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Author: eGangotri Digital Preservation Trust
We are eGangotri.
On a Mission to Preserve Rare Books and Manuscripts and make them Open Access, Always Available, Free and immortal.
If you know of any Endangered and Critical Collection of Books and Manuscripts, please write to us at eGangotritrust@gmail.com.
We will be glad to digitize them and render them permanent.
All eGangotri Data is in the Public Domain. No permission/acknowledgment needed from our side to use our Data.
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In Search of Manuscripts in Gwalior
For Guru Purnima, I had my visit to Shivpuri planned out and I used it to spend 1 Day in Gwalior.
Thanks to Radha Vallabh Tripathi ji (Bhopal) and Sadanand Tripathi ji (Ujjain) , they connected me with Bal Krishna Sharma of State Sanskrit College, Gwalior who was instrumental in helping me identify manuscript resources in the City.
Location 1: State Sanskrit College, Gwalior
The Principal Shri R.C. Sharma let me view there personal register of Books and Manuscripts. Sheets only of the Manuscript Collection I was given a Photocopy of with the caveat that some items might refer to printed material. Other Items for Agama also were there but I hesitated in asking so never got them:
The Four sheets of a possibly incomplete catalog:
Later, B.K. Sharma ji gave me access to the more up-to-date List at his Residence that he had made as below:
Location 2: Ayurvedic College, Gwalior
I was not even allowed to view the Catalog, every thing needed a Letter of Permission on a Letter Head.
The one thing I got to learn was that there collection has been digitized by Ayush Ministry.
Location 3: Gujari Mahal, in Gwalior Fort
The Man in the Room, told me that there Collection and Catalog are not public and can be viewed only by people in the Department.
Location 4: Shri Bal Krishna Sharmajis Personal Residence
Shri B K Sharma has many rare books and hand written manuscripts at his Residence Amongst them 6 have been photographed. These he shared with us which we have now uploaded.
https://archive.org/details/BaglaArnavakaPersonalCollectionOfBalKrishnaSharmaGwalior
https://archive.org/details/VrataUdyapanKuamudiPersonalCollectionOfBalKrishnaSharmaGwalior
https://archive.org/details/MadhyaKaumudiPersonalCollectionOfBalKrishnaSharmaGwalior
https://archive.org/details/ShudraKamlakarPersonalCollectionOfBalKrishnaSharmaGwalior
https://archive.org/details/NyayaSiddhantaManjariPersonalCollectionOfBalKrishnaSharmaGwalior
https://archive.org/details/DanaChandrikaPersonalCollectionOfBalKrishnaSharmaGwalior
Catalog of Bhuri Singh Museum, Chamba
I am very grateful to Shri Hari Chauhan, Curator State Museum, Shimla who availed the Digital Copy of the Catalog of Bhuri Singh Museum, Chamba for us in a moments notice.
Let me remind readers that I have spent months pursuing Curators and Librarians who will put you in such a bureacratic loop that months will pass by without any success.
Thank you Shri Hari Chauhan, Indian Bureaucracy needs more people like you.
Here is the Catalog:
https://archive.org/details/CatalogueBhuriSinghMuseumChamba
eGangotri 29: Almira 1 and 2 Completed. Sri Svadhyaya Magazines 95% of All Issues Recovered. Sharada Manuscripts from 2 Scources. Book Antiquities from Dev Prayag. S P Dhar Sahib’s Books and More
This Issue of my Newsletter is dedicated to Prof. Ashok Aklujkar, Vancouver, Canada who was the Highest Donor of my Last Fund Raiser that helped me tremendously. Unfortunate though, I wouldn’t have the honor of meeting him at the World Sanskrit Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia Prof’s City of Residence as planned because not just that the Canadian Visa Process is time consuming, the financial drain I am not currently in the position to handle.
My Fourth Fundraiser I am giving up on ketto as the refund is not only time consuming, there are so many hidden fees in the process I end up loosing substantial money to bureaucracy.
