Meeting with Dr. Sanjay Garg, National Archives and Some Useful Digital News

On By eGangotri Digital Preservation TrustIn eGangotri

Very honored Dr. Sanjay Garg, Deputy Director, National Archives carved time out for us from his hectic schedule and allowed us to bring to the kind attention of the Government the seminal importance of there tiny possessions of Manuscripts.

Several heartening takes from our Meeting:

All Archives will be made online in the next 5 years, portal with work in progress can be viewed at http://www.abhilekh-patal.in
The Team is headed by Mr. JK Luthra – whose kind acquaintance we got to make.
The Two Kashmirian Collections 
128 List of Gilgit Manuscripts and Sanskrit Manuscripts*
which comprises of four smaller collections
  1. Arachaelogy and Research Department, Srinagar      212 Items
  2. Gilgit Manuscripts                                  62 Items
  3. List of Arabic and Persian Books                    43 Items
  4. Tibetan Manuscripts of Rajgarh Library              23 Items
260. Descriptive Catalog of Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Collection of Maharaja Hari Singh**
will be digitized on priority following our Petitions we have been assured.
These two collections are possibly already in Microfilms.

Besides these two which are described in the List of Transfer Subject List in the Main Library, two more recently acquired Collections we were apprised of:

300 Over Manuscripts including Sharada from Late Pt. Krishna Dutt Shastri, Former Vaishno Devi Head Priest. Rough Hand List prepared by Late Satkari Upadhyay, IGNCA.
Sharada Manuscripts received from Shri Suresh Abrol, Jammu

These are in another Division of the Archives and that explained why we could find references to these in the Main Wing.

* Another Listing 352 is basically a Typed List of 128(i) and 260
subsequently enhanced by Lokesh Chandra ji in a newer edition containg many fascisimiles.
Listing 128 is currently unavailable as Photocopies but Dr. Garg has given the In-principle approval for there Digital Upload online,so let us expect it soon.
128(ii) Gilgit Manuscripts Collection facsimiles of some are published in multiple full-Color Volumes including Saddharma Pundrika in replica of the Original Text.
Details about these:

https://networks.h-net.org/node/6060/discussions/21215/new-publication-gilgit-manuscripts

Dr. Garg also informed us that the Gilgit Texts are in atleast 4 Places with the largest in Delhi. Another lot in SPS Museum, Srinagar, some in Karachi corroborated in
http://www.historyofinformation.com/expanded.php?id=4678, the fourth I missed.

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