(Audrey) How could I end my reflections on the past ten months with a focus on anything other than what brought me to India this time around: manuscript libraries. I’ve gone to around two dozen different archives across India this year, from Delhi down to Hyderabad, Gujarat over to Calcutta, and a lot in-between. The archives have ranged from religious institutions (such as temples) to government run libraries, some hold tens of thousands of manuscripts and others only a few hundred. The archives are often housed in gorgeous, atmospheric buildings, which has made visiting them a fun experience and a window into a whole other side of India.
Rampur, Uttar Pradesh—
Iranian Culture House, Delhi—
Coba, near Ahmedabad, Gujarat—
Asiatic Society, Mumbai—
Last but not least, the one climate-controlled storage space for manuscripts I saw all year. National Library, Calcutta—
There are millions of manuscripts in India, and I’ve only been to a small sampling of the thousands of archives here. Still most archives that I’ve seen appear to have gotten the memo that their hand-written documents are important, and I’ve generally seen manuscripts well taken care of and nicely stored.
Allahabad, UP—
BORI, Pune, Maharashtra—
Patan, Gujarat—
Different archives have treated me and my requests as a researcher in a variety of ways. Some have refused to show me their manuscripts at all, many have shown me them but allowed no copies, and some even prohibited me from using my laptop to take notes. But then there are the golden few who have allowed me to walk in, see manuscripts, and photograph to my heart’s content. Those last few will get the royal treatment of profuse thanks in my dissertation acknowledgments, as well as my sincere gratitude. They have also most seriously contributed to my ability to do serious research and advance our state of knowledge about early modern India. For the rest of the archives, however, who have not been particularly cooperative with my needs, I do have a few words for thought…
These manuscripts that you value so much you won’t let scholars see them nor take copies will one day turn to dust. India had a robust tradition of copying and recopying manuscripts by hand that lived on well into the 19th century. That practice of hand-writing new copies of texts has now been replaced by photocopying, microfilming, and digital images. When Indian archives deny scholars the ability to participate in this new incarnation of a time-honored tradition, you only insure that the texts will be lost. After all, one reason why India had such a robust practice of recopying manuscripts is because paper and palm leaf don’t last long in hot, monsoon climates. Let the tradition continue before its too late.
Tags: archive, India, library, manuscript, text
