earlier stated, from a political and religious point of view the major period of this era was unfavourable for the Hindus. But, fortunately, as a reaction of the depression, a Bhakti parampara (devotional movement) was spontaneously started and spread in each and every part of the country. Several saint poets like Kabir, Tulsi, Suradasa, Shankar Deo, Ramanujacharya, Madhvacharya,
Vallabhacharya, Jnanadev etc. directed the mass through their devetonal literature. In short, the flow of literature remained continuous, and enormous literature 40 was produced in Sanskrit and in newly developed modern Indian languages.
Vastupal, a minister of Viradhaval (13th century) of Gujarat, had constructed some Jain temples and Jain bhandars ( manuscript libraries). One of them, which he built at Mount Abu at the cost of 18 lakhs was subsequently destroyed by the Muslim invaders (27). He also copied a manuscript of Dharmabhyudayakavya with gold ink which is now preserved at the Santinath Jain
Bhandar, Cambay. Later on, several Jain bhandars were established by the Jain ministers and monks in Gujarat and Rajasthan. These exist to the present time.
Benaras, Mithila, Nadia, Melkote, Sringeri, Udupi etc. flourished as Hindu learning centres. Traditional scholars used to collect manuscripts. Even during the present time, several traditional scholars of all these places keep manuscripts from the generations. Franco is Bernier (1656 1668), a French traveller, after visiting Kavindrachary's collection, noted that "it has also its authors on philosophy, works on medicine, written in verse, and many other kinds of books, with which a large hall at Benares is entirely filled" ( 28) •
From the 16th century onwards, the rulers of Tanjor also took a keen interest in collecting manuscripts from different places. Similarly, the rulers of Travancore, 41
Mysore, Jaipur, Darbhnga, Benaras, Jammu & Kashmir etc. collected very valuable and rare manuscripts which survived and are known as rich treasure houses of manuscripts.
3.6 Concluding remarks
6.1 During the period (1206- 1857), India was ruled by the Muslim rulers, except for some small parts of the country. Due to Islamic fanaticism, hundreds of Hindu temples and educational establishments were destroyed which possessd very rare, old and valuable manuscipts. Moreover, there was no encouragement from the Muslim rulers, who instead, placed obstacles to Hindus.
6.2 However, the contribution of these Muslim rulers in the development of Islamic art and culture is remarkable. They encouraged calligraphy and book illustrations. Due to generous patronage, the Mughul School of Painting and some other painting schools flourished. All these schools produced a number of miniature paintings in the form of book illustrations. Similarly, hundreds of the Persian literary works and Arabic works (particularly Quran and other religious works) were produced by skilled calligraphists and court painters using gold, silver, blue etc. ink. But unfortunately, due to their constant wars of succession and some other reasons less number of manuscripts have 42 survived.
6.3 Particularly, from the 17th century onwards, a number of Jain bhandars were established. Hindu kings also took a keen interest in collecting manuscripts, the majority of them survived.
6.4 Paper was used on a large scale for writing manuscripts which provided ample scope for the development of large illustrations and painting, in general. It is said that paper was introduced in India by the Muhmmadan rulers.
6.5 Lastly, the princely states and individual scholars' collections were limited for themselves or at the most, open for their circles. On the other side, the literacy ratio was too low, as a result the demand for public libraries was not raised. Printing was established by the christian missionaries of Portugal in Goa in 1556, but till the end of the 18th century, no princely state paid it proper attention. 43 REFERENCES 1. ELLIOT, H. M. The history of India as told by its own historians, vol. 2, 1869, 215.
2. LAW, Narendra Nath. Promotion of learning in India, 1916, 31
3. Ibid., 60.
4. ELLIOT, H. M. The history of India as told by its own historians, vol. 6, 1875, 227.
5. ELLIOT, H. M. The history of India as told by its own historians, vol. 4, 1872, 451
6. SHARMA, Jagadish Saran. The substance of library science, 1965, 21.
7. BADAUNI, Abdul Qadir. Muntakhab-ut-tawarikh, vol. 3. tr. by T. w. Haig, 1925, 378. 8. Ibid. , 4 60. 9. JAHANGIR. The Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri or Memoirs of Jahangir. tr. by Alexander Rogers; ed. by Henry Beveridge, 1968, 21 •
1 0 . Ibid. , 3 3.
11. BADAUNI. ref. 7, 150.
12. SMITH, Vincent, A. Akbar : the great Mogul 1542 1605, 2nd ed. 1919, 424.
13. ABUL FAZAL. The Ain-i-Akbari, v.1. tr. by H. Blochmann, 1873, 103.
14. CHOPRA, Pran Nath. Some aspects of society & culture during the Mughal age (1526 1707), 2nd ed. 1963, 169.
15. BADAUNI. ref. 7, 421.
16. ELLIOT, H. M. The history of India as told by its own historians, vol. 5, 1973, 519.
17. LOSTY J. P. Indian book painting, 1986, 14.
18. ABUL FAZAL. ref. 13, 108.
19. MAJUMDAR, R. C. ed. The history and culture of the Indian people, vol .. 7. 1974, 810.
20. Ibid., 811. 44
21. GULBADAN BEGAM. The . history of Humayun (Humayun-nama). tr. by Annette S. Beveridge, 1972, 76. 22. MARTIN, F. R. Miniature paintings and painters of Persia, India and Turkey from the 8th to the 18th century, vol. 1, 1912, 58. 23. LAW. ref. 1, 198.
24. Ibid. 94. 25. DATTA, Bimal Kumar. Libraries and librarianship of ancient and medieval India. 1970, 82.
26. BARKER, Nicolas [et all comp. Treasures of the British Library, 1988, 85. 27. KASLIWAL, Kastoor Chand. Jain granth bhandars in Rajasthan. 1967, 8. 28. BERNIER, Francois. Travels in the Mogul empire A.D. 1656 - 1668, 3rd ed. 1972, 335. ------
CHAPTER 4
MODERN PERIOD : 1800 - 1947 A.D.
4. 1 Background
The Mughul rule ended in 1857, but in fact, after the death of Aurangzeb (1707), the later rulers were titular kings. British power was rising quickly on a firm footing. Robert Clive had laid the foundation of British rule in Bengal in 1757. After the Mutiny of 1857, rule of the East India Company came to an end and the British Crown took direct control of India. With the advent of British rule in India administrative, social and educational reform took place. The government had established three universities, at Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, on the model of London University. Apart from this the British government, christian missionaries and the British civil servants also played important roles in introducing a modern educational system and scientific research methodology. The British civil servants were profoundly attracted towards oriental studies. For these, as a basic resource, a systematic manuscript collection was essential. As a result, a manuscript survey and collection was done, and the establishment of oriental research institutions and manuscript libraries was also started. 46
It seems clear that in the field of Indic manuscriptology, the contribution of European scholars is especially praiseworthy. Due to their pioneering efforts in collecting, cataloguing, preserving and conducting systematic surveys of manuscripts, the Indian orientalists were also attracted towards this field and followed their lines. However, the British Government of India took interest only after the proposal made by
Pandit Radha Krishna of Lahore in 1868. On the other side, either due to the temptation of attractive prices paid by foreigners or through ignorance of owners', thousands of manuscripts were taken to Europe and other parts of the world.
To facilitate the study, one may divide this era into
the following periods :
(1) Pioneering attempts (1784- 1867)
(2) Renaissance period (1868 - 1900)
(3) National awakening period (1901 - 1947)
4.2 Pioneering attempts (1784 - 1867)
During this phase, two famous institutions i.e. the
Asiatic Society, calcutta (1784) and the Banaras
Sanskrit College (1791) were founded by Sir William
Jones and Jonathan Duncan respectively. From the very
beginning, both these institutions had taken a keen
interest in collecting manuscripts, and in publishing ------
47 some important texts. Sir William Jones (1746 1794) laid the foundation of oriental learning through his. scholarly writings. The Western scholars were acquainted to and attracted towards Sanskrit through the writings of Sir William and other contemporary writers. He translated the Sakuntala (1789), a well known Sanskrit drama of Kalidasa, Gitagovinda, a lyric poem of Jaydev and the Manusmriti (Codes of Manu) into English. It was Charles Wilkins who rendered the Bhagavadgita (1785) into English, which was the first translation of a Sanskrit work into the English language. Similarly, Colebrooke, Halhed, Shore, Wilson, etc. contributed to Sanskrit learning through their learned writings. All these scholars had also collected a good number of manuscripts for their use which now adorns some of the
European libraries.
Mention must be made of some of the important collections made by European scholars. Among them, Sir Robert Chambers, the Chief Judge of Bengal (1774 - 89) collected about 800 Sanskrit manuscripts which were subsequently purchased by the Konigliche Bibliothek (now called Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz), Berlin. Jones' collection of 170 Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit manuscripts was presented to the Royal Society of London in 1798. During this phase, Mackenzie, a Surveyor of the Madras Presidency (1796-1818) had collected about 1568 manuscripts and about 6500 items of 48 antique interest, maps, charts, inscriptions, local tracts etc. Later on, after his death in 1821, the collection was purchased by the East .India Company, and a major part of the collection was sent to the India Office Library. The remaining part being distributed among the Asiatic Society and St. George Fort, Madras. The total collection was catalogued by Wilson in 1828. Colebrooke (1765 1837), an eminent Indologist also collected 2749 Sanskrit manuscripts which were donated to the India Office Library in 1819. Sir Charles
Wilkins, the first libraraian of the I. 0. L. also presented 1184 Sanskrit manuscripts in 1837. Dr. Leydan and Browns' collections became the nucleus of the G. 0. M. L., Madras. Later on, from 1846 onwards, Kinloch Forbes also collected some Gujarati manuscripts for writing a history of Gujarat (Rasamala).
Here, it is worthwhile to note that the manuscript collecting activity was started by some Christian missionaries and European travellers since the midseventeenth century. However, James Fraser who had collected about 200 Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit manuscripts from Gujarat during 1730 - 1740, was of the opinion that his Sanskrit manuscript collection was the first collection ever to have been brought into Europe (1). Its catalogue was published as an appendix to his famous work "The history of Nadir Shah" in 1742. James' Sanskrit manuscripts were acquired by the Bodleian 49
Library in 1872 (2). During this period, the first descriptive catalogue of Sanskrit manuscripts of Konigliche bibliothek, Berlin was prepared by A. Weber in 1853. This includes the Chamber collection.
And last, it is an irony that in the beginning of this phase, two learned institutions were established for the cause of oriental learning and at the close of the phase two big manuscript libraries containing the nations' treasures from centuries the Imperial Library of Mughul Empire, and the library of Nawab of Oudh - were looted and destroyed during the Mutiny of 1857.
4.3 Rennaisance period (1868 - 1900)
The second phase covers only 33 years, but it is the most important period in the history of Indic manuscriptology. Pandit Radha Krishna, Chief Pandit of the late Lahore Darbar had put forward a proposal on 10th May, 1868, about conducting a survey of Sanskrit manuscripts and compiling its catalogues, preserved in the Indian and European libraries (3). However, some of the European scholars were of the opinion that "such a catalogue as the Pandit contemplates could be satisfactory compile only in Europe and that any attempt to produce it at present would be premature" (4). Still, the government accepted the proposal on 3rd November, 1868 and sanctioned Rs. 24000 to start the so work in North-West ·Provinces, Oudh and Central provinces, Rajasthan, Bombay, Madras, Mysore and Bengal. The department also prepared a standard proforma for cataloguing of manuscripts in tabular form (5).
After this sanction, all the said provinces were very much engaged in conducting a systematic survey through the outstanding scholars. The Bombay Presidency did remarkable work in this field. In the first phase (1868 - 1881) eminent scholars like Buhler and Kielhorn, and in the second phase (1882- 1891) Bhandarkar and Peter Peterson, acquired 14395 Sanskrit manuscripts (6) and also prepared and published several reports containing notices of manuscripts available in private and institutional collections, in the Presidency as well as in Kashmir and Rajasthan. The Bengal Presidency was surveyed by Rajendralal Mitra, and subsequently Haraprasad Sastri. Mitra's "Notices of Sanskrit manuscripts" ( 10 Vol.; 1870 1895) was the first descriptive catalogue prepared with extracts from manuscripts and extensive notes on authors and works ever published in India. It describes 4265 Sanskrit manuscripts scattered in private and institutional collections in Bengal. Haraprasad Sastri also followed Mitra, and in addition to Bengal, he also visited the Du-rbar Library, Kathamandu (Nepal), Orissa, Banaras, and published the second series of "Notices of Sanskrit manuscripts". 51 Similarly, the Panjab by Kashinath Kunte (1879- 1882), Oudh by Nesfield and Pandit Devi Prasad (1872 1893), South India by Gustav Opert (1880 - 1885), and again the remaining part of the South India by Hultszch (1895 -
1905), Mysore and Coorg by Lewis Rice (1884) and the Tanjore Saraswati Mahal Library by Burnell (1878 - 1880), Ragunath Temple Library, Jammu by Stein (1894) etc. were surveyed and their catalogues were prepared during the years shown in brackets against their names. All the above cited catalogues I reports describe about 50,000 manuscripts with its exact location, sometimes also providing an evaluation of the collection in terms of its richness. During this phase, the Nagari Pracharini Sabha was founded in 1893. The Sabha also took a keen interest in acquiring Hindi and Sanskrit manuscripts.
One of the most outstanding and important works of this phase is Theodor Aufrecht's "catalogus Catalogorum" ( 1891 - 1902) of Sanskrit manuscripts. It was prepared on the basis of 98 catalogues and handwritten lists, and published in three parts. It was the first scholarly attempt to show the avilability and richness of the "whole of Sanskrit literature as contained in manuscripts deposited in India and as well as in Europe," so far catalogued. Each of its entry contains brief information about the work and sources of its 52 availability. Max Muller, a renowned Vedic scholar also prepared a critical edition of the Rgveda, and started to publish a prestigious series "Sacred Books of the East" under his editorship in 1875.
4.4 National awakening period (1901 - 1947)
This period is known as the period of national awekening against the British rule in Indian history. Several indigenious national schools and Indological research institutes were established. Among these institutions, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poena (1918),
Oriental Institute, Baroda (1927), Bihar and Orissa Research Society, Patna, The Department of Oriental Manuscripts and Publications, Trivandrum (1908), The Research Department of Jammu and Kashmir, Srinagar, Oriental Library, (now called Oriental Research Institute) Mysore (1893), G. N. Jha Research
Institute, Allahabad (1943), Scindia Oriental Institue, Ujjain etc. are notable for their scholarly activities related to manuscript collections and preservation. In all of these institutions, eminent Indian scholars were engaged in acquiring manuscripts. Perhaps, it was the result or reflection of the European scholars' zeal and enthusiasm towards this field. And, due to the spontaneous zeal and scholarship of the contemporary Indian scholars, all these institutions presently flourish with valuable manuscripts. These institutions 53 have also started to publish important works with critical editions, under specific series. Of them, Gaekwad's Oriental Series, Trivandrum Sanskrit Series, Mysore Oriental Series, Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies, Saraswati Bhandaram Text Series etc. are prominent for their scholarly publications. Moreover, due to their endeavours, several works came to light.
Another notable development of this phase is that scholars had also started to collect manuscripts of modern Indian languages in addition to Sanskrit manuscripts. During this phase and particularly in the post independence periods, almost all state governments and private organisations founded research institutions and academies for the propagation and development of the regional languages. Of them, Nagari Pracharini Sabha, Varanasi, Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, Allahabad, Bihar Rastrabhasa Parishad, Patna, Kannada Sahitya Parisat, Bangalore, Gujarat Sahitya Sabha, Ahmedabad, Institute of Kannada Studues, Mysore, Marathi Sahitya Samsodhan Mandal, Bombay etc. are notable for the collection of manuscripts in their respective languages.
It is worthwhile to note that during this period, a majority of the catalogues were prepared on the lines of European patterns in a descriptive form, and by eminent scholars like Kuppuswami Sastri, Haraprasad Sastri, T, Ganapati Sastri, M. Rangacharya, Gopinatha Kaviraj, 54
Dalal etc. It is worthwhile to mention the following works which served as pioneers and proved to be most important in the field of Indic manuscriptology :
- A census of Indic manuscripts in United States and Canada I by H. I. poleman. 1938. Lists 7273 manuscripts with short notices. - Gujaratihathapratoni sankalit yadi (Union catalogue of Gujarati manuscripts) I by K. K. Shastri. 1938. - Jinaratnakosa : an alphabetical register of Jaina works and authors I by H. D. Velankar. 1944. (Prepared on the lines of Theodor Aufrecht's Catalogus catalogorum).