So I will keep it simple with the more economical Paypal Donation Link:
Please consider a donation if you have dispensable income and a Love of Books and there permanent storage and availability.
Manuscripts at Both Almira 1 and 2 (Jammu) Completed
My original almira counts has been descending but after Almira 20, I decided to switch to Almira 1 and 2 directly owing to more interesting subjects like Grammar and Literature.
Total 510 Items were digitized.
Almira 1 and Shelf-1 of Almira 2 represented Sankrit Vyakarana(Grammar) wholly.
Almira 2 consists of Literature, Drama, Poetry, Rhetorics/Figures( Alankar Shastra ) and Lexicography
All 510 Items are viewable below:
Manuscripts Digitized for British Library:
Bulkier Manuscripts that cannot be scanned by our Regular Scanner, we use our DSLR Camera that is provided by a generous grant from the Endangered Archives, British Library.
These Large Size A-3+ Tomes can be viewed below:
Rare Collection of Books from Dev Prayag, Uttarakhand
Thanks once again to Vinod Razdan Sahib, he brought to our attention a very Old Library in Devprayag, Uttarakahand with over 3000 Manuscripts and countless Books ( > 25K Items ) that was curated over a lifetime by its founder Late Shri Chakradhar Joshi a man devoted to Astrology and Astronomical Studies and is better known for the Nakshatra Vedh Shala Astronomical Observatory in Dev prayag.
He had travelled the length and breath of India to collect Jyotish related materials and the Collection is witness to his passion and energy.
The 2 Surviving Sons Shri Prabhakar Joshi and Shri Bhaskar Joshi have most kindly allowed us to scan any Printed Book we like – we have petitioned to allow us to scan there manuscripts but at this stage the Joshi Brothers are not willing which we respect completely.
92 Items digitized so far are viewable here:
Catalogs of the Library’s Manuscript Collection can be viewed below:
Hand Written Register of there Books Collection can be see below:
This 1815 yes 1815 !!! Book published from Fort Willaims College Sishupal Vadha is now on record our Oldest Printed Book that have digitized. The last record that we held was the Keilhorn Edition of Mahabhashya of 1856.
This other Text Nalodaya from Fort William College is possibly similarly Old except that no year is mentioned:
https://archive.org/details/NalodayaInFourVolumesWithSubodhiniByKalidasFortWilliamCollege
The Life of the Founder and his Immense Contribution can be read about in the following Smirit Granth:
24 Texts out of 92 are 19th Century !!!
I encourage readers to go through the book list and send us wish-lists so that important works are identified and digitized early.
This is a Manuscript:
A Rare Devanagari Manuscript in the Hand Writing of Swami Vidyadhar – Disciple Swami Rama(Fatehkadal) from Jammu. Courtest Shri P.R. Raina:
Thanks to eGangotri Trust Member and Chandigarh Coordinator, Shri Vinod Razdan Sahib, who told us about Jammu Based Writer Shri P.R. Raina who was given temporary custody of 3 very important and supremely rare documents, we have been able to digitize these and present them to the Lovers of Learning:
This first is in Sw. Vidyadhar’s Handwriting has a Stuti of Shaivaharya Swami Ram, a Gauri Stuti/Dashak and a Maha Kalika Stuti:
This Second is a Printed Publication of the above and other Rare Stotras possibly only in circulation in Kashmir:
Also notable is the Name and address of the Publishing Institution – surely defunct by now:
Shiava Ashram, Kalyan Kendra Karan Nagar Srinagar
This last is a Sharada Manuscript with Bhavani Sahasranama and some other Texts:
Shri Svadhyaya Magazines of Swami Amrit Vagbhavacharya :
Readers of our Past editions will be familiar with our pursuit of Swami Amrit Vagbhav’s Works – the Channelist and Mystic and Guru of Ballajin Nath Pandit and grand-Guru by that route of my good friend Victoria the Russian Indologist.
