Manuscript Section:
Manuscript Section is the heart of the Institute and is housing 30,211 manuscripts as well as many antique objects. It ranks as one of the first class manuscripts libraries in India. This huge collection is possible due to the large hearted manuscript-donors who voluntarily donated their prized possessions of generations to keep in safe hands and for the scholars to work on them.
The collection carries vivid aspects of Ancient Indian intelligencia starting from Vedas,Upanisads, Dharmasastras, Smrtis, Nyaya, Samkhya, Yoga, Mimamsa,Vedanta, Darsana, Vyakarana, Itihasa,Gita, Purana, Mahatmya, Vrata, Bhakti, Stotra, Sahitya, Kamasastra, Sangita, Jyotisa, Silpa, Ayurveda, Tantra, Bauddha, Jain, Percian etc.
The manuscripts are written in various Indian scripts including Devanagari (mostly), Sarada, Grantha, Telugu, Malyalam, Oriya, Bengali and Persian, Arabic and Urdu also. The material is mostly paper and Palm-leaf. In later period, a good number of Xerox-copies of manuscripts were acquired from renouned manuscript-libraries. There is a good collection of illustrated manuscripts and different kinds of ancient writing materials, some of which are exhibited in the manuscript section. Institute has received hundreds of manuscripts as gift from various Pandits from Baroda and nearby places and the collection is still increasing by these donations of scholars. We digitized copies of Manuscripts in C.D. form, on chargeable basis to the research scholars all over the world.. Ancient and modern preservation techniques are followed to save the Manuscripts from deterioration. Four volumes of Catalogue of Alphabetical List of Manuscripts of the Institute have been published and fifth volume is in progress. All the manuscripts available in the Institute have been duly registered in the accession registers. Scholars can also refer to Manuscripts in the premises. Manuscripts in all the different scripts and also on different materials like Palm-leaf, Birch-bark, Paper etc. are well preserved in the Institute. These Manuscripts cover all the different subjects and Shastras not only in Sanskrit language but also in Prakrit, Gujarati, Marathi, Persian etc. More than 186 works have been published in the world renowned Gaekwad's Oriental Series based upon such ancient, important and rare manuscripts.
Total No. of Manuscripts: 30,211
Paper manuscripts: 27,124
Palm Leaf Mss : 3,016
Birch-bark Mss: 1
Metal: 4
Illustrated Mss: 127
Oldest dated Ms: 1220 A.D.
Catalogues of Mss:1. Alphabetical List of the Mss in the O.I., Vol. I, 1942(1999 reprint), Price: Rs.420.
2. Ibid, Vol.II, 1950(1999 reprint) Rs.500.
3. Ibid, Vol.III, 1998, Rs. 670.
4. Ibid,Vol. IV,2008 ,Rs.515
The collection carries vivid aspects of Ancient Indian intelligencia starting from Vedas,Upanisads, Dharmasastras, Smrtis, Nyaya, Samkhya, Yoga, Mimamsa,Vedanta, Darsana, Vyakarana, Itihasa,Gita, Purana, Mahatmya, Vrata, Bhakti, Stotra, Sahitya, Kamasastra, Sangita, Jyotisa, Silpa, Ayurveda, Tantra, Bauddha, Jain, Percian etc.
The manuscripts are written in various Indian scripts including Devanagari (mostly), Sarada, Grantha, Telugu, Malyalam, Oriya, Bengali and Persian, Arabic and Urdu also. The material is mostly paper and Palm-leaf. In later period, a good number of Xerox-copies of manuscripts were acquired from renouned manuscript-libraries. There is a good collection of illustrated manuscripts and different kinds of ancient writing materials, some of which are exhibited in the manuscript section. Institute has received hundreds of manuscripts as gift from various Pandits from Baroda and nearby places and the collection is still increasing by these donations of scholars. We digitized copies of Manuscripts in C.D. form, on chargeable basis to the research scholars all over the world.. Ancient and modern preservation techniques are followed to save the Manuscripts from deterioration. Four volumes of Catalogue of Alphabetical List of Manuscripts of the Institute have been published and fifth volume is in progress. All the manuscripts available in the Institute have been duly registered in the accession registers. Scholars can also refer to Manuscripts in the premises. Manuscripts in all the different scripts and also on different materials like Palm-leaf, Birch-bark, Paper etc. are well preserved in the Institute. These Manuscripts cover all the different subjects and Shastras not only in Sanskrit language but also in Prakrit, Gujarati, Marathi, Persian etc. More than 186 works have been published in the world renowned Gaekwad's Oriental Series based upon such ancient, important and rare manuscripts.