4.5 Concluding remarks
In the history of Indic manuscriptology, this period, particularly 1868 to 1947, will remain notable for its overall scholarly and multifaceted contribution. Apart from the British Government of India, the role of civil servants in collecting and preserving manuscripts, and subsequently publication of its catalogues is also very important. Moreover, during the period, several oriental
research institutions were also established for the purpose of oriental studies and for the collection of manuscripts. Due to the strenuous and spontaneous efforts of Indian orientalists, these institutions succeeded in building up very valuable manuscript collections. 55
REFERENCES
1. FRASER, James. The history of Nadir Shah, 1973, preface. Reprint. First published 1742.
2. CRASER, Sir Edmund. History of the Bodelian Library: 1845- 1945, 1952, 111.
3. GOUGH, Archibold Edward. Papers relating to the collection and preservation of the records of ancient Sanskrit literature on India, 1878, 1.
4. Ibid., 13.
5. Ibid., 9. 6. GODE, P. K. ed. Descriptive catalogue of the Government Collections of manuscripts deposited at the Decca College, Poona, vol. 1, 1916, xxvii, xxi. CHAPTER 5
POST INDEPENDENCE PERIOD : 1947 - 1990 A. D.
5.1 The Sanskrit Commission and fo11ow up actions
In 1956, the Government of India appointed the Sanskrit
Commission under the chairmanship of Dr. Suniti Kumar
Chatterji with the aim to take stock of the current position of Sanskrit learning and simultaneously to make recommendations for its propagation and development. The
Commission also took a keen intrest in the preservation of manuscripts and strongly recommended that "the government should pay due attention to the question of
Manuscripts, as the content, value and standard of the
Research work in the field of Sanskrit primarly depend on the discovery of outstanding standard works among the Manuscripts laying scattered all over the country, as the reconstruction of the Indian History. Thought and
Culture is dependent on the Manuscript sources as on
Archaeological and other materials" (1). In addition, the Commission also suggested the establishment of
Central Manuscripts Survey, Manuscript Libraries, and to take some steps to throw open to the public the manuscript libraries of the former rulers of Native states. But, it is sad to note that no fruitful step has been taken by the government. 57
In consequence of the Sanskrit Commissions' recommendations, the Ministry of Scientific and Cultural Affairs, Government of India, appointed the Indology Committee under the chairmanship of K. A. N. Shastri, to advise on the collection and preservation of manuscripts. The Committee went through the recommendations made by the Sanskrit Commission and the Manuscript Committee set up by the University Grants Commission. Some valuable suggestions, like setting up regional manuscript purchase committees, microfilming, publications of catalogues, grant polices etc. were made. On the basis of the said recommendations, the Ministry prepared a scheme for financial assistance to libraries and other institutions for compiling and publishing catalogues of manuscripts. As a result, since 1961, all the catalogues are prepared in tabular form with extracts from only select manuscripts (2).
Moreover, later on, a drastic step was taken by the government to ban selling or making gifts of manuscripts to foreigners, under the "The Antiquities and Art Treasures Act 1972". Due to this enactment, government succeeded in preventing the outflow of these cultural assets.
5.2 Contribution of some of the newly established institutions 58
During this time, several new universities, indological research institutions, Sanskrit Vidyapithas etc. were established by the state and central governments. Their contribution in the field of indic manuscriptology remained notable. In addition, they collected manuscripts through surveys from the surrounding areas, prepared catalogues, and started publishing some important texts. Among them, Rajasthan Oriental Research Institute, Jodhpur (1954) did splendid work under the able guidance of the late Muni Jinavijayaji (1888 1976). The institute succeeded in collecting manuscripts mainly from some of the ex-princely states of Rajasthan, like Alwar, Bharatpur, Kota, Udaipur etc., and some other prominent private collections. To-date,
it has collected over 101,000 Sanskrit, Prakrit, Apabhramsa, Hindi and Rajasthani manuscripts, and out of these, about 70% of the collection have been catalogued. Similarly, the Andhra Pradesh Government Oriental Manuscript Library and Research Institute, Hyderabad (1972) was also established for the same causes. The library possesses 23161 Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Telugu and Sanskrit manuscripts. Of them, about 16000 are Islamic manuscripts. The Government of India also established six Sanskrit Vidyapiths at Allahabad, Delhi, Gurvayur, Jammu, Puri and Tirupati. All these vidyapiths consist of manuscripts. Among them, Jammu (10,000), Allahabad (50,000) and Tirupati (6000) collections are considered to be very rich. 59
Recently, in 1984-85, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts was established in memory of the late Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi. Among its multifaceted activities, the centre has also started to collect and to computerise detailed information of manuscripts of some of the selected texts like Gitagovinda, Meghaduta, Natyasastra etc. They also plan to microfilm some prominent Indian and overseas manuscript collections.
5.3 The New Catalogus Catalogorum and other related bibliographical works
One may consider the following works as an outstanding output of this period. Among them, the "New Catalogus Catalogorum" is most prominent. The project was started by the Department of Sanskrit, University of Madras in
1935, but its first volume was published in 1949, and the twelfth volume (Pa to Pradhyan), published in 1989. The N. C. C. is a national register of Sanskrit manuscripts which provides information on authors and works, with location. So far 12 published volumes contain about 100,000 entries. It is prepared on the basis of about 400 published and unpublished catalogues, handwritten lists, reports etc. It is considered as one of the most valuable research tools and an encyclopaedic dictionary of the Sanskrit literature. For strengthening and making more sound this useful 60 resource, the erudite scholarship and enthusiastic zeal of late Dr. Raghavan was responsible. During 1953 - 54 he visited Europe, and prepared a list of 20,000 uncatalogued Sanskrit manuscripts for the project (3). But, unfortunately due to lack of sound financial resources and enough man power, the work was delayed. Probably, it will not be completed even in the next thirty years with the present conditions •
Among other works, a census of exact science in Sanskrit I by David Pingree (1970 ), A survey of oriental manuscripts in Europe and North America I by J. D. Pearson (1972), A union catalogue of Tamil manuscripts I prepared by Tamil University, Tanjore (Describes about
20,000 Tamil manuscripts located in the Indian and overseas libraries. To be published shortly) etc. are praiseworthy. In addition to the said works, Janert also made an outstanding contribution in preparing "An
Annotated Bibliography of Catalogues of Indian Languages Manuscripts," vol. 1 (1965) which contains 339 catalogues. In the same direction, Biswas and the present author also prepared a Bibliographic Survey of Catalogues of Indic Manuscripts which descibes about 725 printed catalogues and 250 handwritten lists, with annotations. It also serves the purpose of a union catalogue. In addition to this, a national level survey of mauscript centres was also conducted, with the intention of preparing a Directory of Indian Manuscript Centres. Both the works are to be published shortly.
5.4 Types of manuscript centres
Normally, in India, manuscripts are found in the following types of centres :
5.4.1 Manuscript Libraries
Particularly in Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, ut tar Pradesh, Orissa and Rajasthan, some manuscript libraries exist. These are run by either state government or private organisations. Their activities are mainly limited to manuscript collection, preservation and publications of catalogues, books etc. Among them, the Government Oriental Manuscript Library, Madras (70,000), Tanjore Maharaja Serfoji's Saraswati Mahal Library, Tanjore (44,548), Andhra Pradesh Government Oriental Manuscript Library and Oriental Institute, Hyderabad (23,176) and Uttar Pradesh State manuscript Library, Allahabad are notable.
5.4.2 Oriental Research Institutes
A majority of manuscripts have been preserved in these types of institutions as a part of their main collection. The main aims and objectives of these institutions are to promote research in Indology, to 62 collect manuscripts, to publish catalogues and critical editions of important works etc. In addition to manuscripts, these institutions also contain rich collection of printed books, periodicals. Of them, about 30 institututions are extremely important in terms of their rich collections, various types of activities and learned contributions in the field of Indology.
These types of institutions hold an average of 10,000 to
100,000 manuscripts of various languages. Among them, the Asiatic society, Calcutta, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poena, Oriental·Institute, Baroda, Oriental Research Institute, Mysore, University Manuscript Library and Oriental Institute, Trivandrum are the foremost leading institutions of the country. All these institutions are also famous for their learned publications published under specific series. The manuscript sections of such types of institutions are managed either by the traditional pandits or by the research assistants / curators or senior staff members under the direct control of the head of the institutions. Librarians are only responsible for printed materials.
5.4.3 Academic Institutions (Universities, Colleges, Traditional Sanskrit Pathasalas, Madrasas)
Several university libraries or the teaching departments of the respective languages, and in some cases, 63 departments of history possess a good number of manuscripts. Among such types of prominent collections, the Calcutta University, Santiniketan, Utkal University, Osmania University etc possess pride collections. During recent years, Dr. Purushottam Nair did a remarkable job in conducting a thorough and an intensive survey to collect manuscripts from two districts of the zone of • the Calicut university. In addition to collecting 5000
Malayalam and Sanskrit manuscripts, he also prepared a descriptive list of about 7000 manuscripts lying around with 101 individual persons , mathas etc. The colleges and pathasalas collections are not properly managed and are rarely used by anyone. Generally, such collections have only been developed through gifts. It might be worthwhile to transfer these types of collections to university or oriental institution.
5.4.4 Jain Jnana Bhandars
Particularly Rajasthan and Gujarat flourish with Jain jnana bhandars. Besides these states, some bhandars are also found in states like Karnataka, Bihar, uttar
Pradesh etc. It is a known fact that almost each village /city /town, where some of the Jain families live, has a bhandar. As a rough estimate, one million manuscripts of Sanskrit, Prakrit, Apabhramsa, Hindi and Rajastani languages have been preserved in all the bhandars. The Jainas have tendered a great service to 64 the nation by preserving this cultural heritage. One of the important aspects is that bhandars contain all types of manuscipts without discrimination of religion or subjects.
It is observed that a number of works are found in multiple copies, either in incomplete form, or copies of the same manuscript. And that too, without any significance of literary text point of view, or calligraphy, or art point of view. For instance, the catalogue of Moodbidri bhandar lists 45 copies of Ratnasravakacara. Out of these, 27 are complete and the rest are incomplete (6). According to Muni Johrmalji, due to a number of multiple copies, the total number of manuscripts was raised in some hundreds of thousands, but in fact, the total works are some thousands only. Of them, devotional songs and other related literature containing either one, two or three pages excluded or kept aside from the figure, the number will further go down. After these, out of the remaining manuscripts, original and standard works will be found in some hundreds only (4).
All the bhandars are run by Jain trusts. The majority of them remain closed, and normally it is difficult for outsiders to get permission to use them. Though, the bhandars are mainly for the use of the Jain monks and the community. The world of scholars is indebted to the 65 late Muni Punyavijayaji and late Muni Jinavijayaji who persuaded the Jain authorities to throw open the bhandars to the public. Both the Munis visited several bhandars and prepared their catalogues, and brought into light several important works preserved· theirin. Similarly, Dr. Kashliwal and Muni Johrmalji surveyed Digambar and Svetambar bhandars of Rajas than respectively, and Banarasidas Jain Surveyed the bhandars of Panjab in 1939. During the partition of India and Pakistan, the Jain bhandars of Western Panjab were transferred to India and recently, all these bhandars were amalgamated with the newly established institute, the B. L. Institute of Indology, New Delhi. The Institute consists of about 10,000 manuscripts. Muni
Padmasagarji who succeeded in amalgamating several bhandars and collecting about 100,000 manuscripts in the Mahavira Aradhana Kendra, Koba (Gujarat).
Among all the bhandars, the bhandar of Jesalmer (7135), Patan (32484) (5), Moodbidri, Arrah, Jaipur (25000), Cambay (25000) and Ahmedbad (150000. The figure also includes the L. D. Institute collection) are more famous for their richness. Among the Jain texts, the Kalpasutra and Kalakacharyakatha are found profusely illustrated, and sometimes written with gold ink. In addition to the literary and artistic point of view, these bhandars are also equally important for the history and culture of India. 66
5.4.5 Museum Collections
Generally, the majority of museums consists of manuscripts, but their interest is limited to illustrated and illuminated manuscripts, and those representing illustrious specimens of calligraphy and paintings. For such types of manuscripts, the Princes of Wales Museum, Bombay, National Museum, Delhi, Maharaja Sawai Jaisingh II Museum, Jaipur and Orissa State Museum, Bhubaneswar are well-known. However, some of the museums contain a huge number of manuscripts, irrespective of any particular interest or subect, and maintained as a manuscript library. Among such types of museums, the Orissa State Museum (32,808), National Mueseum, New Delhi (10,000), Maharaja Sawai Jaisingh II Museum, Jaipur (14,000), Municipal Museum, Allahabad (5500), State Chandradhari Museum, Darbhanga (5500) are notable. But only the Bhubaneswar and Jaipur museums have published descriptive catalogues of manuscripts of
their holdings.
5.4.6 Religious Trust, Matha and Temple Collections
These types of collections are generally found either in
Hindu temples, mathas or Islamic mosques or dargahs, and due to a lack of proper care and inadequate knowledge of
preservation techniques, are sometimes found in a 67 deteriorating condition. In addition, due to several types of hurdles, researchers find it difficult to access the collections. Moreover, due to collective responsibilities, a number of manuscripts easily disappears. It should be mentioned that in 1908 the late Haraprasad Sastri found more than 2000 manuscripts preserved at the Goverdhan Matha, Puri, and during the present author's visit in March,1989 he found only about 50 manuscripts, and those were in very brittle condition. The mathas of Udupi, Kanchi, Shringeri, Kumbhakonam and Puri possess very valuable and rare manuscripts.
5.4.7 Public Libraries
Normally, public libraries do not keep manuscripts, but in the case of gifts, they are tempted to preserve these without any special aim or objectives. It might be better not to accept such gifts. It is advisable to transfer these collections to any research institution of the region. For instance, the Nasik Sarvajanik Vachanalaya consists of about 10,000 Sanskrit and Marathi manuscripts which are waiting for its cataloguing and users.
5.4.8 Private Collections
In India, hundreds of private collections are found with 68 the traditional pandit families, ex-rulers of princely states, some individual persons, and rare book and manuscript traders. In practice, almost all the ex-rulers possess some manuscripts. Some of the ex-rulers collections have been thrown open for public use. These collections are rich, in terms of the literary value and from an artistic point of view. And especially, they are immensely useful to study genealogy and history of their dynasties. But, unfortunately, it is difficult to access the· collections. Of them, some are used to decorate the palaces or rotting in the store rooms without any knowledge of their existence. Similarly, the traditional pandits' collections are valuable in terms of being very rare, old and being particularly correct texts. Since ancient times, especially, Tamilnadu, Kerala, Banaras, Mithila, Orissa, Jammu and Kashmir, and up to some extent Maharashtra have possessed a rich tradition of the traditional scholars. Hence, these areas are prosperous in terms of availability of important works. Among the private collections, the Agarchand Nahata Collection (also called Abhaya Jaina Granthalaya), Bikaner, is rich in Jainology, and consists of about 60,000 manuscripts.
5.5 Notes on some of the leading institutions 5.5.1 Adyar Library and Research Centre, Madras
Historical background : The library was founded by 69
Colonel Olcott, an eminent theosophist and the founder president of the Theosophical Society of India, in 1886. It is situated in beautiful, natural surroundings near the sea-side reviving the remembrance of the ancient Gurukulas. At the opening function of the library, clarifying its objectives, Olcott stated that its objects are to help to revive oriental literature, to re-establish the dignity of the true pandit, mobed, bhikku and moulvi; to win the regard of educated men, especially that of the rising generation, for the sages of old, their teachings, their wisdom, their noble example; to assist as far as may be, in bringing about a
more intimate relation, a better mutual appreciation,
between the literary workers of the two hemispheres (7).
Collection : To fulfil the said vision, since from the very beginning, systematic efforts were made to build up a comprehensive collection of manuscripts and books. Presently, it consists of nearly 18,000 manuscripts mainly in Sanskrit, but there are some in Tamil also. The majority of them are on palm-leaves. Apart from this, it also possesses about 160,000 books in all the major languages of East Asia and Europe, and learned periodicals I journals. To its credit, it also possesses xylograph copies of the Tibetan Kanjur and
Tanjur, and a Chinese Tripitakas. The manuscript collection is particularly rich in philosophy and religion. It also contains a very comprehensive 70 collection of the Upanishadas. The library has published a catalogue of Upanishadas manuscripts (1908) and a critical edition of 108 Upanishadas. From the very beginning the library has had a good tradition in appointing an eminent Indological scholar as· its head. This proved immensely helpful in strengthening its collection par excellence. As a result, its collection - books and manuscripts - is regarded as one of the - richest collections on Indology, throughout the country.
Publications et al : Its publications are widely acclaimed by the world of scholars. It has published about 160 volumes under three separate series. Among them Adyar Library Series is a prominent one. It includes critical editions of rare texts, catalogues and research works. A journal entitled the Adyar Library Bulletin has been issued since 1937. The library is recognised by the University of Madras as a research centre for Ph. D. in Sanskrit and Indology. The library is housed in a fine and newly constructed building with all sorts of modern scientific equipment and facilities.