We think we have almost everything of Swamiji – except the Tri-Quarterly that Swamiji was publishing from Solan under the patronage of the Maharaja of Baghat, HP – the Sri Svadhayaya. The first Issue was published in 1942 ( 1998 V.E). I came to know of there existence through the writings of B.N. Panditji and they had been elusive all these years
Thanks profusely to the large heartedness of his Disciple Dharmendra Mishra-ji, Bharatpur who preserved most of the Issues over its 16 years of publication, and then just handed us without any monetary expectation or otherwise.
This is the First Edition of Sri Svadhyaya:
All Other Issues can be seen below:
Initially I had wrongly imagined, Sri Svadhyaya to be a exclusive Kashmir Shaivite Magazine and I also wanted to give it recognition as the predecessor of the “Kashmir Shaiva Research Papers” in being the first magazine devoted to this Subject but Sri Svadhyaya is first a Jyotish Magazine and Swamiji is actually mentioned only as the Founder and Shri Har Dev Trivediji ( Jyotish Expert ) is the editor – whose son and family I had the good fortune to meet personally at there residence in Solan earlier this year. But many good articles on Kashmir Shaivism and writings of both Swamiji and Ballajin Nath Pandit can be found here. After Swamiji abandoned Sri Svadhyaya, Trivedijis family continued with another magazine called Jyotishmati which is still in publication.
Thanks to Dharmendra Mishraji once again, his cousin Phanindra Mishraji who first called me to say that 2-3 volumes of that magazine had surfaced on cleaning.
I had only gone to Bharatpur to pick these 2-3 Volumes when we thought despite our last unsuccessful trip to Dharmendraji and denials, it would be harmless to just give a blind shot with miraculous results.
An Unpublished Hindi Tika on Ishvar Pratyabhijna by Swami Lakshman Joo and a Hand Written Register of his Disciple Rameshwar Jha, Sharada Text of Ishvar Pratyabhijna Vivritti and Other Books – courtesy the Collection of Late Samvit Prakash Dhar Sahib and Ishwar Ashram Trust
I pay homage to Late Samvit Prakash Dhar Sahib who was the only Living Disciple of High Mystical Attainments of Swami Lakshman Joo that I had the fortune to meet – thanks to Larry Small of Bangkok who did the first introductions.
Dhar Sahib showered me with love and affection and introduced me to Swami Lakkshman of the Udasin Sect in Rishikesh. It was Dhar Sahib who encouraged me to go to Srinagar for the First Time to Swamijis Ashram. After his passing away his family donated there books to Ishwar Ashram Trust, New Delhi and we digitized them some of them very important works.
All of Late Samvit Dhar Sahib’s Books are viewable below:
This is a Photocopy of Swamiji’s Hindi Tika on Ishvar Pratyabhijna:
Guruji Navjivan Rastogi verified that he has not known any such text.
This is the Ishvar Pratyabhijna Vivritti in Sharada in impressive hand-writing
100 Over Texts at Ishwar Ashram that we had missed before were also digitized:
Some important ones were:
Few Pages of Sharada Scribblings:
A Photocopy of a Register of Acharya Rameshwar Jha’s Sanskrit Writings !
Bhagvata Gita in Urdu by Pitambar Nath Tikku:
Many Texts of KSTS etc have been scanned only because they had profuse hand written notes in Urdu, English and Hindi and we wanted to preserve the notes as some kind of a reading that could be of potential worth.
Profuse thanks to the Munshi Brothers ( Dr. Anusheel and Devender ) that made this possible.
Dont want to fail to note that many texts have hand-written notes of Swamiji and this one dedicated to Dhar Sahib is very cute as it is a Yamaka on Dhar Sahib’s Given Name Samvit :
श्री कलिका भगवत्याः प्रसादेन संवित्प्रकाशस्य संवित्समुल्लसतु तराम्
इति प्रार्थना ईश्वरपर्वत निवासिनो राजानक लक्ष्मणस्य राज राजेश्वरी स्वीकरोतु
My Next Digitization will be of Documents in the Hand Writtings of Swami Lakshman Joo. May Guru Maharaj make this Possible.
