So its been more than a year I have being deferring my Newsletter. So finally I overcome laziness. I am on a minor world-tour. started with budget-friendly Serbia/Montenegro/Albania/Kosovo/North Macedonia to NY to Costa Rica and now Yoga rich Bocas El Toro, Panama with the supreme convenience of only using US Dollars. Lots of Happening Discoveries and Digitizations.
Mumukshu Bhawan, Varanasi
We discovered about a unknow library in Mumukshu Bhawan, Varanasi – courtesy Jagadanand Jha ji, Chief Librarian Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Sansthan of Lucknow. Permission was granted very easily but when we started working at the Library with 3 Almirahs of rare books and many manuscripts – my staff discovered there was another Library – supposed to be only for Monastics and locked for as long as anyone could remember. The Managament was most kind in breaking the locks for us and we discovered 10 Almirahs and 2 boxes of books with some manuscripts. Most books were pre-1950s. The 2500 books that we got to scan in the last 1 year can be seen below:https://archive.org/details/@mumukshu_bhawan?and[]=subject%3A%22eGangotri-35%22
We need another two months to complete the entire Library. Our experience at Mumukshu yet again proves my Thesis – how our Textual heritage is so lavaris(लावारिस)/abandoned mode. In Mumukshu – minus Gita Press and Anand Ashram books – atleast 70% of texts are unique and unknown items which no one can find in any bookstore or even a catalog of a Library. Speaking of our lavaris – abandoned mode – heritage, one of our volunteers shared this pictures of a Library in Ayodhya https://egangotri.wordpress.com/2021/11/21/snaps-of-ram-granthalaya-ayodhya/ and you can see how a amazing resource on Rama Bhakti exists but so ill maintianed and due to non-digitization out-of-bounds to anyone. Other Benares CollectionsOur Work at Jangamwadi has crossed 1000+https://archive.org/details/@jangamwadi
All Paper manuscripts have been digitized. The Palm Leaf Manuscripts are still untouched awaiting repairs. Books are being scanned. 50% of the 8 Almirahs have deen digitized. As usual we digitize the cream first – so most of the important books are already out there
Shri Dhaval Patel’s 7 year efforts have come to fruition and Central Information Commission has passed an Executive Order asking NMM to make all Digitization made available online within a Year.
But before that My Fundraiser – as always strictly for consideration by folks with dispensable income – Given that I need to expand into a Manuscript Repository in Delhi with 2 Staff and increase my head count in Varanasi – my newest Center. Crowdfunding Platform Websites in India
I had Varanasi in my mind for a long time but a Clear Signal from the Universe came when Aditya ji of Bharat Maha Mandal and Hon. V.C. Shri Rajaram Shukla ji of Sampurnananda Sanskrit University both simultaenously expressed a desire to scan there Book Antiquities.
Shukla ji apprised me that due to Spring Cleaning for Covid they discovered a stash of Saraswati Sushma and Pandit Magazines – the latter one of the Oldest Sanskrit Magazines with a First print date of somehwere between 1850-60. Only a few have been uploaded belowhttps://archive.org/details/@sampurnanand_university
Also not uploaded are the Several Princess of Wales Saraswati Bhavan Granthmala Series of Texts as they will all be formally launched in a Webinar soon. Most Bharat Dharma Maha Mandal Publications have been scanned. Viewable below: https://archive.org/details/@bharat_dharma_mahamandal
There were other rewarding collections that we could access. Shri Tarun Dwivedi s/o renowned Agamist and Scholar Shri Vraj Vallabh Dwivediji told us about a recent Donation to a Local Library of several 19th Century Publications and Hand Written Manuscripts. The Librarian Shri Parihar most generously opened his Doors for us: Results of this generosity are now 109 books proud members of the Information Super Highway. https://archive.org/details/@egangotri_books?and[]=subject%3A%22Tarun+Dwivedi+and+K+S+Parihar%22
We have also been able to also get access to 2 Large and Antique Collections in Varanasi. The Famous Jangamwadi Math and Ved Nidhi in Laksa. https://archive.org/details/@jangamwadi
With Czur ET-16 Plus – as I have mentioned before my speed has tripled and in October alone we scanned 1200 Books from 10+ strength Staff. For People interested in our expenses. the monthly expenditure breakdown is as follows:July: 4.4 Lakh INRAug: 2.5 Lakh INRSept: 3.7 Lakh INROct: 2.1 Lakh INR
Pls. donate if you like a piece of the Merit of serving the Goddess of Learning in your Karmic Account.
Digitization work at Jangamwadi Math, starting with there Print Publications and now there Paper Manuscripts started on Aug 2020.
Barring less than a dozen items mostly in Marathi, most of the Print Publications have already been scanned and uploaded.
Entire 1st Amira of Total 3 Paper Manuscript/Old Litho Almiras have been scanned and uploaded.
All credit to make this a smooth experience goes to His Excellency Maha Swami ji – Current Peethadhipati of Jangamwadi Math and Shri S.P. Mukherji Sir – the Current Librarian.