5.5.2 Asiatic Society, Calcutta
Historical background : The Asiatic Society, '~arbinger of Indian Renaissance and the cradle of almost all the major scientific, literary and antiquarian institutions 71 in this country" was founded by Sir William Jones (1746 - 1794), a Judge of the Bengal Supreme Court, an eminent philologist and indologist, in 1784. Its main aim was to promote researches in the humanities and the sciences.
Collection : From its very inception, the Society took a keen interest in building up its library collection of books, manuscripts and objects of antique interest. To date, it possesses 41,925 manuscripts. Of them, 30,000 manuscripts are in Sanskrit, Prakrit, Pali, Bengali, Rajasthani etc., about 6000 manuscripts in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Turkish and Pushtu, and some manuscripts in Burmese, Siamese, Chinese, Tibetan etc. languages
(8). It also includes the Indian Museum collection of about 12000 manuscripts. In addition, the library also contains xylographs of Tibetan Kanjur and Tanjur, and Chinese translations of Buddhist works, some of which are not preserved in the original language (i.e. Sanskrit I Pali). The manuscript collection is very rich and dates from the 7th century. It contains the
Kubjikamatam, a tantric text, dated 7th century, so far known as the oldest palm-leaf manuscript available in
India (9). The collection also possesses a good number
of illustrated and illuminated manuscripts, some of which belonged formerly to the Mughul dynasty. Of these, some represent fine specimens of calligraphy and
miniature paintings. Besides this, it also has a huge collection of research oriented literature in almost all 72 the languages of Asia and Europe.
In building up a manuscript collection, Rajendralal Mitra and Haraprasad Sastri's contribution will forever remain praiseworthy. On behalf of the society, they conducted a survey in Bengal, Bihar, Banaras, Rajaputana, Orissa, Nepal etc. places to acquire manuscripts. In addition, they had also prepared reports of their tours indicating the availability of manuscripts in private and institutional collections. Of them, the Notices of Sanskrit manuscripts (First series (1870- 1891) by Mitra; Second series (1892- 1905) by Sastri) are wellknown, and these describe overall 5555 Sanskrit manuscripts with copious notes and extracts.
Publications et al : The society has published 14 Volumes of descriptive catalogues of its manuscripts, which are illustrative and is a landmark in the field of manuscript cataloguing. Each volume contains an extensive and scholarly introduction on the respective subject. The majority of them were prepared by Sastri.
Unfortunately, the post-Sastri period catalogues do not maintain that standard, and moreover, the work is in slow motion progress.
The society has published some hundreds of books. Its Bibliotheca Indica series is much more famous for its scholarly publications. Under this series, a number of 73 ancient and medieval period Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic,
Tibetan etc. works have been published, either with critical text, English translation or with both. The majority of them have been published for the first time.
All these works were edited or translated by eminent
European and Indian scholars. It also publishes a journal entitled the Journal of Asiatic Society.
5.5.3 Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona
Historical background : The Institute was founded in
1917 in revered memory of the late Ramakrishna Gopal
Bhandarkar, a versatile scholar. in 1917. It is considered as one of the foremost research institutes of India, and perhaps it stands next to the Asiatic
Society, Calcutta.
Collection : With the Institute's inception, the
Government of Bombay Presidency transferred its collection of manuscripts, and this became its nucleus collection. This collection is very selective, comprehensive and represents every field of Sanskrit
learning. The Bombay Presidency had started to acquire manuscripts since 1869. Besides an extensive survey of
the presidency, the Rajaputana and Kashmir were also
surveyed by renowned scholars like Buhler, Kielhorn,
Peter Peterson and Bhandarkar during 1869 1891, and acquired 14,305 Sanskrit and Prakrit manuscripts. Later 74 on, Kathavate also conducted tours for the purpose of collecting manuscripts. Presently, the institute consists of about 20,000 Sanskrit manuscripts and about 70,000 books and periodicals. The Institute also possesses the Siamese and Chinese Tripitakas. It receives almost all the prominent Indological periodicals from all over the world.
Publications et al : The Institute is known for its scholarly publications. Of these, the critical edition of Mahabharat (19 Volumes), prepared by a team of national and international scholars is a prestigious publication. It has published 25 Vols. of descriptive catalogues which describes about 11,000 manuscripts. The Institute also issues a journal.
5.5.4 Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad
Historical background : The institute was founded by the late Sheth Kasturbhai Lalbhai in 1957, and the inspiration behind the establishment, of this Institution was the late Muni Punyavijayaji, an eminent Jainologist. The main objects of the institution are (10) :
(1) to collect and preserve ancient manuscripts so that
the invaluable treasures of the past are not lost to 75 posterity. (2) to provide facilities to scholars for study and research in Indology.
(3) to undertake publication of critical editions of unpublished manuscripts, and the outcome of research and study undertaken by scholars.
Co11ection : With the establishment of this Institution, the Late Muni Punyavijayaji presented his magnificent collection of 10,000 manuscripts, 7000 books etc. Later on, several prominent private collections were presented or deposited, such as Acharya Vijayadeva Suri, Kirtimuniji, Anandaji Kalyanaji ni Peddhi, Nagar Setha Kasturbhai, Ujamafoi ni Dharamsala, Sheth Kasturbhai etc. collections. Besides this, some of the Jain Bhandars of Palanpur, Kheda, Mondal, Bharuch, Ghogha etc. were also deposited (11). As a result, this institution became one of the leading repository of manuscripts in general, particularly for Jain manuscripts. It has nearly 65,000 manuscripts in Sanskrit, Prakrit, Gujarati, Rajasthani, Hindi, Tamil, Urdu, Oriya etc. languages. Although its accession register shows nearly 75,000 numbers, some other objects are also listed. Besides, having manuscrits on Jain darsan, dharma and sahitya, it also contains manuscripts on veda and vedanga, purana, itihasa, kavya, tantra, ayurveda, jyotisa, silpa etc. Of these, it possesses a good number of illustrated manuscripts. The Institute 76 also contains about 30,000 books.
Publications et al : The Institute is also famous for its publications. To date, it has published 105 Volumes under the L. D. Series. In 1975, the Institute had organised a magnificent exhibition of illustrated and valuable manuscripts on the occasion of 2500 birth anniversary of Lord Mahavira. The exhibited manuscripts were brought from several Jain Bhandars of Gujarat. Its catalogue, published under the title Treasures of the Jain Bhandaras (1978), contains 98 coloured, and black and white art plates which overall represents the Jain art of Gujarat preserved in manuscripts.
5.5.5 Oriental Institute, Baroda
Historical background : The Institute was founded by the late Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III, (1875 - 1939), the ruler of the erstwhile Baroda State, in 1927. However, a separate department was started to collect Sanskrit books and manuscripts in the Central Library in 1893. Later in 1927, the department was separated and converted into an independent Institute under the present name. After the establishment of the M. S. University of Baroda (1949), it became part of the university.
Collection : The Late Maharaja took a keen interest in 77 collecting valuable manuscripts. He appointed R. A. Sastri, especially to collect manuscripts from different parts .of the country. After an extensive tour he acquired about 10,000 manuscripts. During the tour, however he maintained a diary depicting information about the availability of manuscripts, with short information of each manuscript. This is now considered as one of the most important sources to identifying the private collections. This diary is now preserved in the Department of Sanskrit, University of Madras. From time to time, the Institute also received some prominent collections as gifts, like the Vitthal Mandira, Shrimant Sampatarao Gaekwad, Royal Deoghar, Yatishri Hemachandraji etc. collections.
Overall, the Institute has about 27000 manuscripts in Sanskrit, Prakrit, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu etc. languages. The collection represents all branches of learning, with adequate depth. It also possesses a good number of illustrated and illuminated manuscripts. Of them, 5 scrolls of the Mahabharat, Gita and Harivamsa are highly decorated with paintings and illuminations. These are considered as the most prestigious jewels of the Institute and were presented by the Royal Deoghar. Due to its richness, rarity and variety of manuscripts, this collection is considerd as one of the pride collections in the country. 78
Publications et al : The Institute has published 171 volumes under the Gaekwad's Oriental Series. This is considered as one of the most outstanding indological series. Mention may be made of a few scholarly publications, such as Manasollasa, Natyasastra, Sadhanamala, Sabarabhasya, Samaranganasutradhara, Trisasthisalakapurusa etc. In addition, it has also prepared a critical edition of the Ramayana. All these publications were prepared by very high-reputed scholars like, G. N. Jha, G. Tucci, A. B. Dhruva, H. Daniel,
Sylvan Levi, E. Krishnamacharya, G. H. Bhatt etc. Besides having its own catalogues of manuscripts, it has also published catalogues of the Jain bhandars of
Jaisalmer (1923), Patan (1937) and Cambay (1961 -66).
But, it is sad to note that the Institution has not made any progress in preparing its own catalogues since 1950.
Its alphabetical catalogue decribes only 16450 manucripts and its descriptive catalogue contains only about 1200 entries. Similarly, since the last two decades its publication programme is also losing its grips and seems to be inactive.
5.5.6 University Manuscripts Library and Oriental Research Institute, University of Kerala, Trivandrum
Historical background : After the establishment of the University (1937), (formerly called Travancore University), the Department for the Publications of 79 Oriental Manucripts, better known as Curator's Office was amalgamated with the University. This department was started by the then Maharaja of Travancore in 1908 aiming to collect and p~lish Sanskrit and Malayalam ~- manuscripts. It was headed by T. Ganapati Sastri who succeeded in discovering thirteen plays of Bhasa, a Sanskrit dramatist who flourished sometime in 1st century B.C., in 1910. Later on, the Palace Library ( a private collection of the Maharaja) containing 2797 Sanskrit and 763 Malayalam manuscripts was also donated to the University. The department also collected a number of manuscripts all over from Kerala and also from outside. Later on, the department was named under the present name.
Collection : It has 55,746 Sanskrit, Malayalam and Tamil manuscripts. The majority of them are on palm-leaf and in Sanskrit. The Palace and Curator's Office collections were already catalogued in descriptive form, during 1937-38 and 1937-41, respectively. The library has also published alphabetical indexes of Sanskrit (1957- ; 6v.), Malayalam (1951) and Tamil (1984) manuscripts. These manuscripts deal with subjects like kavya, veda and vedanga, darsana, dharmasastra, ayurvada, jyotisa, tantra etc. which are mainly in Malayalam and Grantha scripts, and copied during last 400 years. Ever since ancient times, Kerala has maintained a high reputation for its traditional 80 scholars. Even now we may find several pandits who recite complete texts of Vedas or other important treatise. Due to this impact, and keeping in view Kerala's contribution to Sanskrit literature, the collection is considered very valuable.
Publications et al : It has published about 260 Volumes of Sanskrit works. under the well known series the Trivandrum Sanskrit Series. This series is considered as one of the very important Sanskrit series. The institute also publishes Malayalam works under separate series.
5.5.7 Saraswati Bhavan Library, Sampurnanad Sanskrit University, Varanasi
Historical background Since ancient times, Banaras remained as the foremost learning centre of India. The modern education system was started with the establishment of the Benaras Sanskrit College, in 1791. It was founded by Jonathan Duncan. The college had maintained its tradition in appointing an outstanding scholar as its principal, like Arthur Venice, Ganganath Jha, Gopinatha Kaviraj etc, which resulted in scholarly and multifaceted activities. Subsequently, the college was raised to university status in 1952 and named as the Sanskrit University. Later on, it was renamed under the present name. 81
Collection et al : Since its inception, the library was named as the Saraswati Bhavan. Presently, it consists of about 100,300 manuscripts, mainly in Sanskrit and some are in Hindi, Bengali, Marathi and South Indian languages. This is a richest and biggest collection of Sanskrit manuscripts in India. It is manily due to the enthusiasm and zeal of its learned principals and teachers of the college. Moreover, the college was one of the earliest pioneering institutions which started acquiring manuscripts in the last quarter of the 18th century. But, it is a sad to note that its half of the collection is unexposed. In other words, it has catalogued only 46,911 manuscripts. The catalogue (12 Vols.; 1953- 1965) is also prepared in a simple tabular form without providing any extracts or notes. Moreover, its services are also inadequate.
To organise and provide effective.services, there is a need to keep the Sarasvati Bhavan as an independent unit under the directorship of a reputed scholar, instead of keeping it under the general library.
5.5.8 Tanjore Maharaja Serfoji's Sarasvati Mahal Library, Thanjavur
Historical background : The Sarasvati Mahal Library (Palace of Goddess of Knowledge) by virtue of its 82 enormous literary wealth, is in a real sense a treasure house of knowledge. Owing to this quality, it has recently been declared an Institution of National Importance by the Government of India. Originally, the library was started by the Telugu Nayaks (1535 - 1675), the then rulers of Tanjore and great patrons of learning. After them, the Tanjore Maratha Dynasty came into power and ruled Tanjore from 1676 - 1855, but they also took a keen interest in the development of the library. In fact, in building up a nucleus collection, its credits go to Maharaja Serfoji II (1798- 1832) who was a man of refined literary taste and also a patron of poets. He enriched the collection by acquiring manuscripts from the leading learning centres. Especially during his pilgrimage to Banaras (1920 1930), a foremost holy place and learning centre since
ancient times for the Hindus, he employed pandits for acquiring manuscripts. After the end of the Maratha rule (1855) the library was later turned into a public trust which was made open for the public in 1918, and named under the present name. Besides the main collection, later on and from time to time, about 13 prominent private collections of Sanskrit manuscripts were included. Among them, the Jambunatha, Kagalkar, Patanga Avadhuta, Tyagaraja etc. collections are notable for their richness, because owners of these collections were well known traditional scholars from generations. 83
Collection : Presently, the library consists of 44,548 manuscripts (ie. 37,592 Sanskrit, 3105 Tamil, 3060 Marathi and 791 in Telugu) •. Of them, 23,345 are palm-leaf manuscripts. Besides this, it also possesses about 38,000 books in some of the Indian and European languages. The manuscript collection is representative of almost all the branches of learning like kavya, ayurveda, samgita, veda and vedanga, stotra dharmasastra, darsan, jyotisa, tantra etc. It also possess a very good collection of works composed under their patronage. Besides the value of literary interest manuscripts, it also equally possesses a good number of illustrated and illuminated manuscripts, and paintings in the Tanjore style. Some of its manuscript covers - either wooden boards or paper - are also neatly painted with exquisite borders. The library also contains the official documents of the Maratha dynasty written in the
Modi scripts. These are immensely helpful in exploring
the history and culture, and the state administration of
the dynasty.
Publications et al : The library has in its credit about
210 publications in various languages, which also
includes 43 Volumes of manuscript catalogues.
This collection was first exposed by Burnell in 1871. He
stated that all Sanskrit works of importance exist in different branches. The library is unrivalled in this 84 respect. He estimated its cost 50,000 pounds. He prepared its first catalogue which was published in three parts in 1878- 1880. It is sad.to note that some of the valuable manuscripts which Burnell catalogued are not presently available in the library.
Late Dr. Raghavan, a renowned Sanskrit scholar, paying tribute to the library with poetic vision, noted that a perusal of the collection reveals the great panorama of the incessant literary activity in all branches of learning that was fostered with utmost love and lavish patronage by the Telugu and Maratha Kings of Tanjore in the Choladesh, of the Agraharas resounding with recitations of Vedas, of secrifices and religious activities, of Mutts with singing of Bhajans, of expositions of epics, of great Sannyasins and devotees spreading their benign blessings, of village plays, of mugician concerts and contests, of courtesans' dance and Abhinaya and above all, of great temples and their festivals and music and pageants and processions. (12).
5.6 Concluding remarks
To conclude, after independence the central government paid some attention towards this area. Some of the more notable and concrete steps taken by the government include generous grant policies for the preparation and publication of manuscript catalogues, standard formula 85 for cataloguing of manuscripts and a ban on the selling of manuscripts to foreigners etc.
The above steps proved to be very helpful, for it resulted in the publishing of a number of catalogues of manuscripts. As a result, several comparatively small and unknown (not widely known) collections came to light. The newly founded and existing institutions also collected a good number of manuscripts, but unfortunately, the work is being done without any systematic planning. There is a need to allot a specific region to a particular institution for conducting thorough surveys in order to acquire manuscripts through the purchase or gifts, and to prepare a list of the remaining manuscripts available in private collections. The Sanskrit Commission also recommended the establishment of a "Central Manuscripts Survey", but unfortunately the government did not pay any attention. Another striking feature of this period is that earlier, particularly during 1868 - 1947, this work was carried out by eminent scholars whereas nowadays (with some exceptions) eminent scholarly people were not engaged in this work. Moreover, now, work of this nature is also considered to be a "Dust washing business". In short due to a lack of thorough searches and scholarships nothing more notable has been found. 86 REFERENCES 1. CHATTERJI, 5. K. Report of the Sanskrit Commission 1956 - 1957, 1958, 265. 2. RAGHAVAN, V. Manuscripts, catalogues, editions, 1963 1 97 •
3. Ibid. I 3. 4. SEVA MANDIR, Jodhpur. Jina Bhdrasuri Jnana Bhandara. Jaisalmer. Handwritten manuscripts catalogue, Vol. II, 1988, V-VI.