8 Sharada Manuscripts of Shri Puneet
Thanks to Shri Sunil Raina ji for his most kind efforts of reaching out to Puneet Jyotishiji in Jammu. We have 8 Sharada manuscripts from the first lot that we have very kindly received. Puneet Jyotishi is the surviving son of Manmojan Jyotishi one of two families that are the originators of the Vijayeshwar Panchang Almanac
Books from Kashmir Research Institute
176 Texts from Kashmir Research Institutue have been digitized.
Noteworthy are:
Musicological Text Unidentifiable Title or Author Name
Haft Paijkar of Nizami
https://archive.org/details/KRI552HaftPaikarNizamiMissingPg28297071202203410MunshiNavalKishorePress
Persian Ramayan
https://archive.org/details/KRI567FarsiRamayan1921UrduPg1812728.106107MissingMunshiMuhammadPress
Bostan in Udu
https://archive.org/details/KRI565BostanUrdu
Ramayan Nazam Khoshtar
https://archive.org/details/KRI626RamayanNazamKhoshtarHarafBaharMatalikTulsiKritNavalKishorePress
1872 KailashMarg
Urdu Grammar
eGangotri-28. Almira 20 Over. Tours in Punjab. Manuscripts from Kurukshetra Uni. 3 Manuscripts Acquired. Catalog of National Archives
Hi Everyone:
I wish everyone a Very happy and fulfilling New Year filled with abundance and interesting experiences.
Fundraiser-3
My Third Fund Raiser is below:
Donors who wish to donate using Paypal can use the following Link ( preferable choice ):
Last time’s donations were critical help in saving my Srinagar Center – as load shedding had become so bad that ppl didnt have electricity for more than 2 hours a day.
Almira-20 is Over
289 New Manuscripts in Almira-20 are all digitized now:
Themes of this Almira were the same boring Dharma Shastra and Karma Kanda. Some Agamic Titles were also were there.
In order to get to doing more exciting work, we have decided to skipped Almira 19 ( we have been following descending numeric order ) and move straight to Almira-1 which is all Vyakrana(Grammer) and our next Issue you will get to see a whole Almira of Sanskrit Grammar Texts.
Some noteworthy items were:
Yoga Sutra Vyakhya
Hath Pradeepika
Hath Pradeepika Hindi Tika
3 Manuscripts We have Acquired:
Thanks to Sunila Raina Rajanak ji, he got us in touch with a Srinagar Antique Dealer who had three Manuscripts 2 in Persian and One In Sharada that he has donated to us for a small fee. They are as below:
Multiple Persian Texts on Hindu Themes most likely by a Kashmiri Pandit with the First One being OmNameh ( Literally Book of Aum )
Few Pages had Sharada and its Persian Translation as well. Decoding of all text Names awaited
The famous Gulistaan( The Garden ) of Saadi
Durga Mahatmya Set of Texts in Sharada
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Dogra Art Museum Sharada Manuscripts:
55 Sharada Manuscripts we had digitized quite a while ago we have now finally moved it to archives.org
Vieawable at:
The Entire Catalog is here:
Some noteworthy items were:
Kalpa Vriksha an unpublished Text of Sahib Kaul:
A Vernacular Kashmirian Commentary on Amara Kosha:
A Lal Vakh Text:
According to Scholar C. Tompkins – there are less than a dozen Lal Manuscripts in the World so this one is a welcome addition to Public Memory.
Thanks once again to Kashmir’s brightest Archaeologst and Archivist Mind Mohd Shafi Zahid Sahib, and Peerzadeh Sahib for there warm welcome in the partial scanning work they allowed us to conduct. More scanning soon.
Aziz Hajini Collection
Two Time Sahitya Academy Award Winner, Shri Aziz Hajini Sahib who I had the great fortune to meet in India International Center last month has most kindly agreed to let us digitize his Oeuvre consisting of 15 Texts.