Some stats on the Collection I gleaned from Mukherji Sir:
(1) 700 Paper and Palm Leaf Manuscripts including Old Litho Books in 5 Almiras 3 Almirahs are Paper Manuscripts + Old Litho 2 Almirahs are Palm Leaf Manuscripts
(2) 7 Almirahs of Sanskrit Books
(3) 5 Almirahs of Hindi Books
(4) 1 Almira of Marathi Book
(5) 2 Almirahs of Kannada Language Books[Organized]. 3 Almirahs Unorganized
Writting after ages. mostly lethargy. I do have a lot of news. And a prominent news is my Bill for just June 2020 : 4 Lakh 80 Thousand Rs for just 1 Month.
Reason for High expenses in June 2020 explained.Basically I got a tip from a Scanning Engineer Wasim, that there is a new Scanner in the Market called Czur ET 16 Plus which has a productivity three times my regular 6+ year usage Fujitsu Scan Snap SV 600 Scanner. particularly because there is no post-processing/cropping involved. We experimented and witnessed the tremendous productivity rise. 4000-5000 pages in an 8-Hour Shift and no manual cropping. Click and the image is ready. Higher RAM also made a difference. Therefore, I went on a scanner and laptop revamp-drive – and also inverter purchase for each staff for Work from Home – and got my staff 3 new Czur scanners and also 3 HP Laptops (15.6 inch Screen/8GB RAM/i3-8th Gen Processor/SSD/Sata hybrid Hard Drive) – Higher processor speed/RAM are crucial for high output therefore the Laptop purchases. Similar expenses expected in coming months.
Thanks to Lockdown, Puneet Jyotishi ji was finally available after a pursuit of more than 2 years. We got to digitize lots of Sharada Manuscripts and Panchangs a testimony of the Jyotishi Family’s antiquity:
Books in Urdu on Hinduism I have started a new Account which will host Dharma Books in Urdu. These we all got from Srinagar from various people. Notable are 6 Translations of Upanishads from Lahore https://archive.org/details/@dharma_books_urdu
Two Special Antique Books ( one is 1878, second must be around that time also ) Commissioned by His Highness Maharaja Ranbir Singh. Seems Srinagar had a Printing Press called Antar Yantralaya and they were printing Devanagari Books in those days. Kudos to His Excellency Maharaja Family and Enterpreneurs of Kashmir
I have stumbed upon a digital copy of Lokesh Chandra’s 9 Volume Sanskrit Texts from Kashmir Series prepared by Buddhist Digital Resource Center on archive.org.
What is invaluable is that 8 of the 9 Volumes are fascisimile printing of Original Sharada Manuscripts.
Source of the Manuscripts : Prof. Lokesh Chandra Personal Collection. Acquired from Dinanath Yaksh, Srinagar Dinanath Yaksh Library was eventually torched in the Ethnic Cleansing of Srinagar. So these from his libraries made it out intact. Kudos to the Enterprise of Lokesh Chandra in acquiring them. I also came to know the Dinanath Yaksh had refused to supply a copy of his Catalog of Manuscripts to Lokesh Chandra ji.
Sanskrit Texts from Kashmir Vol 1 Sharada Fascisimile List Included
§ 27 Lokesh Chandra, Sanskrit texts from Kashmir, Śatapiṭaka Series, vol. 5 (Śāradā mss.), and vol. 7 (Devanāgarī mss.); see Rosenfield 2004: 23 sqq. (called L5kb) with revised list of contents for vol.5. Verbatim copy, without correcting L. Chandra’s text, except for the section in Rosenfield 2004: 24 L5kb.p. 5:
<< missing index in L.Ch., continued only on p. 443 >> p.8: Manuscript (pages 443-554) Ṛju-Viṣṇu-sūktaṃ (ṛ vi kā sū 444, iti …444.14, 445.16) Yaju-Viṣṇu-sūktaṃ (ya kā vi sū 450, iti … 451.9, 453.30 Ṛju-brahma-sūktaṃ (ṛ kā bra sū 450, iti …451.9, 455.3) Yaju-brahma-sūktaṃ (ya kā bra sū 454, iti … 454.14) Ṛju-śiva-sūktaṃ (ṛ kā śi sū 456, iti … 456.7, iti Śiva-sūktaṃ 457.16) Yaju-Śiva-sūktam (ya kā śi 458, iti … 459.4, 461.5) Ṛju-yama-sūktaṃ (ṛ kā ya 462, iti 463.4, 17, 466.8, 4698.3) Yaju-yama-sūktaṃ (ya kā ya sū 468, iti … 469.14) Pitṛ-sūktaṃ (atha … 469.15, ṛ pi sū 470, iti … 417.7, 17, 472.15, 474.4, 475.17) Yaju-pitṛ-sūktaṃ (ya pi sū 474)
eGangotri Digital Preservation Trust 