5. SHETHA, Kanubhai, V. Gujaratana hastaprata bhandaro. Parab, 10, 1980, 673. 6. BHUJABALI SHASTRI, K. ed. Kannadaprantiya tadapatriya granthasuci, 1948, 60-65. 7. The Adyar Library and Research centre : centenary souveiner, 1986, 10. 8. The Asiatic Society (1784 - 1984) : bicentenary. 1985, 6.
9. Ibid. I 6.
10. LALBHAI DALPATBHA INSTITUTE OF INDOLOGY. {Brochure], [1988 ?], 2.
11. SHETH. ref. 5, 670.
12. RAGHAVAN, V. The Saraswati Mahal Tanjore, [nd.], 13. CHAPTER 6
ISLAMIC MANUSCRIPT LIBRARIES
6.1 Historical background
During the medieval period, India passed under Muslim rule for about 600 years. Due to the zeal and generous patronage of these Muslim rulers', Islamic learning flourished profoundly. Persian was introduced as the court language, hence, Hindus were also attracted to learn the language. Moreover, during Mughul rule several leading poets like Urfi, Naziri, Kalim, Talib etc. migrated from Persia to India (1). In the 16th and 17th century particularly, high ranking Indo-Persian literature was produced and during this era India remained the El-Dorado of Persian emigrants (2). As well as this, art, architecture, calligraphy, and painting also flourished at a high peak. As a result, total artistic output remained at a high level. But, unfortunately, due to political and some other reasons, a sizeable amount of manuscripts were destroyed. As a result very few collections have survived in their original form. As a rough estimate, there are overall about 250,000 Arabic, Persian and Urdu manuscripts surviving and these have been preserved in various types in more than about 100 institutions, like Islamic research institutes and libraries, universities, 88 madrasas, mosques, museums, state and central archives etc. In addition, there are several private collections also existing Of them, some manuscripts have been described in about 250 catalogues, so far published.
6.2 Critical appraisal
Normally, Arabic, Persian and Urdu manuscripts are found written on paper with artistic leather binding. However, some manuscripts may also be found written on deer skin. Almost all the leading institutions possess a good number of manuscripts written in the Islamic countries, dating from 6th century onwards. These are mainly on Quran and Quranic sciences, theology etc. Though, on the basis of published catalogues so far, and after observations of various collections, it seems clear that the majority of them either written in India or brought from the Islamic countries were written between the 16th to 19th centuries.
The manuscripts which were produced under the state patronage were written by skilled calligraphists in various styles. During the Mughul period about 8 styles were widely popular. Besides this, the court painters used to draw suitable illustrations with exquisite borders using gold, silver, blue etc. colours. Such types of surviving manuscripts are extremely important in terms of painting and calligraphy, rather than for 89 its literary or historical value. Each folio of such types of manuscripts maintains its own identity and lasting value. It has been observed that generally, manuscripts of Quran, history of dynasties and works of court poets were produced with great care·. Another striking point is that a good number of autographed or contemporary copies have been preserved, whereas this has not happened in the case of Sanskrit manuscripts. There are specific reasons for this however which have been discussed earlier. And lastly, it is a fact that Muslim rule has produced several historians, whose works are an invariable source for the study of medieval India, for which one has to visit the Islamic manuscript centres.
6.3 Notes on some of the prominent libraries
6.3.1 Khuda Baksh Oriental Public Library, Patna
The library was established by Khuda Bakhsh (1842 1908), the Indian Bodley in 1888, although, the foundation of collecting manuscripts was laid by his literary genius father, Mohammad Bakhsh, in 1828. He collected 1200 manuscripts in his life time, besides which he had received 300 from his ancestors (3). At the end of his life, he expressed a desire to build a public library which his worthy son, the genius Khuda Bakhsh fulfiled with divine inspiration. He collected 90
about 5000 very rare and valuable manuscripts upto 1891.
Presently, it consists of 17,722 Arabic, Persian and
Urdu manuscripts, besides a huge collection of books and ·back files of periodicals. The collection is rich in
Islamic learning, medicine, Persian literature, paintings and medieval Indian history - particularly of
the Mughal period. Due to its rarity and enormous wealth, the library was declared by an Act of Parliament as an Institution of National Importance in 1969. It is also considered as one of the leading libraries of
Islamic resources in the world.
Khuda Bakhsh, by profession, was a lawyer but he was a
much more enthusiastic bibliophile. He collected
manuscripts from all famous centres of Islamic learning in India. Besides, in order to collect manuscripts from
Syria, Arabia, Egypt and _J'ersia, he appointed Muharnmad Maqui who worked continuously for him 18 years. As a
result, he succeeded in building up a very comprehensive
collection.
Here, we find the works of Jami, Hafiz, Sadi, Amir
Khusrau et al, inscribed by well known calligraphers of the day with illuminations and miniature paintings. We also find a number of works formerly belonging .to the
Mughul .emperors, Nawabs of Oudh, Adil Shahi, Kutub Shahi etc. with their autographs and marginal notes on the
manuscripts. The library has prepared a list of 91 extremely r~re and valuable manuscripts, of which 198 are in Persian and 383 in Arabic (4). It is worth mentioning the name of following manuscripts which are some of the finest jewels of the library Shah Namah (16th century'; Ace. no. 1 ; contains five paintings in gold), Tarikh-i-Khandan-i•Taimuriya (16th century; Ace. no. 551; contains 130 paintings), Diwan-i-Hafij (1388 A.D.; Ace. no. 451; contains marginal notes by the emperor Jahangir and Shah Jahan), Quran (written by different skilled hands using refined gold, weight 20 pounds, written on thin silky paper) (5). The present author was fortunate enough to observe some of the valuable manuscripts of the library during his visit in June 1989.
After carefully observing the collection in 1920, O'Connor pays tribute by noting that "one is glad to meet them in their quiet hour to profit by the devotion of those who made them, the love of the Craftsmen, the passion of the Poet, the urbanity of the great Prince, who in the midst of wars and tumults and the clashing of
arms had yet the heart to water his garden of culture,
and help man out upon his difficult road" ( 6).
It seems clear by its multifaceted activities like organising national and international seminars, symposia, lectures, publications of rare manuscripts, catalogues, research journal etc. that in a real 92 sense, it is a living institution. It has published 34 Volumes of the descriptive catalogues of Arabic and persian manuscipts. It is a. pride to note that the library is recognised by the Kashmir, Jamia Milia, Gulbarga and Magadh universities as a research centre for Ph. D./ D.Litt. All this is due to its scholar Director, Abid Raza Bedar's erudiate scholarship and enthusiasm. It seems, he is a living faith of Khuda Bakhsh.
6.3.2 Raza Library, Rampur (Uttar Pradesh)
The library was started by Nawab Faizullah Khan (18th century) of the Rampur state as a royal collection, and his successors also made great efforts to enrich it. Later on, it was named after Nawab Raza Ali Khan (1930 - 1966), the last ruler who took a keen interest in building up the collection and providing the present shape. It contains about 15000 manuscripts ( 6000 Arabic, 6000 Persian, 1500 Urdu and the rest in Sanskrit, Hindi, Panjabi, Tamil, Turkey etc.) and 60,000 printed books. Besides, it also possesses about 300 miniature paintings, and general paintings of various prominent schools like Mughal, Rajaput, Kangra, Irani etc.(7). The collection is considered as rare and invaluable for Islamic studies in India. It contains a rare and very old copy of the Quran dated 661 A.D. which is written on leather (8). The library is very much 93 engaged in publishing rare manuscripts with critical editions. It has also published 6 volumes of the descriptive catalogues of Arabic and persian manuscripts and one volume of the Urdu manuscripts.
6.3.3 Maulana Azad Library, Aligarh Muslim University,
A1igarh
With the establishment of the Anglo Mohammedan Oriental
College (1875), the library was also started with the
collection containing books and manuscripts
presented by its founder Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan.
Subsequently, the college was raised to university
status and given its present name in 1921. Earlier, the
library was named as the Lytton Library. Later on, it
was re-named under the present name in 1960. There are
about 14000 manuscripts, mainly in Arabic, Persian and
Urdu, and some in Hindi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Malayalam etc.
languages. Besides this, it also possesses 680,597
books. The manuscript collection is particularly rich
in Islamic religious studies. It has been formed by
donations, from about 12 private and institutional
collections. Of them, the Subhanallah and Habibaganja
collections possess rare and very old manuscripts. The
library also contains a good number of miniature
paintings and fine specimens of calligraphical art.
written in various styles. 94
6.3.4 Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad
This is a world famous.museum, due to its rarity and variety of invaluable articles. At the same time, it also possesses a very large and valuable library which consists of nearly 10,000 Persian, Arabic and Urdu etc. manuscripts and about 50,000 books. Originally, the collection was built as the private collection which was later bequeathed by Nawab Mir Yusuf Ali Khan Salar Jung
(1889 - 1949), Prime Minister of the Hyderabad State
(India). The collection is especially praiseworthy in view of miniature paintings, calligraphy and illuminations, besides the literary value of the manuscripts and the availability of contemporary copies.
Among the illustrated manuscripts Bhogabal contains five paintings datable to 16th century from Bidar is one of
the pride possessions of the Museum (9). It possess a
good number of manuscripts formerly belonging to the
Adil Shahi and Kutub Shahi dynasties. The collection is
particularly rich in medicine and history. It possesses
about 400 manuscripts of the Quran (10). It also
consists of a large number of Kalpasutra and
Kalkacharyakatha dated 15th and 16th centuries, belongs
to Gujarat School of Painting (11).
6.3.5 Besides the above described manuscript centres,
the following are also known for their richness. 95
(1) Andhra Pradesh Government Oriental Manuscript Library and Research Institute, Hyderabad : 16000 manuscripts. (2) Arabic and Persian Research Institute, Tank : 7000 mss. (3) Asiatic Society, Calcutta : 6000 mss. (4) Darul Uloom, Deoband : 2000 mss. (5) Kutubkhana-i-Saidiya, Hyderabad : 3200 mss.
6.4 Concluding remarks
Persian and Arabic manuscripts are an extremely important source of medieval Indian culture, history and art. This is mainly due to the availability and prosperity of enormous first hand literature which is mainly preserved in several Islamic learning centres. However, to facilitate the study, manuscript cataloguing is essential, which also helps in exposing hidden treasures. But, a small number of manuscripts have been catalogued and that too with lack of uniformity. There is also a need to prepare a union catalogue of Arabic, Persian and Urdu manuscripts on the line of New
Catalogus Catalogorum for Sanskrit manuscripts. 96 REFERENCE 1. IKRAM, S. M. Muslim civilization in India, 1969, 241. 2. MAJUMDAR, R. C. The history and culture of the Indian people, vol. 7. 1974, 620.
3. SARKAR, Jadunath. The Khuda Bakhsh, the Indian Bodley. Ancedotes of Aurangzib and other essays, 1912, 227. 4. O'CONNOR, V. C. An eastern library : an introduction to the Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, Patna, 2nd ed., 1977, 35-92.
5. Ibid. I 40 I 37 I 43 I 28.
6. Ibid. I 31 . 7. DESAI, Ziyaud-Din A. Centres of Islamic learning in India, 1978, 96. 8. USMANI, S. A. & Z. R. KHAN. Oriental libraries in India. In. Vishvanathan festschrift, 1982, 134. 9. NIGAM, M. L. ed. Salar Jung Museum guide book, 1977-78, 13. 10. DESAI, ref. 7, 117. 11. NIGAM, ref.9, 11. CHAPTER 7
OVERSEAS INDIC MANUSCRIPT CENTRES
7.1 Historical background
Since 17th century onwards Christian missionaries and trevellers were attracted to the area of acquiring Indic manuscripts. However, the nucleus collections were formed in the Western institutions only between the 19th and the first quarter of the 20th centuries. Originally, the majority of these manuscripts were collected by eminent European orientalists and civil servants, either. for their personal use, a curiosity or as a hobby. Later on, these collections were acquired by the institutions. In addition to this, they also acquired manuscripts through agents and some other sources. Apart from the Western countries, several other countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Srilanka, Tibet, China, Japan etc. also possess roughly about 100,000 Indic manuscripts. Due to scholarly collecting and selection, overseas collections are considered to be very valuable and rich. It is found that some unique surviving texts have been preserved in these collections. Moreover, these manuscripts were collected in early days when almost all the traditional pandit families were flourishing with plenty of very rare and old manuscripts. In addition to this, these collections are 98 also rich in illustrated and illuminated manuscripts. Some of them represent the finest specimens of calligraphy and paintings of various schools.
According to a survey conducted by Pearson, about 60,000 Indic manuscripts have been preserved in Europe and North America. (1). [Please refer to Appendix 2 and 3]. According to Dr. Raghavan, there are about 20,000 Sanskrit manuscripts for which there is no printed catalogue (2). The rest of the Indic manuscripts have been described in about 250 titles of catalogues. Of them, most have been prepared in a descriptive form with extracts, extensive notes on authors and titles etc. Apart from Sanskrit and allied languages, some thousands of Arabic and Persian manuscripts were also acquired from India.
7.2 Notes on selected countries's Indic manuscript collections
7.2.1 Bangladesh
Bangladesh possesses a very rich collection of manuscripts, particularly in Sanskrit and Bengali. In addition to this there are also manuscipts in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Hindi, Maithili, Assamese etc. languages. Due to a lack of any systematic survey and in absence of printed catalogues (with some exceptions), it is 99 difficult to estimate the total number of manuscripts preserved in the country. The following institutions are well known for manuscript collections.
1. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Dhaka 2. Bengali Academy, Dhaka 3. Dacca University Library, Dhaka 4. Rammala Research Institute, Komilla 5. Varendra Research ·society, Rajasahi
Of them, the Dacca University (1921) contains about 25,000 manuscripts. These are mainly in Sanskrit and Bengali, and some in Arabic, Persian etc. languages (3). In addition to literary manuscripts it also possesses some socio-historical documents related to Greater India. For instance, there are three documents (DU/4609; DU/1488; DU/145) which deal with the sale of slaves during the 15th to 17th centuries (4). The library has published the catalogue of Arabic and Persian manuscripts (2Vols. _1966-68),and a few volumes of the Bengali manuscripts.
7.2.2 France (5)
France contains about 4000 Indic manuscripts. Of them, 3813 are preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. The library started to build up the Indic manuscript collection through Christian missionaries in 1729. The 100 collection is compiled from about 10 different collections. Of them, the Burnouf, Senart, Guerin and Hodgson collections are notable. The bulk of these manuscripts were purchased from Nepal. The collection contains a comparatively good number of manuscripts in Buddhism, vedic, medicine and astronomy. The catalogues of the majority of manuscripts have been published but unfortunately, except for Filliozat's catalogue, the rest are "partial or inadequate or by no means accurately listed and identified". Sadly, Filliozat' s catalogue (2Vols; 1941-70) describes only 452 Sanskrit manuscripts, and since then no more volumes have been published.
7.2.3 Germany
The German scholars took a keen interest in Sanskrit studies and built up a collection of Sanskrit books and manuscripts, particularly during the 19th century. Among the Western scholars' contribution to Sanskrit studies, the Germans' contribution is considered foremost in terms of qualitative and quantitative output of the work. Presently, about 15,000 to 20,000 Indic manuscripts have been preserved in several German libraries. In addition to this, the Turfan collection contains several thousands of fragments of Buddhist Sanskrit manuscripts. These were collected by the Prussian Turfan Expeditions during 1902-1914, and are 101 currently preserved in the Central Institute of Sanskrit Studies, Berlin (G.D.R.) (6).
Among all these collections the Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, and the University libraries of Gottingen, Tubingen, Hamburg and Leipzig are considered to be very rich. The Berlin collection is particularly rich in Vedic and Jain manuscripts. Buhler, Max Muller, Schubring and Garbe's dedicated efforts are recognised as being responsible for building up the collection. Presently, all the oriental manuscripts preserved in Germany's libraries are being re-catalogued under the series ''Verzenchine Orientalischen Handschriften Deutschland". Under the series, Indian manuscripts are described in Band II,
(parts 1 8, 10) and Band X (parts 1-6), so far published up to 1989.
