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Libraries & Librarianship of Ancient and Medieval India

Bimal Kumar Datta

Datta, Bimal Kumar;

Libraries & Librarianship of Ancient and Medieval India

Atma Ram, 1970, 247 pages

topics: |  history | india | |


Though not very well-written, and factually based on sources that may be
peripheral, still the material is little known and quite interesting. 

Excerpts

it is common knowledge that in ancient and medieval
india, indeed right upto the end of the eighteenth century,
libraries were considered as important centres of learning and
a most significant medium of education and wisdom. emperors,
kings and nobles therefore reared up and qjaintained libraries
of their own and so did the various religious and monastic
organisations.

in ancient and medieval india the foijowing terms were
generally used to denote a collection of granthas or pustakas
(manuscripts generally, and since the introduction of printing,
also books).

nibandha-pustaka-sthana [ artha5astra. ed. shamasastry, p. 62]

the arthashAstra mentions among others a public institution named akSapatala
which included the officers of accounts (gAnaniky-adhikAra) and in which an
officer (adhyakSha) held the charge of a depository of chief books
(nibandha pustaka-sthana).


dharma-ga~nja		[history of indian logic, vidya bhasan, p. 516.]

the terms "dharma-ga~nja" means a "mart of religion"
and it was used to denote the library-quarter of nAlandA
university. "dharma-ga~nja" consisted of three splendid buildings 
by the names of ratna-sAgara, ratna-dadhi and ratoa-ra~njaka.


grantha-kuthi		[trikanda : (visva-kosa, p. 603)]
j~nana bhAndar  	[jain chitra kalpadrum : sarabhi nawab]
pustaka bhAndar 	[annual report of the south indian 
					epigraphy, 1936-37, pp. 81-82]
saraswati bhAndar	[annual report of the south indian epigraphy, 
	  			1938-39 no. 139 and hyderabad archaeological
				series no. 8. 
bhArati bhAndagAras	[indian paleography, buhler, p. 93.]
saraswati mahal		[a descriptive catalogue of the sanskrit mss. in 
	  			the tanjore maharaja serfoji's saraswati 
				mahal library. tanjore, p.p.s, sastry, vol. i.]

"grantha-kuThi'" literally means "the book house". the sanskrit root
"grantha'" means to keep things together binding throuah a chord. in india
the term was used for manuscripts as the leaves of the manuscripts were
usually kept tied by stringing them with a chord.

in south and western india jnaina, pustaka and saraswati bhANDAar or mahal
were used to denote a library. "j~nAna" means "knowledge" and "saraswati"
means "the goddess of learning" and when these terms are combined with
"bhAndAr" or "mahal" i.e. "storehouse", they stand as the store-house of
knowledge or the abode of the goddess of learning. the other term "pustaka is
derived from avestan. it is derived from "post" which stands for things piled
up one upon another and sewn and bound together. in india "pustaka" means
"book" and "pustaka- bhAndAr" or "pustaka sthana" means "store-house of
books". the other name used for library is bhArati-bhAndagAras, which means
treasury (bhAndagAras) of the goddess of speech (bhArati).

kitAb khAnA		[administration of the sultanate of delhi, i.h. qureshi.]
punthi khAnA		[j.o r. vol. xxva, p. 143.]

during the time of the delhi sultanate and the imperial mugbals central
administration was organised into several departments and each department was
known as kArkhAnA (workshop). among the various departments "kitAb·khanA" was
one. kitAb·khanA literally means the department (khAnA) of books (kitAb).
hindu rulers of the late medieval period did not like the arabic word 'kitAb'
and in its place used "punthi"• i.e. manuscripts. punthi-khAnA therefore
means the department of manuscripts.

vidyAsAlA		[studies in indian literaty history, vol. ii, p. 122-36]

The AkSabbairava Kalpa manuscript which depicts an account of the Vijayanagar
dynasty is housed in the Saraswati Mahal manuscript library of Tanjore and
may be dated in the fifteenth century.

in paTala 32 of the said manuscript, we find detailed description regarding
construction of the inner apartments of the royal palace. one of these
apartments was known as vidyAsAlA or manuscript-room which generally housed
the royal collection of manuscripts and books.

gata ghar		[chiThipatre samAj cbitra, visva-bhirati, vol. 2, p. 483]

during eighteenth and nineteenth centuries libraries of bengal were known as
gAtA ghar.  the term "gAtA" comes from "grantha" and "ghar" from "grha" or
room.