3 that we have got hold of are viewable below:
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Manuscripts Tour in Punjab/HP:
I made some searches of manuscripts in Punjab and in HP for Swami Amrit Vagbhav’s books, tours and findings are readable below:
Solan, HP
VVRI Hoshiarpur
Punjab University, Chandigarh
DAV College, Chandigarh
Manuscripts from Kurukshetra Uni.
Thanks to Shri Shankarji Jha ( Punjab Uni) and Prof. Surinder Mishraji (Kurukshetra Uni) and Davinder Singhji(Panjab Digital Library), we were able to acquire 274 digital scans of Manuscripts from Kurukshetra University – done a decade or so ago by PDL.
29 odd mauscripts in Arabic/Persian are still not uploaded as I am looking for a Volunteer for Naming – Volunteers Sought.
Scriptwise Arrangement:
Sharada ( 90 Manuscripts )
Devanagari ( 99 Manuscripts )
Gurumukhi ( 56 Scans )
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Kashmir Research Institute, Srinagar
249 eBooks digitized from the Archives of Kashmir Research Institute
This small booklet on Kashmiran Rituals:
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and a Persian Mahabharat were
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some interesting items
RTI Space:
Our Trust Member Shri Narinder Sharma has filed several RTIs to different Govt Bodies for extracting out crucial Data regarding Manuscripts.
Following is the first one from IGNCA for which we have got a response.
Other 7-8 Organizations we haven’t heard from yet.
Catalog of Sanskrit Manuscripts in National Archives, New Delhi
I was able to utilize some spare time this month in cataloging uncatalogued Skt Manusctipts in Oriental Records Room, National Archives. This catalog that I have prepared can be seen below:
Thanks once again to Faizan Sahib, Mohd. Asgar Sahib and Muzaffar-e-Islam Sahib, the Custodians of Oriental Record Room who helped me in this.
Orange Peels Wisdom
An Article I wrote recently on my take of what Govt Policies should be for Manuscripts and the benefits they will accrue:
Cataloging of Sanskrit Manuscripts in National Archive Delhi
National Archives has many acquisitions of Sanskrit Manuscripts that have never been cataloged.
After I got a hint of these from my Last Meeting with Dr. Sanjay Garg, I approached the Oriental Record Department. I met Dr. Faizan Ahmed, a Jamia History Graduate, Persian-Arabic Expert and the Archival Head who very generously accepted my proposal to allow me to create a Catalog of there Sanskrit Manuscripts.
So what I understand is that they have had Five Sanskrit Acquisitions from 5 Individuals – strangely all from Jammu and Srinagar.
These are:
(1) Krishna Datt Jyotishi Shastri Collection, Jammu (150 Manuscripts, No Sharada Manuscripts, 18 Dogra Takri Accounting Documents)
(2) Suresh Obrol Collection, Jammu ( 20 Oriya Script Manuscripts )
(3) Inder Singh, Jammu ( 55 Manuscripts, 3 are in Sharada )
(4) Hakim Gilani, Srinagar ( 7 Manuscripts, 3 are in Gurumukhi, 4 are in Sharada )
(5) K.D. Anand, Jammu ( 80 Manuscripts, 19 are in Sharada)
The Excel of these is viewable here:
I thank Dr Faizan Ahmed, Shri Asghar Mohammad and Shri Muzzafar-e-Islam for there support.
RTI Space.
Herein, we will put RTI Responses recieved in answer to Dr. Narinder Sharma’s RTI Queries.
Meeting with Dr. Sanjay Garg, National Archives and Some Useful Digital News
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 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*
128 List of Gilgit Manuscripts and Sanskrit Manuscripts*
which comprises of four smaller collections
- Arachaelogy and Research Department, Srinagar 212 Items
- Gilgit Manuscripts 62 Items
- List of Arabic and Persian Books 43 Items
- 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.
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
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
** A separate Listing under 353 is 260 ditto. Catalog is
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:
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.
http://www.historyofinformation.com/expanded.php?id=4678, the fourth I missed.
eGangotri Digital Preservation Trust 