7.2.4 Nepal
The Nepal collection stands next to India in terms of quantity and richness. Apart from Sanskrit manuscripts,
there are also some in Newari, Nepali, Maithili and Tibetan. This collection is particularly rich in Buddhist manuscripts. It is said that after the fall of the Vikramsila and Nalanda monasteries in 12th century, several Buddhist monks fled to Nepal with manuscripts. The collection also contains very rare and valuable 102 manuscripts in tantra, kavya, karmakanda, jyotisa, stotra etc. It is worthwhile to noting that the oldest dated manuscripts of the Ramayana (1079 A.D.) and the Mahabharat (1511 A.D.), (the great epics of India) are preserved in Nepal.
A majority of the manuscripts are preserved in the
National Archives, Kathamandu. Some time before, the Durbar or Bir Library collection was amalgamated with the National Archives. Apart from this, traditional pandit families, monasteries, religious trusts, mathas, academic institutions also possess sizable quantities of manuscripts. One of the most striking points is that the total collection of Nepal is being microfilmed under the
"Nepal German Manuscript Preservation Project". Since the inception of the project in 1970 up to 1989, more than 100,000 manuscripts, including a large number of historical documents have been microfilmed (7). The first descriptive cataogue (2 Vols.) of the then Durbar Library was prepared by Haraparasad Sastri in 1905 -
1915. Later in 1963 [?] onwards some catalogues of the Bir Library and National Archives were also published.
7.2.5 Pakistan
Before the partition of India and Pakistan, Lahore was one of the prominent learning centres of Sanskrit and
Isalmic studies. In Pakistan, the Panjab University, 103
Lahore is the biggest manuscript repository. It consists of about 15,000 manuscripts. Of them, there are 10,000 in Sanskrit, 5000 in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and some are in Panjabi, Hindi etc. languages. Its Sanskrit catalogue (2 Vols; 1932-41) describes about 8100 manuscripts. It should be noted that during the partition several Jain bhandars which were situated in Western Panjab (presently a part of Pakistan) were transferred into India. Currently, these manuscripts are preserved in the B. L. Institute of Indology, New Delhi. Except for the Panjab University, the other institutions contain mainly Arabic, Persian and Urdu manuscripts. Among other collections, the Islamic College, Peshawar, Urdu Development Board, Karachi, Kutubkhana-i-Hamdard, Karachi, Institute of Sindhology, Jamshoru etc. also possess important manuscripts.
7.2.6 United Kingdom
7.2.6.1 Bodleian Library
The Oxford University founded a Sanskrit chair in 1827, and H. H. Wilson was appointed its first professor in 1832. After this, serious efforts were made to build up the Sanskrit collection in the library. Among the pioneering collections, the Wilson collection contains 540 Sanskrit manuscripts related to vedic and classical manuscripts, acquired in 1842. Later on, the Mill (160), 104
Walker (100), Fraser (41) etc. collections were acquired. However, it should be noted that the library had acquired the first Sanskrit manuscript in 1666 (8).
After observing the collection, Max Muller, a renowned
Sanskrit scholar stated in 1856 that "th·e Bodleian collection of Sanskrit manuscripts despite its lack of systematic completeness was the second best in Europe, being surpassed only by that of East India collection"
( 9) •
After 1856 onwards, several important collections were acquired by the library. Of them, Hultzsch (465), Max
Muller, and Chandra Shum Shere (6330) collections are especially noteworthy. The last one was received as a gift from the Prime Minister of Nepal in 1909. Moreover, the library to its credit, also possesses rare fragments of the Bower manuscripts (5th century, 50 fra.), the
Weber manuscripts (5th to 7th century, 33 fra.) and the
Bakshali manuscripts (10th century, 70 fra.). The
Indian Institute also possessed the Monier-Williams and Stein collections which were some time before merged with the Bodleian collection. They are now housed in
the Department of Manuscripts. Presently, the library consists of overall 10,000 Sanskrit, 400 Hindi, 100 each
in Marathi and Tamil, etc. languages manuscripts. The
majority of them have their catalogues except for the Shere collection. Only volume one of the Shere
collection which contains manuscripts on astrology was 105 published in 1984, and volumes of purana, dharmasastra and vyakrana are under preparation.
7.2.6.2 British Library, Oriental Collections, London
As early as 1753, the library possessed Indian manuscripts. The Sloane Collection, one of the foundation collections of the British Museum, includes 6 Sanskrit and 20 Tamil palm-leaf manuscripts (10). However, the nucleus collection was formed during the mid nineteenth to early 20th centuries. Presently, it consists of about 1500 Sanskrit and 1086 modern Indian languages manuscripts (11). It also contains 1100 Pali manuscripts but these were mainly acquired by Nevil from Srilanka. Apart from this, hundreds of Arabic and Persian manuscripts were also acquired from India. The collection is particularly rich in Jain and Buddhist manuscripts. The Jacobi collection and those manuscripts acquired from Ratnavijayasuri of Ahmedabad mainly represent Jain works. Similarly, Bendal and Nevil collections of Sanskrit manuscripts represent Buddhist works.
Mention must b~ made of some of the most valuable manuscripts. Of them, the Yogayagnavalkya (9th century), Saravali (13th century), Saddharmapundarika (12th century), an 18th century illustrated roll of Bhagavatapurana (5 inch x 65 feet), the Ramayana 106 prepared by Mewar School of Painting, and the Akabarnama, the · most prestigious work prepared by the Mughul School of Painting [for specimen of one of its paintings, please refer to plate 3 of this dissertation] are noteworthy, in terms of qualitative production.
Except 87 manuscripts of modern Indian lanuages, the rest have their printed catalogues. But, the Sanskrit catalogue prepared by Bendal (1902) describes only 559 manuscripts. There are 941 more Sanskrit manuscripts yet to be catalogued. However, a handlist containing 763 manucripts has been prepared and is available in the library for consultation. It is worthwhile to note that recently, the British Library Board decided to amalgamate this department with the India Office Library. This step will be immensly helpful in preventing unnecessary duplication and in providing effective services to users.
7.2.6.3 India Office Library and Records, London (12)
The Library was founded by the East India Company in
1801 "to establish a public repository for the safe custody of oriental books and manuscripts placed in its care by its servants in India and by others". From its inception, the library adopted a policy to build up a very comprehensive collection, in order to serve the company, as well as orientalists. Presently, the 107 library consists of about 28000 oriental manuscripts, hundreds of thousands of oriental and official publications, private records etc. Moreover, the library also possesses thousands of fragments collected by Stein from central Asia, and by Hornle from Eastern Turkestan written in Tibetan, Khotanese, Kuchean, Sanskrit etc.
Out of the total oriental manuscripts, about 70% were collected from India. This consists of 8300 sanskrit, 5250 Persian, 3350 Arabic, 1200 modern Indian languages and 400 Pali manuscripts. Among the Arabic and Persian manuscripts, the Delhi Collection contains 3600 manuscripts. A majority of them formerly belonged to the Mughul Imperial Library. Similarly, the Tipoo Sultan (700), the Adil Shahi (438) and Warren Hastings (72) collections contain very valuable literary, religious and artistic manuscripts. The Sanskrit collection is constituted from the Coolbroke (2749), Wilkins (1184) Gaekwar (506), Burnel (846),Buhler (321), Hodgson (161) etc. collections. The catalogues of almost all the manuscripts have been published.
7.2.6.4 Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London
The Institute contains a very rich collection in the history of medicine and allied subjects. In addition to 108
materials in the Western languages it also possesses about 11000 manuscripts and 3000 books in oriental languages. (13). Of them, about 6000 Sanskrit, 400 Hindi, 56 Tamil and some manuscripts are in other Indic languages. In addition to manuscripts on ayuraveda (medicine), it has also a good number of manuscripts in tantra, jyotisa, stotra, Jainisam etc. Overall, the collection represents almost all branches of Sanskrit learning. The Institute has as a prized possession, copies of the Anumitimanasavada, the Avachadakatavada and the Akhyatavadatika which formerly belonged to the Kavindracharya collection (17th century) (14).
The collection was acquired through Dr. Paira Mall during 1911-1921, and subsequently through Dr . . Banarasidas Jain during 1928-1947. It was mainly collected from places like Panjab, Rajasthan, Bengal, Jammu, Banaras etc. The Institute has published only one volume of the catalogue describing 1003 manuscripts
in 1985.
7.2.7 United States of America
According to the Poleman census, 6919 Indic languages, and 354 Tibetan, Sinhalese, Malaya, Balinese etc. manuscripts have been preserved in 69 public and 38 private collections in the U.S.A. (15). All these collections were personally "examined by the compiler". 109
Of them, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Widener Library, Harward University possess about 3000 and 2500 respectively. Apart from this, other notable collections are the Library of Congress, the American Philosophical Society, and the universities of Yale, Columbia, Princeton and Mcgill. Their collections ranging from 100 to 300 manuscripts. The Boston Museum also contains some fine illustrated manuscripts. Later in 1962, in one of his articles, Polemen also hinted at the existence of more than 1500 Indic manuscripts (16). Apart from this, the Pearson survey (1971) also indicates the availability of some more manuscripts in the country. On the basis of both surveys and some other sources one may guess that the U.S.A. has nearly
10,000 Indic manuscripts.
7.3 Concluding remarks
It is observed that the Western collections of Indic manuscripts are comparatively rich, and most of the collections have printed catalogues. But, availability of the catalogues is rare because the majority of them were published in the 19th and the early 20th centuries. Out of the total published catalogues (about 250 titles), nearly 175 are available in India. But this is only in some of the institutions. Out of 175 catalogues, very few institutions have more than 50% of the catalogues. An even more bitter truth is that after 110 consulting the catalogues, many users' would be unable to get a photocopy or microfilm copy of a particular manuscript from overseas collections. On the other side, comparatively few Sanskrit researchers of the Western countries may be using manuscripts. To turn these collections into wide and effective use, instead of maintaining them as so-called glorious monuments, there is a need to have microfilm copies in India, at least. This can be done under the cultural exchange programme of each other countries or through any international agencies like UNESCO, IFLA etc. 111
REFERENCES 1. PEARSON, J. D. Oriental manuscripts in Europe and North America: a survey, 1971, 347-390. 2. RAGHAVAN, V. Manuscripts, catalogues, editions, 1963, 3. 3. RAHMAN, Afifa. Old manuscript collection in the Dacca University Library. LIBRI, 1983, 33(1), 61. 4. IMAMUDDIN, S. M. Some leading muslim libraries of the world, 1983, 157. 5. COLAS, Gerard. South Asian documents in the Oriental Division of the Department of Manuscripts of the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. In: Albertine Gaur ed. South Asian studies, 1986, 284-289. 6. CENTRE OF SANSKRIT STUDIES IN THE G.D.R. Traditions results- tasks :Sanskrit studies in the G.D.R., 1978, 150.
7. WEZLER, Alberchat & REINHOLD Grunendahl eds. A concordance of the Haraprasad Sastri's catalogue of the Durbar Library and the microfilming of the Nepal German Manuscript Preservation Project, 1989, preface. 8. CRASTER, Sir Edmund. History of the Bodleian Library : 1845- 1945, 1952, 110. 9. KATZ, Jonathan B. Resources for South Asian Studies at Oxford. In: Albertine Gaur ed. South Asian studies, 1986, 73. 10. GAUR, Albertine. Oriental printed books and manuscripts, In: Sir Frank francis ed. Treasures of the British Museum, 1971, 250.
11. GOODACRE, H. J. & A. P. PRITCHARD eds. A guide to the Department of Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books, 1977, 36.
12. SCUTTON, S. C. A guide to the India Office library : with a note on the India Office records, 2nd ed. 1966, 31-50. 13. WELLCOME INSTITUTE FOR THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE : A BRIEF DESCRIPTION, 2nd ed. 1988, 13. 14. WUJASTYK, Dominik. The South Asian collections of the Wellcome Institue for the History of Medicine, 2nd ed. 1988, 13. 15. POLEMEN, H. I. A census of Indic manuscripts in the 112
United States and Canada, 1938, ix.
16. PEARSON, ref. 1, 389. CHAPTER 8
WRITING MATERIALS and the ART OF WRITING
8 • 1 Background
Since the Ashokan period (273- 232 B.C.) (1), a variety of writing materials, such as birch-bark, palm-leaf, stone, matel plates, wooden boards, paper, cloth etc. have been extensively used. They are found preserved in hundreds of institutional and private collections in India. Datta also listed some other writing materials, such as musa sapientum, nelumbo nucifera, pandanus odoratissimus, ficus bengalensis, aquilaria agallocha, morus Indica, melia azadirachta, terracotta board, slate, bamboo chips, brick, earthen seal, tortoise shell, dust or sand and chock stick (2), but it seems that either their use was very limited and rare or only for temporary purposes. Moreover, it depended upon availability of writing material in the particular region. For instance, palm-leaves were widely used in South India but birch bark and later on paper was used in North India.
8.2 Writing materials
8.2.1 Birch-bark (Bhurjapatra or Bhojapatra) 114
Historica1 background Q. Curtius, the Greek historian, who came to India with Alexander the Great in 326 B.C., clearly mentioned that the bhurjapatra was used as writing material by Hindus (3). The earliest known fragments of birch-bark manuscript of Dhammapada, a Buddhist text, was written in Kharosthi script, dating form the 2nd or 3rd century and found in Khotan (4). After this, some other fragments of birch-bark manuscripts were also discovered, known either by its founders or place names, such as Godfrey (India Office Library), Bower (Bodleian Library, Oxford), Gilgit (National Archives, New Delhi) and Bakshali (Bodleian Library,) manuscripts. These roughly date from 5th to 7th century. ~alidas (5th century), a very wellknown poet and dramatist of Sanskrit literature also indicated in Kumarasambhava (1.7), its use for writing a love letter. Presently, the majority of Birch-bark manuscripts written during 15th century onwards available in India, are mainly in Kashmir and some in Poona, Orissa etc. (5). During the medieval period, this substance as writing material was unknown in South India (6).
Process and writing method : Birch trees grow in the Himalayas. After a due process, its inner bark can be used as writing material. First of all the inner bark removed from the tree, dried, oiled and polished and then it is cut into suitable sizes. It consists of 115 numbers of thin layers. It is normally of a very light teak-brown in colour on one side, and brownish white on the other side (7). Generally, the birch bark manuscripts are found written with ink pen and, kept under two slightly bigger size wooden boards. Sometimes, holes were also kept in the middle of the manuscripts in order to pass a thread through, which could then be tied up to hold the manuscript together.
In India, the bhurjapatra is considered as sacred writing material and hence, it is also used for writing sacred yantras (tantric), which are kept in amulets and are worn by the Hindus (8).
According to Alberuni (1030 A.D.), an Arabic traveller, 11 in Central and Northern India people use this bark of the Tuz tree, one kind of which is used as a cover for bow. It is called Bhurja. They take a piece one yard long and as broad as outstretched fingers of the hand, or somewhat less, and prepared it in various ways. They oil and polish it so as to make it hard and smooth and then they write on it. The proper order of the single leaves is marked by numbers. The whole is wrapped' up in a piece of cloth and fastened between two tablets of the same size, such a book is called Punthi. There letters and whatever else they have to write, they write on the
11 bark of the Tuz tree ( 9 ) • 116
8.2.2 Palm-leaf (Talapatra, Tadapatra)
Historical background : In ancient India, the palm-leaf was most commonly used as writing material. Palm-trees grow by the sea-shore in South India, Orissa, Bihar etc. According to a Buddhist tradition, the canon was written on palm-leaves at the first council held at Patliputra, immediately after the Buddha's death (10). Kautilya (4th century B.C.), also refers to palm-leaves as writing materials. Since then, several references became available in the Brahmanical, Buddhist and Jain sources which prove its extensive and continuous use. Moreover, the fragments of the earliest known birch-bark manuscripts and the taxila copper plates inscription (1st B.C or 1st century A.D.) were found in the palm-leaf shape, which indicates the palm-leaf's popularity and wide use (11). But normally, in India, only palm-leaf manuscripts written during 11th century onwards are available, except some fragments dated 2nd century onwards. The earliest known palm-leaf manuscript is the Kubjikamatam, a tantrik text of the 7th century A.D. (12). This is preserved in the Asiatic Society, Calcutta. But, two Buddhist manuscripts namely, Prajnaparamitarudayasutra and Usnisavijayadharani, dated 6th century are preserved in the Horiuzi monastery, Japan (13). The majority of the palm-leaf manuscripts are found in South India, Orissa and to a certain extent in Gujarat, Bihar, West Bengal etc. Among them, the 117
Adyar Library, Madras, G.O.M.L., Madras, Saraswti Mahal, Tanjore, Uni.Mss. Library, Trivandrum, Orissa State Museum, Bhubaneshwar etc. possessing a huge number of palm-leaf manuscript.
Process and writing methods : The following types of palm-tree leaves were used for writing.