Fa-Hien: 5th c.


stupas would be erected at monasteries in
honour of teachers as well as of important texts. the teachers
and students of these subjects - the abhidharma, the vinaya and
the sutras used to make offerings to these stupas.

however, the oral tradition was still in force in
many parts of northern india and when fa-hsien visited those
places, he failed to obtain written records of the disciplines. 

from benaras the pilgrim came to pAtaliputra. at the
pAtaliputra monastery he stayed for three years "learning to
write and speak sanskrit (or pali) and copying out the disciplines."
The Vinaya text found here was the most comprehensive
and complete. He also obtained at the library of the
Pataliputra monastery extracts from the Abhidharma (the
philosophical portion of the Canon) in about 6000 stanzas, a
complete copy of the Yen(?) sutra in 2500 stanzas as weJJ as a
roll ofthe Vaipulya Parinirvana in 5000 stanzas.

On his way back he stayed at Tamluk, the famous sea-port
at the mouth of the Hooghly for a period of two years. He
found there 24 monasteries with resident priests and spent his
time copying out sutras and drawing pictures of images.

[source: The Travels of Fa-Hsien, Giles]

Hiuen Tsang 629-645 AD


while describing the written language and official records of the hindus he
proceeds to tell- "their system of writing was· invented, as is known, by the
deva brahma who at the beginning instituted as patterns forty seven (written)
words. these were combined and applied as objects arose and circumstances
occurred; ramifying like streams they spread far and wide becoming modified a
little by place and people."

[appears to have already developed regional differences by 7th c.?]

"as to their archives and records there are separate custodians of these. the
official annals and state papers are called collectively "ni-lo-pi-tu" (or
"ch'n"); in these good and bad are recorded and instances of public calamity
and good fortune are set forth in detail."

further, we get a glimpse from his account of the then brahminical education
system and a very important fact regarding writing of the vedas in manuscript
form by the ruddhists who were converted brahmins.

the chinese pilgrim in course of his journey reached gandhara and there he
found nearly 1000 buddhist monasteries in bad state of preservation. the
great vihara of puruSapura or peswar built by kaniSka was a famous seat of
learning. "from the time it was built it had yielded occasionally
extraordinary men and the arhats and sAstra makers by their pure conduct and
perfect virtue were and still are active influencc."  here in this monastery
abhidharma·koSa-sAstra and vibhAsha-jun were composed by vasubandhu and
manoratha and the chambers where they lived and composed the famous works
were specially marked.

[invited by the king of kashmir, spent two years copying ms.; the king gave
him twenty scribes for the purpose of making copies. 
his descriptions imply a "splendid palace library of kashmir."]

jetavana monastery which was then in desolate
ruin. watters recovered the following account from the
chinese texts :-

	the original jetavana monastery, which was probably neither very
	large nor substantial ind was not well protected, was destroyed by
	fire in buddha's life time.  after the death of sudatta, the place
	was neglected as there was no one to look after the grounds and
	buildings. a new vihara was afterwards built on a greater scale but
	this also was burnt to the ground.  at one time, we read, the place
	was utterly abandoned by the buddhist brethren and was used as the
	king's stables, but the buildings were again rebuilt and reoccupied
	by buddhist monks.

	in its palmy days, before its final destruction and abandonment, the
	jetavana monastery must have been a very large and magnificent
	establishment.  there were chapels for preaching and halls for
	meditation, mess-rooms and chambers for the monks, bathhouses, a
	hospital, libraries and reading rooms with pleasant shady tank and a
	great wall encompassing all.  the libraries were richly furnished,
	not only with orthodox literature but also with vedic and other
	non-buddhistic works, and with treatises on the arts and scienoes
	taught in india at the time."

	the pilgrim then visited the svetapur monastery in the vaisali
	country. in this monastery which had "bright coloured halls of two
	storeys" he obtained a copy of the mahayana treatise
	bodhisattva-pitaka.

during his tour the chinese pilgrim visited southern kosala (vidharbha or
berar). there he found about one hundred monasteries. among them the pigeon
monastery of fa-hsien "had cloisters and lofty halls ... in the topmost
hall nagarjuna deposited the scriptures of sakyamuni buddha and the
writings of the pusas ... " 22

after sixteen years hiuen-tsang returned home and brought with him besides
many other things a large number of manuscripts which numbered 657 distinct
texts in 520 cases.