Total No. of Manuscripts: 30,211
Paper manuscripts: 27,124
Palm Leaf Mss : 3,016
Birch-bark Mss: 1
Metal: 4
Illustrated Mss: 127
Oldest dated Ms: 1220 A.D.
Catalogues of Mss:1. Alphabetical List of the Mss in the O.I., Vol. I, 1942(1999 reprint), Price: Rs.420.
2. Ibid, Vol.II, 1950(1999 reprint) Rs.500.
3. Ibid, Vol.III, 1998, Rs. 670.
4. Ibid,Vol. IV,2008 ,Rs.515
Manuscript Conservation Centre
Since we are a depository of Manuscripts, the National Mission for Manuscripts
(NMM), Delhi is always there to help us. Earlier in 2014 to 2018, it digitized all
our manuscripts in two phases under ‘Digitization of Manuscripts Project’. Now
they have taken a project of ‘Manuscript Preservation & Conservation Project’ in
2019 and initiated a Manuscript Conservation Centre at the Oriental Institute.
One of the primary objectives of the National Mission for Manuscripts is the
conservation of manuscripts. This aim to enhance the longevity of manuscripts can
be achieved by effecting preventive conservation as well as curative treatment on
manuscripts. Like us, numbers of manuscript conservation centres are being
supported by NMM and various Institutions are involved in the task of conserving
manuscripts and taking care of their collections either with this mission or
independently.
The well-trained staff makes sure that all manuscripts in the collection are at first
gone through preventive and curative conservation process then if they are
damaged then restoration process should be applied. Under these steps, all
manuscripts are getting new mount-board cover, new description/accession slips,
new wrapping red cloth, all folios are getting dusting, de-acidification,
brittle/broken one are getting Japanese-tissue -paper lining.
So far 77000 folios are given Preventive treatment and 7000 folios have gone
through Curative treatment.
Manuscript Resource Centre
The National Mission for Manuscripts, Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts,
Delhi has signed MOU with the Oriental Institute in 8th July 2022 and initiated
Manuscript Resource Centre (MRC) at Oriental Institute. The objectives of this
centre includes survey and online cataloguing of manuscripts (through portal of
NMM) available in institutions, private collections and in other places of Gujarat,
conducting awareness campaigns in Gujarat for educating people about the
importance of Manuscripts as valuable source of our history and culture and
eliciting information from people about manuscripts collection of the area.
Since we are a depository of Manuscripts, the National Mission for Manuscripts
(NMM), Delhi is always there to help us. Earlier in 2014 to 2018, it digitized all
our manuscripts in two phases under ‘Digitization of Manuscripts Project’. Now
they have taken a project of ‘Manuscript Preservation & Conservation Project’ in
2019 and initiated a Manuscript Conservation Centre at the Oriental Institute.
One of the primary objectives of the National Mission for Manuscripts is the
conservation of manuscripts. This aim to enhance the longevity of manuscripts can
be achieved by effecting preventive conservation as well as curative treatment on
manuscripts. Like us, numbers of manuscript conservation centres are being
supported by NMM and various Institutions are involved in the task of conserving
manuscripts and taking care of their collections either with this mission or
independently.
The well-trained staff makes sure that all manuscripts in the collection are at first
gone through preventive and curative conservation process then if they are
damaged then restoration process should be applied. Under these steps, all
manuscripts are getting new mount-board cover, new description/accession slips,
new wrapping red cloth, all folios are getting dusting, de-acidification,
brittle/broken one are getting Japanese-tissue -paper lining.
So far 77000 folios are given Preventive treatment and 7000 folios have gone
through Curative treatment.
Manuscript Resource Centre
The National Mission for Manuscripts, Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts,
Delhi has signed MOU with the Oriental Institute in 8th July 2022 and initiated
Manuscript Resource Centre (MRC) at Oriental Institute. The objectives of this
centre includes survey and online cataloguing of manuscripts (through portal of
NMM) available in institutions, private collections and in other places of Gujarat,
conducting awareness campaigns in Gujarat for educating people about the
importance of Manuscripts as valuable source of our history and culture and
eliciting information from people about manuscripts collection of the area.