(1). Borassus flabellier or Palmyra palm ( Tala ) (2). Corypha umbraculifera ( Sritala) (3). Corypha taliera.
Of them tala and sritala were the most widely used.
Before the leaves could be used as writing material, certain preparations were essential. First of all these were dried in the sun, boiled in water, and again dried.
After that, stone or conch shells were rubbed on it to make a smooth surface. After this process palm-leaves were cut into proper sizes. Normally, the length of palm-leaf manuscripts are from 1 to 3 feet and breadth from 1 to 4 inches. So far, the longest known palm-leaf manuscript ( 36 2 ) is preserved in the Jain Bhandar,
Patan (14). Palm-leaf mss. are found written either with ink-pen or inscribed with the stylus. To make bright and attractive incisions, charcoal or lampblack mixed with oil were gently rubbed on to the palm-leaf
and the excess portions were cleaned with cloth. It has also been observed that sometimes, the leaves were
divided into two or three panels depending on the size 118 of the leaf. In the case of illustrated manuscript, equal sizes of margins were kept on both sides or in between the panels, and after writing, the manuscripts were sent to the painter. There was also a practice to make a hole in the middle or on both sides of the leaf through which a string was passed and tied up for preservation. It was then kept between two equal or slightly bigger size wooden boards. Sometimes, these boards were also found painted with great care. And lastly, each manuscript was wrapped with cotton or silk cloth.
It has been discovered that the palm-leaf process methods differ from place to place. Perumal has listed the following methods (15). 1. Leaves were boiled with water or milk. 2. Leaves were boiled with steam, after which, these were kept in wet sand in order to retain their softness. 3. Leaves remained buried in a sand bath for three months to obtain considerable softness. 4. In South India, fresh palm leaves.were dried in the shade and gingli oil was applied to make them smooth.
5. In some places, the tender leaves were hung in the kitchen to obtain smoke deposits for some days. After cleaning the smoke, oil or turmeric paste was applied to make it smooth. 6. In Orissa, the leaves were kept buried with some water over the sand. 119
8.2.3 Paper
It is an established truth that paper was descovered by China in 105 A.D. The invention being traditionally ascribed toTs ai Lun (16). On the contrary, Nearchos, who accompanied Alexander the Great at the time of invasion of India (326 B.C.), states that India used to make writing paper from cotton by pounding (17). According to Ojha, before the fine and cheap paper made in Europe, there were several paper manufacture centres, since ancient times in India and some of them still exist in the country (18). Moreover, some fragments of paper manuscripts have been also found from Kashgar, in the Gupta script of the 5th century A.D. But Dr. Buhler was of the opinion that paper was hardly known or at least little used. in India at this time, as its introduction was only due to the Muhammadan rule (19). It seems that paper was known to ancient India, but its use, production and availability was very limited and rare. Besides, free of cost availability of the palm-leaf and birch-bark may have prevented the growth of paper industry. However, it is known that, only paper manuscripts from 13th century onwards are available in India. So far the oldest paper manuscript is dated 1089 and this is preserved in the Kashmira Bhandar (20). Generally, paper manuscripts are available in North India and are found written with 120 black, gold and silver colour ink. It is also true that after the introduction of paper, book illustration and painting became wide in scope and were much more developed during the Mughal period.
8.2.4 Stone (Abhilekha, Silalekha)
Kings and ministers used to inscribe royal proclamations, grants, religious discourses, treaties etc. on stone slabs, pillars, rocks etc. with the intention of preserving it for a life time. The writings were performed through incising or drilling, though, before an incision was made it was a practice to write with ink on pre-prepared stone or rock to facilitate the inscriber. The inscriptions contain valuable historical and cultural information, such as kings and the dynasty's achievements, victories, major events, wars, eulogy, state boundaries etc., although exagerated, even they have their own value. The earliest known inscriptions are Ashokan's (273- 232 B.C.) 14 rock and 7 pillar inscriptions (21). Since then, thousands of inscriptions are available in India. It is interesting to note that sometimes these inscriptions contain mythological symbols, such as sun, moon, chakra, swastika etc.. which have special meanings. There was also a practice to inscribe literary works on stone slabs or rocks. Some of them do still exist, such as a musical work at Kudumiamalai (22), Harikelinataka of 121
Chauhan king Vigraharaj (12th century) and, his court poet Somadeva's Lalitavigraharajanataka at Ajamer, Unnatasikharapurana at Bijauli, Rajaprasasti at Mewar (23). These are famous examples. Also, several temples have inscribed complete texts of Srimad Bhagavadgita,
Ramacharitamanas or some portions from the Vedas, Upanisadas, Puranas, Ramayana, Mahabharat etc. on marble stones or walls.
8.2.5 Metal plates
Among metal plates, copper, gold, silver, iron, bronze, brass etc. were used to depict the state edicts and grants in ancient India. But, of these, copper plates were widely used. Writing on metal plate required a special type of skill and art. According to Datta " there were two ways of writing on metal sheets - either the sheets were cast into a mould of sand into which letters have been previously engraved or the letters were inscribed on them with the help of chisel and hammer. The rims of the plates were thickened and were made raised in order to protect the w.ritinq' (24).
8.2.5.1 Copper plates (Danasasana, Sasanpatra,
Tamrapata, Tamrapattra, Tamrasasana )
Since the Sohgaura copper plate inscription ( 2nd century B.C.), hundreds of copper plate inscriptions are 122 available in India. The majority of them were issued for land grants or religious donations by the kings, ministers or noble men. All the copper plate inscriptions vary in thickness, size, weight and number of plates. Some of them are found in palm-leaf shape also, consisting of multi-sheets. For instance, Rajendra Chola's (11th century) copper plate inscription contains 21 copper sheets which is preserved at Leiden university (25). More than one plate was kept together with a copper ring.
Literary works were rarely depicted on copper plates. However, Fa-Hsien has recorded that Buddhist monasteries possessed copper grants, the oldest of which was dated during Buddha's time (26). Similarly, Smith, a well known historian, also noted that Kanishka ( 1st century) called a council of theologians to compile commentaries on the canon, which were engraved on sheets of copper, enclosed in a stone coffer, and placed for safety in a stupa erected for the purpose, at the capital of kashmira where the council met (27). Maxmuller has also stated that Sayanacharya's commentaries on vedas were also depicted on copper plates (28). Unfortunately, nothing has been recovered yet. But, according to Dr. Raghavan " the most remarkable literary records on copper plates are represented by the heaps upon heaps of those preserved in the Tirupati temple, carrying the entire volume of the musical compositions of the 123
Tallapakam composers of the Tirupati shrine (A.D. 15th
- 16th centuries}" (29).
8.2.5.2 Gold, Silver, Iron etc. plates (Suvaranapatra,
Rajatapatra, Lohapata}
Gold and silver (being costly metals) were rarely used to depict edicts or literary works. However, few specimens are available, such as an inscription written in Kharosthi script on gold plate found from a stupa at Gangu near Taxila (30). Two Malayalam inscriptions containing the treaties between the Zamorin of Calicut and Dutch East India Company dated 1691 and 1710 were written on gold and silver plates respectively and are preserved in the India Office Library, London (31). Also, the Jain temples contain yantras and mantras (tantric works) written on gold or silver plates (32).
Similarly, an inscription on an iron pillar near Kutub minar, New Delhi dated 5th century is a very well-known example of iron as a writing material in ancient India. Some specimens of writings on brass, bronze, tin etc. metals are also found but not used to depict the literary works.
8.2.6 Bricks ' Writings on clay tablets (baked bricks) were also found from some places. Writing was usually performed on wet 124 clay tablets, dried and baked. Amongst the earliest specimens are a few pieces of written bricks dated 1st century B.C. are preserved in the Mathura museum. Also, 3 whole bricks and some pieces dated 3rd or 4th century, containing the Buddhist sutras were found from Gopalpura ( Uttarapradesh) (33).
8.2.7 Wooden boards (Kasthspata}
The Buddhist texts Vinayapitaka, Lalitavistara, Jatakas etc. indicate the use of wooden boards and bamboo chips as writing materials. Dasakumaracharita (6th century) has also referred to its use. It is reported that the Bodleian Library possessed a manuscript written on wooden boards which comes from Assam (34). Even in present times, school children also practice for good hand writing on small wooden boards. According to Dr. Raghavan the book name codex is derived from this wood material (35).
8.2.8 Leather (Carmaptra)
Leather manuscripts are not available in India. But, Stein found some documents written in Indian characters on leather from Kashgar dated 3rd century which may have been from India. Subandhu (7th century) has also mentioned in the Vasavadatta its use as writing material. Strabo has noted that parchment was used for 125 state documents in ancient India (36). But it seems that from a religious point of view, leather was considered impure in ancient India this may have prevented its use. However, some Islamic manuscripts written on leather are available in India.
8.2.9 Cloth . cotton and silk (Pata, Patika, Karpasikaa)
We came to know .through Nearchos (326 B.C.) that cotton cloth was used as writing material. Yajnavalkya samhita (1.319) also refers to its use. The Jain bhandars at Patan and Jaisalmer contain some of the cloth manuscripts. The Jain bhandars used cloth for writing and drawing chitrapatas (painting), yantrapatas (tantric works) or hymns (37). Before writing on cloth, there was a practice to apply wheat or rice pulp onto it, when this was dried up, conch shells
or stone were rubbed over it to make a smooth surface. Buhler had also found a silk band with the list of the Jain sutras written with ink at the Jain bhandar, Jaisalmer (38). The Jaina bhandar, Patan contains a
cloth manuscript, namely, Dharmavidhi, 13 5 inch l consisting of 93p., dated Vikram Samvat 1418 i.e. 1361 A.D. (39). There was also a practice to keep accounts on cloth sheets (Kaditam) in Karnataka. The Sringeri Math has about 1000 Kaditam which contains valuable accounts of the matha's activities of the last 3 to 4 126 centuries. Its catalogue is under preparation.
8.2.10 Ink ( Masi)
Since the writings on the Buddhist stupa at Andher (2nd century B.C.) (40), we have several pieces of evidence of the use of ink. Normally, the majority of manuscripts are found written with black ink and, some manuscripts, particularly Jain scriptures and some important official documents of the medieval period are found written with gold and silver colour ink. Red, yellow and green colour ink was also used. For writing on birch bark, the ink was made from burnt up shells of almonds and cow's urine. The ink was also prepared from lac, lampsuists of sesamum, oil, lodra, borax and water.
8.2.11 Pen (Isika, Kalam, Lekhani, Varnaka, Varnika)
Normally, pens were made from reed, bamboo or wood and, the stylus was made from iron for inscribing on palm-leaf. During the ancient and medieval periods a variety of pens and stylus were used, of which some of the specimens still exist.
8.3 Conc1uding remarks
To conclude, it seems that birch-bark, palm-leaf and paper were widely used as writing materials. These were 127 easily available to the common people also. The use of stone slabs or metal plates were used by specific groups of the people for specific purposes. On the whole it seems that the materials were used depending upon availability and purposes.
Also, owing to tropical climatic conditions and the majority of materials being perishable, preservation over a long length of time has not been possible. It is interesting to note that the majority of earliest specimens so far known are found from Central Asia, perhaps due to favourable climatic conditions. Similarly, the South Indian palm-leaf mss. collections are known to have been rich and famous since the very beginning, but only manuscripts written during last 400 - 500 years have been preserved. 128 REFERENCES
1. SMITH, V. A. The oxford history of India, 4th ed. 1981, 118
2. DATTA, Bimal Kumar. Libraries and librarianship in ancient and medieval India, 1970, 104-105.
3. BUHLER, G. Indian paleography, 1973, 112.
4. Ibid. I 11 2. 5. OJHA, Gaurishankar. Prachinalipimala, 1959, 144.
6. BURNELL, A. C. Elements of South Indian paleography, 84.
7. AGRAWAL, 0. P. Conservation of manuscripts and paintings of South-east Asia, 1984, 11.
8. OJHA, ref. 5, 144. 9. SACHAU. Alberuni's India, vol.1, 171.
1 0. BUHLER, ref. 3, 11 3.
11. Ibid. I 1 1 3 .
12. ASIATIC SOCIETY (1784 -1984) : bicentenary [leaflet], 1985, 6.
13. OJHA, ref. 5, 143.
14. GANDHI, L. B. comp. A descriptive catalogue of manuscripts in the Jain bhandars at Pattan, vol. 1, 1937, 40
15. PERUMAL, P. Conservation of paper and allied materials, 1989, 48-49.
16. PLUMBE, Wilfred J. Tropical librarianship, 1987, 50.
17. PANDEY, RAJ BALI. Indian paleography, 1952, 70.
18. OJHA, ref. 5, 144.
19. BUHLER, ref. 3, 116.
20. DATTA, ref. 2, 130.
21. SMITH, ref. 1, 123.
22. RAGHAVAN, V. Manuscripts, editions, catalogues, 1963, 10
23. OJHA, ref. 5, 150-151. 129
24. DATTA, ref. 2, 117. 25. OJHA, ref. 5, 153. 26. BUHLER, ref. 3, 115. 27. SMITH, ref. 1, 151.
28. MAXMULLER, F. Rigveda, vol.1, xvii 29. RAGHAVAN, ref. 21, 10. 30. BUHLER, ref. 3, 115. 31. MENON, Chelant Achyut. Catalogue of the Malayalam manuscripts in the India Office Library, 1954, 6-7. 32. KASLIWAL, ref. 11, 14. 33. OJHA, ref. 5, 152. 34. BUHLER, ref. 3, 93. 35. RAGHAVAN, ref. 21 , 9. 36. RAGHAVAN, ref. 21 , 9. 37. KASLIWAL, ref. 11 , 13. 38. BUHLER, ref. 3, 113. 39. PETERSON, Peter. Fifth report of operations in search of Sanskrit manuscripts in the Bombay circle : 7892 - 1895, 1896, 113. 40. BUHLER, ref. 3, 20. CHAPTER 9
MANAGEMENT ISSUES
9.1 Organisationa1 set-up
As discussed in chapter five, roughly about 3.5 million manuscripts are preserved under the control of various organisations, such as academic and research institutions, government organisations, temples, religious trusts and individual collectors etc. There is no consistency in organisational set up, services and aims and objects. However, the majority of them (except private organisations and individual collectors) get financial aid, either from the state or central government, depending on the nature of the work. For instance, the central government provides 75% to 100% grants for the preparation and publication of manuscript catalogues.
All these centres are headed either by an administrative officer or a scholar of the respective field. But, traditional scholars (panditas) or persons having proficiency in the language and knowledge of various scripts are appointed to be in charge of the collections. They are held responsible for preparing a catalogue, to help the readers and to conduct surveys in the surrounding areas for searching and collecting 131 manuscripts. Unfortunately, compared to their qualifications and services, their pay scales and status are not accorded highly. As a result, thises job were not attracted by the talanted young persons. Moreover, there is no further scope for development, nither promotion, nor getting the oppertunity to become head of the institutions. And, irrespective of the number of manuscripts preserved in the institution, responsibilities and essential qualifications, status and pay-scales vary from institution to institution. As a result, retired persons' services are accepted which ultimately results the delay in services. It is worth mentioning that in order to facilitate the cataloguing and preservation of mss., such staff members should have short-term training in the respective fields.
9.2 Techanical issues 9.2.1 Classification
Normally, manuscripts are classified according to language and traditional subjects, such as veda, vedanga, smriti, itihasa purana, darsana, dharma, kavya, vyakrana, arthasastra, kamasastra etc. However, the shelving of manuscripts is not strictly followed by subjects, rather serial number-wise. This is mainly due to the following reasons : (1) Number of codices are composite in nature (2) Closed access system (3) Sometimes, the inability to read and classify 132 manuscripts (4) To help the readers, alphabetical lists or catalogues are provided for readers. But, the manuscript catalogues are prepared and published strictly according to the traditional lines of subjects and followed by various indices, such as author, title, subject, commentator, scribe, donor, place of copying, date of copying etc. To maintain uniformity and consistency, the Ministry of Scientific and Cultural Affairs (now called Ministry of Human Resource Development), Govt. of India, issued a list of subject headings in 1961 (1), which is the foremost to be followed. Simultaneously, it should be noted that Indian subjects like philosophy, religion, literature, history, culture etc. are not represented with adequate depth in any of the modern classification systems. These subjects have become much more developed since the ancient period, hence, it is difficult to classify and put them in proper places maintaining their identification. As a result, not a single institution follows the modern classification systems to classify manuscripts.
9.2.2 Cataloguing 9.2.2.1 Historical background
Since the medieval period, there has been a variety of catalogues / lists of manuscripts. Of them, the oldest known catalogue so far is Brhattipanika dated 1383 A.D., 133 which provides information of about 600 Jain manuscripts with author, title, date and extent. Kavindracharya (17th .century), a versatile scholar of Benaras also had a rich collection of Sanskrit manuscripts. Its' catalogue Kavidracharya sucipatram provides information of 2192 manuscripts. in classified order. The Kerala University Manuscript Library (2) also collected various types of lists of private collections, prepared by individual scholars, during the medieval period, such as
-Dasamangaltta Variyatte granthannalute kanakku (Account of the manuscripts of the Dasamangalttam Variyam).
-Vennanattil Alampalli gramtti Kavikunjarasastrite grahatti ivite illatta granthannalute kanakku ( List of manuscripts which are not available (i.e. in the Kutallur . collection) but which are available in the house of Kavikunjara Sastri of Alampalli village in Vannanatu).
-Appaya Diksitarute granthannal Appa Diksitar prannu kettava (The works of Appaya Diksitar as stated by Appa
Diksitar) and Appaya Diksitarute granthannal Nelleppa Sastri prannu kettava (The works of Appaya Diksitar as stated by Nelleppa Sastri).
-Pelakkattu Varyyara nokki Vazhtiva granthannalute kanakku (List of manuscripts copied from the collection 134 of Pelakkattu Varyyar)
-Pantamparamatte Bhagavatvyakhyannalute kanakku (List of commentaries of the Bhagavat in the Pantamparamattu collection).
All these examples show that individual scholars were already taking an interest in collecting manuscripts and preparing the variety of lists/catalogues according to their need and interest. On the basis of present available lists/catalogues, we can say that during the medieval period there was a practice to prepare author, title, subject etc. catalogues, but with limited information. Dr. Sharma rightly observes that "the interest shown by custodians of manuscript libraries to gether information from different sources and the methods adopted by them using the information to enrich their libraries seem to match modern methodologies viz. scanning catalogues, noting the useful titles, checking their availability in their stacks, collecting the information about books from readers and arranging to procure them for the library from available sources" ( 3 ) .
9.2.2.2 Modern trends
Since 1738 about 725 titles of catalogues of Indic languages manuscripts have been published by Indian and 135 overseas institutions. Of them, several titles run from two to thirtyfive volumes. Moreover, since 1935 about 400 short informative handwritten lists of manuscripts have also been prepared, the majority of which represents private and comparatively small collections.
After careful observation of all these catalogues, the following types of catalogues in terms of forms and
contents could be found :
(1) Manuscript search reports (Provides general account of the availability of manuscripts in the particular area with list of purchased manuscripts)
(2) Simple lists (containing author and title or sometimes only title lists)
(3) Alphabetical catalogues : author or title (containing author, title, commentator, script, date, extent etc., and sometimes only short titles and accession number)
(4) General informative tabular catalogues (classified,
and with short information)
(5) Descriptive catalogues in tabular form (These types of catalogues have been published especially since 1961. They contain serial no., subject, accession or collection no., title, author, commentator, script, 136 language, size and no. of folios or leaves, line per page and number of letters per line, extent, condition, date, additional particulars, and beginning, ending and colophons from only select manuscripts.
(6) Descriptive catalogues in descriptive form (Providing full physical description (as above cited), and also contain beginning, ending, colophons, sometimes post colophons, select portions from the text and notes on the author and work.
(7) General register on basis of the catalogues of manuscripts (Containing short information on author and title with source of availibility. Among them, Catalogus Catalogorum (1891-1903), New Catalogus Catalogorum (1937 ) and Jinaratnakosa (1944) are illustrious.
It shows clearly that there was a lack of standard practice and consistency in describing manuscripts. Besides this, only the literary readers - "text finders" - were kept in mind as its target market. However, these manuscripts are an equally important and useful source for palaeogrphers, painters, calligraphers, art historians, and researchers who may be interested in the substance used as writing materials etc. Several manuscripts are also decorated with illustrations and illuminations using a variety of colours and ink, and 137 most importantly these mss. themselves represent first hand documentary proof of the development of various scripts and the art of calligraphy. Janert states that some have merely been listed in the simplest sense of the word, others have been described in the in.terest of literary history, while yet others have been catalogued according to modern techniques adapted to the specific character of Indian literature (4).
9.2.2.3 Some peculiar problems and suggestions
Critics may say that the Indian manuscript catalogues are inadequate in content and fail to satisfy the need of various types of readers. The catalogue should not be a dry list but it should provide all types of detailed information. But, if we investigate the matter from the cataloguer's view point or just as a researcher, we may find several problems which the cataloguer, may confront, such as
(1) One of the biggest obstacle is that generally, early Sanskrit poets did not provide any type of biographical information about themselves. Sometimes, there is no mention even of their names as the authors. One can say that the Sanskrit poets had a lack of historical sense or nonattachment with worldly matters.
(2)A number of anonymous and synonymous works exist, and 138 real authorship is still to be determined. For instance, the colophon of the Bhagavadgita says (iti srimadbhagavatagita Upanisadah samaptah) here the Bhagavadgita Upanisad ends (5). Here, the question arises even who wrote it and when it was written. Dr. Radhkrishnan states that we do not know the name of author of the Gita. Almost all the books belonging to
the early literature of India are anonymous (6). Similarly (iti Kalidasakruta rtusamhara samaptah) Rtusamhara by Kalidasa ends. There is no answer about whether it was written by the celebrated poet Kalidas or someone else, and when it was composed.
(3) There was also a strong tradition to attribute one's own work to a well known sage or poet. For instance, the Mahabharat (contains 100,000 stanzas), 18 Mahapurana, 18 Upapurana, Bhagavadgita etc., whose authorship is attributed to Vedavyasa.
(4) Severe problems of interpolations.
(5) Sanskrit manuscripts are written in several scripts
and in a number of other regional language areas. So, regional pronounciations, practices etc have been
included.
(6) A number of manuscripts are composite in nature and are also incomplete. Sometimes, due to lack of care, 139 loose sheets get intermixed causing serious problems in deciding proper. corresponding works and pages.
(7) Unlike printed books, manuscripts do not contain title pages. The cataloguer has to find out about its author, title, commentator, date etc. either from colophon, beginning of the text or from some other reliable sources.
(8) Writing methods Normally, numerical matter is written either in Indo-Arabic figures or in words, but it has been observed that sometimes these are also found written in symbolic letters. Some of the Jain manuscripts contain page numbers on the left side in Indo-Arabic figures and on the right side, the same numbers were written in symbolic letter and syllables, such as 1 = sva, 2 = sti, 3 = sri, 100 = su etc.(7). Similarly, the date is sometimes also found in symbolic form. For instance, in an illustrated Silabhdra manuscript preserved at the Boston Museum, the date of the copying was written as candra gaja rasa dhara, meaning candra (moon) stands for 1, gaja (elephant) for 8, rasa (flavour) for 6 and dhara (earth) for 1. According to the usual rule, by rearranging the numbers in the reverse order we get 1681 Vikram Samvat (1624 A.D.) (8). The cataloguer should have an ability to distinguish the text and commentary/(ies). He should also be aware of the different styles of wr~ting, like 140
tripatha, pancapatha etc., and the systems of recognising wrongly inscribed letters, but later on erased with using specific colour or signs.
In order to sort out and settle all these· problems, proficiency in the language, subject, knowledge of various scripts and writing methods, zeal of the cataloguer, a great deal of time and sound financial resources are all required. Though, it should be noted that all the early catalogues are prepared by distinguished scholars. Some of the catalogues were prepared with inadequate information, due either to shortage of time, a short utility point of view or due to financial limitations. But, it should be noted that several catalogues were also prepared with all sorts of extensive information and spontaneous zeal. These have proved to be high standard literary pieces. It is worthwhile to note that catalogues prepared and published by Western scholars and institutions are landmarks in the field of Indic manuscriptology. Coveney suggests that for the "complete purpose" "an improvement in the standard and uniformity of manuscript catalogues is unlikely until literary researchers, historians, librarians, palaeographers, and others agree as to the purposes of making a catalogue at all (9).
Nevertheless, catalogues which have been published since 1961 maintain consistency and uniformity, although there 141 is a need to provide some more information, like
(1) Irrespective of any selection of manuscripts, all of them should be furnished with beginning, ending, colophons, post colophons and some portion of the text from the fixed page number. It has also been noticed that some of the early catalogues contain very long extracts from. texts which have not proved very helpful.
(2) Notes on particularly unknown poets and works.
(3) Notes on illustrations and illuminations (i.e. black and white or coloured, which colour used etc.)
(4) Notes on calligraphy, change of hands or insertions of some folios of some other manuscript, if any.
9.2.2.4 Concluding remarks
Compared to printed book cataloguing and manuscript cataloguing, it seems clear that the later one is a special type of art and requires deep knowledge with spontaneous zeal. Normally, printed books can be made available by providing minimum information, whereas it is difficult to find particular manuscripts on the basis of the simple catalogue. Moreover, manuscripts are preserved and available only in some places and sometimes, a required msnuscript may be found only in a 142 far distant and remote area. The catalogue is the only source which can be helpful in selecting a particular manuscript, provided the catalogue has been prepared with complete information, keeping in mind the various types of users. And lastly, the cataloguer should be remember that the provided data should be adequate enough to distinguish each manuscript of the same work.
9.3 Preservation of manuscripts 9.3.1 Traditional methods
Since the inception of writing on palm-leaf and birch bark, special attention has been paid to protect them, either from environmental factors or its users. From the very beginning, palm-leaf and birch bark manuscripts are kept under two equal sizes or slightly bigger sized wooden boards. Paper manuscripts. are kept under two cardboards. All the palm-leaf manuscripts are pierced with either one hole in the centre or two holes on both sides. Similarly, the wooden boards also are pierced with holes. A cotton or sometimes a silken thread is passed through the manuscript and wooden boards, and tied up with the intention of keeping the leaves together and to protect leaves from being easily removed. After this each manuscript is wrapped with red cloth, which is traditionally believed to be insect repellent. Sometimes, yellow or white cloth is also 143 used. Then the manuscripts are kept in either wooden or steel almirahs or shelves. Sometimes, special wooden boxes ( shaped just like card cabinets ) are also made and each manuscript is placed in the box.
According to Kasliwal at the time of invasion the manuscripts were placed in the underground rooms of the temple. Due to these underground rooms numberless manuscripts had been saved, but in some cases manuscripts once placed were never brought out again. The bhandars of Nagaur, Amer, Ajmer, Bharatpur, Kama, Bayana, Baswa and Dausa •.• could be saved only because they were underground. These were constructed in such a way that from outward when they were closed by placing a stone slab on the door of the room it appeared as if there was no room (10).
The wrapping method was introduced with the intention of protecting manuscripts from dust, dirt, damp and some extent from insects. However, to protect from ·insects, some medicinal herbs like ghodavaja ( acorus calamus ), tobacco leaves, pandri, neem leaves and, snake slough, peacock feathers etc. are kept in the almirahs.
It is worthwhile to quote some of the appeals and advice regarding the preservation of manuscripts., made by the scribes with poetic sense, which we find from the colophones of some of the manuscripts. 144
Sambhusyam sadapatyavata,
parakarat samraksym ea suksetravata I
Samsodhyam vranitagravata,
pratidinam viksyam ea sanmitrava.ta II
Badhyam badhyavadaslatham drradhhagunaih,
srnarya hareranarnavata I
Naivam sidati pustakarn khalu
kadapyatedgurunarn vaeah (11). II
(It is to be decked like one's beloved child; to be guarded from other's hand like one's virtuous wife; to be treated like an injured limb of one's body; to be looked up everyday like a good friend; to be tied up strongly like prisoner with strong threads; and to be always thought of like the Lord's Name; if one does thus, his manuscript does not come to grief).
Lekhani pustakam rama parahaste gata gata I
Kadaeita punarayata tnasta rnasta ea eumbita (12). II
(A Pen, a manuscript (book) or a woman, if fallen in another's hands is gone for ever. And by chance, if it is received back it is broken or is mutilated or kissed (sidueed).
Bhagnapristhikatigriva, vakradristiradhornukharna I
Kastena likhitarn sastrarn, yatnena paripalayeta (13). II 145
(Bending the neck, back and the spinal cord, and fixing the eye on the text with the face bent, the manuscripts are copied with great difficulty. We appeal that these are preserved with great care).
9.3.2 Modern technique
In India, manuscripts written on various materials have been preserved for the last 1000 years. Some of them are found in a deteriorated condition, perhaps due more to tropical climate or to problems caused by insects, by ageing or because they were perishable materials. By experience it has been found that this enormous wealth can survive for a longer time by introducing scientific techniques of manuscript perservation, since the traditional method is not adequate.
9.3.2.1 Storage condition
To preserve manuscripts in a good condition and to protect them from harmful biological factors and environmental gases, it is essential to keep them under a controlled environment. India is a tropical country and its climate is sometimes extremely hot, humid or dry, which is not suitable to preserve archival material for a longer time. Owing to such a climate, manuscripts become brittle and fragile. Besides this, humid climate 146 encourages the growth of fungi and insects. Environmental gases and chemicals used in paper manufacturing are also harmful in the long run. Direct natural and electrical light also cause loss of strength and oxidation of cellulose (14). It should be noted that due to the high temperature in South India, palm-leaf manuscripts written during the last 400 - 500 years have only been preserved, whereas much more older palm-leaf manuscripts have been preserved in the northern part of the country.
To solve the majority of these problems it is advisable to keep the storage temperature in the range of 22-25 C. and relative humidity 45-55 F. per cent (15). The
Library of Congress pointed out that temperature should be maintained as low as 55 F. and relative humidity of 40-50 F. According to the British National Preservation Office, books and documents should be kept 16-18 c. (61-64 F.) and relative humidity 60 per cent, preferably low (16). This is possible only through air conditioning machines. But unfortunately, these are practically impossible to afford, even by some of the leading institutions. Hence, in the absence of such devices it is advisable to have fine ventilation. Lee suggests that good air circulation in the library results in the evaporation of moisture, lowers the surface temperature, and alters two of the environmental factors on which mold growth depends (17). 147
9.3.2.2 Biological factors and control
Biological organisms like mould, fungi, foxing, silver fish, cochroaches, book worms, termites etc. are the most dangerous for manuscripts. Most of them, due to the dark, damp and coolness flourish in the stack area, getting nourishment from the paper and palm-leaf. As a first aid action, it is worthwhile keeping the stack area as clean as possible and, Pyrethrum and D.D.T. (in proportion of 1.1) spraying be done, to help combat these pests. However, it is still essential to use strong insect repellent chemicals, like nephthalene balls, camphor, baygon bait etc. As discussed earlier, some traditional herbs are kept in the almirahs as insect repellents, but it is advisable to use the said chemicals, which are stronger and much more effective. In the case of infestation of such elements, fumigation can be carried out with para-dichloro-benzene, killopetra or thymol vapours.
9.3.2.3 Restoration
Birch bark : Birch bark consists of several thin layers which remain together due to natural knots and a gum. By ageing and environmental effects, its layers start to
seperate from each other and become brittle and fragile. Sometimes, birch bark sheets are found stuck together ------
148
this is due more to ink than from any other reasons (18). Moreover, the presence of natural gum and
moisture is also responsible for sticking. Kathapalia has suggested that stuck sheets can be separated by placing them in a humidification room, by exposing them to steam or by immersion in a bath of hot water ( 70 80 C. ) liquid paraffin, and it can be cleaned using a solvent of acetone or carbon tetrachloride or alchohol & glycerine in proportion of 1.1 (19). In case additional
support is needed, the chiffon or the lamination technique can be applied. It is noticed that birch bark
manuscripts are not found damaged by insects or fungi, this is due to the presence of natural birch oil which
contains methyl salicylate (20).
Palm-leaf Palm-leaf deteriorates due to high
temperature, low humidity, ageing or by insects. Agrawal has noted the following defects on the palm-leaf manuscripts, such as stains, fungal effect, spliting of
the surface, demage by insects, fungal effect, spliting of the surface layer, cleavage of the surface layer,
fading of writing, brittleness and weakening of the
leave (21). Among insects, gastrallus indicus, a book
worm, cockroaches and termites are the worst enemies. To protect the palm-leaf from them chemicals can be used.
We have earlier cited some chemicals as insect
repellents. To eliminate active infestation, fumigation is necessary. It has been observed that fumigation of 149 palm-leaf is best achieved with paradichlorobenzene at 65% relative humidity (22). In the course of time and by handling, the stylus writings become invisible but these can be made visible and bright through a reinking process by applying lampblack or a charcoal on the incision. Palm-leaf manuscript written with ink can also be cleaned with acetone or benzene and then fixed by the application of a 5% solution of cellulose acetate in acetone. (23). Sometimes, palm-leaf manuscripts are found stuck together which can be seperated using the same methods suggested as for birch bark. Brittle and fragile mss. require additional support which can be provided by the lamination process.
Paper : In India, paper manuscripts have been available since 13th century. It is noted that manuscripts written up to 17th century are found in a good condition because of the use of pure cellulose fibre and comparatively less acidity in the paper manufacture. Like other writing materials, paper is also affected with ageing and environmental effects. As a result paper becomes brittle, fragile, yellowish, brown etc. Paper manuscript can be cleaned with distilled water which removes dirt and makes it brighter.It also increases the mechanical strength. In the case of soluble ink writings, Kathapaliya suggests that it should be bathed with a protective solution of cellulose acetate in acetone and allowed to dry before the sheet is immersed 150 in water ... or with 5 per cent solution of soluble nylone ( 24) • Brittle manuscripts should be laminated, which provides physical strength and binding facilities. Barrow states that test data indicates that the laminate has good lasting qualities provided it ·has been deacidified and laminated with stable materials (25).
9.3.3 Concluding remarks
1. India, being a tropical country, it is not possible to preserve very old birch bark, palm-leaf and paper manuscripts for a long time, just by traditional methods which have been scientifically proved to be inadequate.
2. It is observed that due to insufficient trained technical staff and modern equipment such as fumigation chambers, air conditioners, hygrothermographs, dehumidifiers, desiccants, photocoping machines etc. thousands of manuscripts are decaying, even in some leading institutions. On the practical side, it is also not possible to provide the said facilities in all the centres because of the economic limitations, and roughly 3.5 million manuscripts are scattered in hundreds of private and institutional collections all over the country. However, it may be done through entrusting regional-wise responsibilities to some of the leading institutions/ universities or the state archives to provide their expertise and sevices. 151
3. Due to a lack of the proper knowledge of preservation and guidelines, the preservation work is not being carried out adequately.
4. There is a need to cultivate public awareness about the importance of these manuscripts. Even in these present times, several Hindu families who have kept manuscripts for generations are now not willing to keep them because some of them are unable to use them. Also, in cases of sickness or difficulty in the house, these manuscripts are considered to be sacred works which must be disposed of by leaving them in holy river on particular days like solar or lunar eclipses or on festive days (26). Some manuscripts are even being 152
REFERENCES 1. RAGHAVAN, V. Manuscripts, catalogues, editions, 1963, 102-108. 2. SHARMA, K.V. Manuscript repositories of Kerala, Paper presented at the seminar on manuscriptology, organised by the Institute of Asian studies, Madras, 5 April, 1990, 3-6. [unpublished].·
3. Ibid. I 7. 4. JANERT, Klaus Ludwig. An annotated bibliography of the catalogues of Indian manuscripts, Vol. 1, 1965, ix. 5. RADHAKRISHNAN, S. The Bhagavadgita, 2nd ed., 1977, 383.
6. Ibid. I 1 4.
7. GANDHI, L. B. comp. A descriptive catalogue of manuscripts in Jaina Bhandars at Patan, vol. 1 1 19371 40. 8. NAHAR, Prithvi Singh. An illustrated Silabhadra manuscript, Jain Journal, 1976, 9(1), 6-12.
9. COVENEY, Dorothy K. The catalogue of literary manuscripts, The Journal of Documrntation, 1950, 6(3), 126. 10. KASLIWAL, Kastoor Chand. Jaina grantha bhandars of Rajasthan, 1967, 17
11. RAGHAVAN, ref.1, 12.
12. KASLIWAL, ref.10, 17. 13. PANDURANGI, K. T. Wealth of Sanskrit manuscripts in India and aboad, 1978, vi.
14. KATHAPALIA, Yashpal. Conservation and restoration of archive materials, 1973, 67.
15. RANBIR KISHORE. Preservation and repair of palm-leaf manuscripts. Indian Archives, 1961-1962, Jan. - Dec., 74. 16. LEMI, George Lomude. Conservation of library materials with particular reference to Juba University, Unpublished dissertation, L.U.T., 1987, 46. 17. LEE, Mary Wood. Preservation and treatment of mold in library collections with an emphasis on tropical 153
climates : a RAMP study, 1984, 21. 18. MAJUMDAR, P. c. Birch-bark (Bhurjapatra) and claycoated manuscripts in the Gilgit collection their repair and preservation.. Indian Archives, 1957, Jan- Dec., 84. 19. KATHAPALIA, ref.5, 153.
20. MAJUMDAR, ref.9, 84. 21. AGRAWAL, 0. P. Conservation of manuscripts and paintings of South-east Asia, 1984, 36. 22. RANBIR KISHORE, ref.6, 77. 23. KATHAPALIA, ref.5, 154.
24. Ibid., 89. 25. BARROW, W. J. Manuscripts and documents : their deterioration and restoration, 2nd ed., 1972, 65.
26. PANDURANGI, ref.13, 39. CHAPTER 10
EPILOGUE
As discussed in the preceding chapters, India · possesses roughly 3.5 million manuscripts related to her art, culture, history and literature. Normally, these manuscripts originate from the 9th to the 19th century, except for the few manuscripts and fragments which dated since 2nd century A.D. onwards. However, the art of writing was known to India since the development of the Indus valley civilisation which flourished around 2500 B.C., but. nothing concrete survived from that period.
Several Hindu, Buddhist and Jain treatise and hundreds of literary works have been found which were composed during some centuries before the Christian era. All these manuscripts were written in Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, Apabhramsa and modern Indian languages, also in
Arabic and Persian.
From time to time, since 1868 onwards steps were taken to preserve this cultural heritage for posterity and to make it easily accessible to the public. But, looking at the efforts so far in connection with the quantity of work pending it seems clear that efforts are inadequate and sometimes disorganised. To fulfil the above objectives and to provide effective services to users the following steps may be helpful : 155
(1) There is a need to conduct a thorough and intensive survey of manuscripts at national level ~ on the lines of a population census - of manuscripts. This type of survey will be immensely helpful in exposing hidden treasures. However, it requires the dedication of illustrious manuscriptologists like Rajendra Lal Mitra, Haraprasad Sastri, T. Ganapati Sastri, Bhandarkar etc. The Sanskrit Commission recommended the establishment of a "Central Sanskrit Survey" but unfortunately, the government did not pay any attention.
(2) Keeping in mind the literary value, historical importance, and day to day increasing deterioration of manuscripts, it is advisable to declare all these manuscripts as government property. Only after such a drastic enactment, it will be possible to collect and preserve manuscripts properly. Alterantively, all these manuscripts should be microfilmed at an early date and manuscripts/microfilms should be preserved in a centrally located national institution or in some selected regional institutions. It is worth to establish a National Manuscript Library, and to entrust all these responsibilities to it. Even if this were done however, enactment is essential because without the act no one will readily agree to lend his own collection for microfilming. This work can be done through the Department of Culture or can be entrusted to any . ------
156 selected institutions with adequate powers and financial resources. Similarly, Indic manuscripts preserved in an overseas collections should also be microfilmed at an early date.
(3) Sanskrit manuscripts were written in several scripts like Devanagari, Sharada, Bengali, Grantha, Malayalam etc. For a variety of reasons several manuscripts are found in some areas where scripts are not generally known to those areas. As a result, such types of manuscripts are lying unused. Hence, it would be advisable to encourage the transfer of such types of manuscripts to those respective areas where such scripts are known and the manuscripts could therefore be used
(4) Currently, manuscript catalogues published in tabular form are inadequate in content and by purpose. Sometimes, they even fail to fulfil the need of text
finders. The catalogue shoud be prepared on the lines of
the revised catalogue of the Sanskrit College, Culcutta.
In addition to this, the need of other types of users
like paleographers, calligraphers, art historians and
painters should be kept in mind.
(5) Manuscript catalogues are an important source for researchers, but unfortunately it has been found that a
majority of libraries do not pay much attention to
acquiring them. According to Biswas and the present 157 author's survey, about 725 titles of manuscript catalogues have been published. Very few learned institutions / university libraries possess a large collection of the published catalogues approximately 40% being the maximum.
(6) There is also a need to start a new series of catalogus catalogorum of Sanskrit manuscripts because the N. C. C. includes only about 400 catalogues or handwritten lists prepared or published around 1950. After this period, several new catalogues have been published. On the same line, a catalogus catalogorum of each modern Indic language should be prepared. It is worthwhile to note that for Tamil and Bengali manuscripts, the efforts have begun in positive direction.
(7) One of the most striking points is that currently in India, all the institutions are interested. in collecting "ancient manuscripts" but no one is taking any interest in collecting the modern period's manuscripts. Whereas in the western countries much more care is given in collecting them. So there is an urgent need in India to pay proper attention towards this area.
(8) It is essential to equip all the oriental institutes and prominent manuscript libraries at least with photocopying facilities because several institutions 158 lacking these facilities also. As a result, distant users can not be served properly. Without these facilities, these libraries will become ancient monuments rather than libraries.
(9) Due to a lack of modern scientific equipment and upto date knowledge of preservation techniques, the preservation work of manuscripts could not carried out adequately. As a result, thousands of manuscripts are decaying. It will be much more helpful if some basic tools and guidelines are provided. APPENDIX- I
An alphabetical list of some of the leading manuscript centres in India and the number of manuscripts preserved therein
1. Abhaya Jain Granthalaya, Bikaner 60,000
2. Adyar Library and Research Centre, Madras 18,000 4. Andhra Pradesh Government Oriental Manuscript Library and Research Institute, Hyderabad 23,176 5. Anup Sanskrit Library, Bikaner 11,000 6. Arabic and Persian Research Institute, Tonk 7,000 7. Asiatic Society, Bombay 2,068 8. Asiatic Society, Calcutta 41,925 9. B. L. Institute of Indology, New Delhi 10,000 10. Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 20,000 Poena 11. Bharat Itihasa Samsodhaka Mandala, Poena 32,000 12. Bihar Rastrabhasa Parishad, Patna 7,000 13. Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research 12,000 Institute, Poena 14. French Institute of Indology, Pondicherry 12,000
15. Ganganatha Jha Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapitha, 50,000 Allahabad
16. Government Oriental Manuscript Library, 70,000 Madras 17. Jain Bhandars, Ahmedabad 65,000 18. Jain Bhandars, Cambay 25,000 19. Jain Bhandars, Jaipur 25,000 20. Jain Bhandars, Jaisalmer 7,153 21 . Jain Bhandars, Patan 32,484 22. Jain Bhandars, Nagaur 25,000 23. Kameshwar Sirigh Darbhanga Sanskrit 10,000 University, Darbhanga 160
24. Karnataka University, Dharwar 7,000 25. Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, Patna 17,722 26. Kurukshetra University Library, Kurukshetra 7,000 27. L. D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad 65,000 28. Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II Mueum, Jaipur 14,000 29. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Library, Aligarh 12,000 Muslim University, Aligarh 30. Mithila Institute of Post Graduate 9,000 Studies and Research, Darbhanga 31. National Museum, New Delhi 10,000 32. Oriental Institute, Baroda 27,000 33. Oriental Research Institute, University of 65,000 My sore 34. Orissa State Museum, Bhubaneswar 32,808 35. Rajasthan Oriental Research Institute, 101,000 Jodhpur 36. Rajasthani Shodha Samsthana, Chopasani, 17,000 Jodhpur 37. Ranabir Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapitha, Jammu 10,000 38. Raza Library, Rampur 15,000
39. Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad 8,000 40. Sanskrit College, Calcutta 23,000 41. Saraswati Bhavan Library, Sampurnananda 100,300 Sanskrit University, Varanasi 42. Sawai Jai Singh II Museum, Jaipur 14,000 43. Scindia Oriental Research Institute, Ujjain 6,000 44. Sheth B. J. Learning and Research Institute, 9,400 Ahmedabad 45. Sri Venkateshwar University Oriental Research 9,000 Institute, Tirupati 46. Tanjore Maharaja Serfoji's Sarasvati Mahal 44,548 Library, Thanjavur 161
47. University Manuscript Library and Oriental 55,746 Institute, Kerala University, Trivandrum 48. Vaidik Samsodhan Mandala, Poena 14,000 49. Vishveshvaranad Vedic Research Institute, 10,700 Hoshiarpur SO. Vrindaban Research Institute, Vrindaban 25,000 APPENDIX 2
Chart showing the number of lndic manuscripts preserved 1n Western countries ------Name of the language Sanskrit/ Pal1 Assamese Bengali Gujarati Hindi Kannada Kashmiri Malayalam Marathi Oriya Panjabi Rajasthan1 S1ndh1 Tam11 Telugu Urdu Un1dent1f1ed/ Total Prakr1t miscellaneous Name of the country ------Austriya 100 0 0 2 0 0 5 7 147 261
Belgium 4 2 1 2 11
Canada 76 38 2 2 3 2 7 131
Denmark 1198 191 2 3 2 29 97 12 13 1550
Finland 6 6
France 1996 866 13 4 22 12 53 10 6 603 62 35 3683
Germany 10475 91 6 1 8 4 9 145 7 96 1708 12551
Greece 21 21
Ireland 33 11 6 1 2 3 3 .15 7 6 87
Italy 812 8 16 839
Netharlands 137 7 3 15 2 3 5 173
Norway 9 4 3 7 3 26
Poland 62 62
Sweeden 35 50 0 2 33 120 u. K. 27340 1959 26 77 255 756 70 39 177 356 109 97 35 54 520 145 1101 39 33155 U. S. A. • 5753 374 6 18 626 2 53 9 14 37 11 14 6919 •
U. S. S. R. 811 28 0 0 118 0 0 3 0 0 0 960
Vatican city 5 4 0 9 1 79 98 ------Grand Total 48858 3631 26 106 282 1544 76 44 200 510 143 120 36 54 1456 251 1283 2033 60653 ------
Note : (1) This chart has been prepared on the basis of the following source : (except the * marked entry) Pearson, J. D. Oriental manuscripts in Europe and North America : a survey. A G. Zug (Switzerland): Inter Documentation Company, 1971, 347-390. * Poleman, H. I. A census of lndic manuscripts in the United States and Canada. New Haven; American Oriental Society, 1938. (2) o Denotes availability of some manuscripts. In addition to this, Czecoslovakia and Rumania contain same manuscripts. APPfNDIX 3
Chart showing the number of Indic manuscripts preserved in United Kingdom, institutions ------Grand Name of the language Sanskrit/ Pall Assamese Bengali Gujarati Hindi Kannada Kashmir! Malayalam Marathi Oriya Panjabi Rajasthani Sindhi Tamil Telugu Urdu Unidentified/ Prakrit miscellaneous Total Name of the institution ------Birmington Public Lib. 3 3
Bristol City MUseum 0
Cambridge Cambridge University 1240 103 17 0 40 2 8 9 1421
8 Christ's College 0 6 2
Corpus Christ! College 30 30
Emmanuel College
King's College 200 200
Peter House 0
Queen's College 16 16
Trinity College 89 4 1 2 98
Oarligton Darl1gton Museum B B
Durham Univetsity 38 38
Horniman l'llseum 1
Leeds Uni., Sematic Dept. 0 Liverpool University 6 16 2 6 30
London 1 British & Foriegn Bible 0 Society 3799 British library • 1550 1100 15 32 75 130 40 6 40 79 25 30 32 175 45 425
India Office Library 8306 398 3 27 146 160 14 5 67 251 50 56 14 19 34 12 312 9874
Lambeth Palace library
Royal Asitic Society 447 94 29 33 12 3 2 19 33 2 49 724
280 Schoo 1 of 0. and A. s. • 164 35 5 3 5 4 3 7 2 4 17 9 19 7150 Wellcome Institute • 6600 400 2 20 6 25 56 25 15
Manchester Central Public library
Chetham Library 4 4 8
John Rylands library 28 91 3 4 5 14 3 34 183
Oxford All Souls College 1 2
Ba11iol college 2 2
Bodleian Library 8750 34 2 11 o1 o27 7 24 10 6 7 138 43 12 21 9093
Brasenose College
Hertford College 2 2
Shrewsbury Schoo 1 L1 brary 1 Scottland Aberdee Uni. Library 3 5
Marischal College
Edinburgh New College B 9
Edinburgh University 31 11 2 2 7 54
National Library 9 4 16
Glassgow St. Andrew's University 18 1 2 24
Glassgow University 2 2 0 3 7
Hunter1 an Museum o1 1 3
Wales Aberystwyth National Library 2 0 0 4
Belfast Queen's Univesity 56 56 ------Grand Total 27340 1959 26 77 255 756 70 39 177 356 109 97 35 54 520 145 1101 39 33155 ------Note : 1. This chart has been prepared on the basis of the following source : (except* marked entries) Pearson, J. D. Oriental manuscripts in Europe and North America : a Survey. A G Zug (Swtizerland): Inter Documentation Company, 1971, 347-390. * Gunasingam, S. Directory of South Asian library resources in the U.K. and the Republic of Ireland. London: South Asia library Group, 1988. 2. o Denotes availability of some manuscripts.
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