[gives list of ms.]

source: watters: travels of yuan chwang, 1904

Pilgrims from Korea and Japan


not only from china but buddhist pilgrims also from japan
and korea visited india for further study as well as for copying
and collecting buddhist texts. about fifty seven pilgrims from
china, japan and korea visited india in between 629 a.d. and
671 a.d. with the same mission. [india's diplomatic relations with east,
saletore, p. 319.] 

immediately after hiuen-tsang, a korean monk by the
name of aryavarman came to india. he was well versed in the
vinaya and abhidharma doctrines and copied many sutras
at nalanda. two other korean monks - hwui nich and taou
hi came to nalanda at the same time. the former studied
there and wrote many sanskrit works.  i-tsing while living at
nalanda one day came across the library of this monk scholar
which consisted of chinese and sanskrit works.17 taou hi also
lived some years at nAlandA where he studied the books on the
great vehicle and wrote (or copied) about 400 chapters on
sutras.

in 655 a.d. during the reign of the t'ang emperor nadi,
a sramana of central india reached china with a rich collection
of more than 1500 mahayana and hinayana texts.

I-Tsing: 7th c.


[reached by ship 672 ad.; stayed 13 years]

regarding the common properties of the sangha and how
the properties should be used he narrates as follows :-

"medical substances are to be kept in a consecrated store,
to be supplied to sick penons when needed. precious stones,
gems and the like are divided into two portions, one being
devoted to pious objects (dharmika), the other to the priests
own use (sa.nghika). the former portion is spent in copying
the scriptures and in building or decorating the "lion-seat".
the other portion is distributed to the priests who are present.

wooden chairs are to be made common property. but the
scriptures and their commentaries should not be parted with
but be kept in the library to be read by the members of the
order. non-buddhist books are to be sold and (the money
acquired) should be distributed among the resident priests."

between 964 and 976 a.d. the chinese emperor sent a
body of three hundred monks under the leadership of ki-ne
to india in search of buddhist relics and indian palm leaf
manuscripts. 38

in about 969 a.d. a buddhist priest of india brought some
sanskrit books and envoys continued to bring them from
thence.  in 996 a.d. a batch of indian priests who arrived
in ships as far as the mouth of the river (che-gan) bringing to
the emperor a brass bell, a copper bell, a statue of buddha and
some fan (indian) books written upon leaves of the pei-to tree
(palm leaf).  the next group from west, rn yin-too came
to china between 1025 and 1031 a.d. and brought fan books
as presents.811

Libraries at Nalanda


according to the tibetan acccounts nAlanda was equipped
with a well maintained and huge library called dharmaga~nja or
piety mart.  it consisted of three huge buildings called
(1) ratnasagara (2) ratnadadhi and (3) ratnara~njaka. among
them ratnadadhi was a nine-storeyed building which housed the
sacred manuscripts-praj~napAramita sUtra and tantric works
such as samAjguhya etc.

the university was at its highest reputation and international
glory in the ninth century a.d. from the nalanda
copper-plate grant of devapala deva we come to know that
devapala deva in compliance with the request of balaputra
deva the ruler of suvarNadipa (java) which was made through
an ambassador, granted five viijages, four of which lay in the
rajagriha (rajgir) and one in the gaya district of sri nagar
bhukti (patna division) for the increase of merit and fame of
his parents and himself and for the sake of income toward the
blessed lord buddha, for various comforts of the revered bhiksus
of the four quarters and for writing the dharma ratnas or
buddhist texts, for the three jewels and for the upkeep of the
monastery built at nalanda at the instance of the said king of
suvarNadIpa.

towards the close of the 12th century a.d. the university
and its magniticent library were destroyed by the muslim
invaders.  according to the tibetan sources the temples and
monasteries of nAlanda were repaired by a sage called mudita·
bhadra after the turushka invasion had passed off. but the
final destruction was brought about by living embers thrown
into the establishment by two very indignant tirthaka mendicants, who were
insulted by some young novices at nalanda. 
this conflagration consumed ratnadadhi.
[Medieval School of Indian Losic by Dr. S.C. Vidyibbusaa, p. 146.]


contents


        introduction 							1

     I. Early Monastic and Other Institutional Libraries 		12

 II(a). Libraries of Western and Southern India 			36
   (b). Archives of Ancient India 					48

   III. Royal and Important Private Libraries of the
		Sultanate Period 					50

    IV. Libraries of the Mughals, The Minor Muslim Kingdoms, 
		The Marathas and the Contemporary
		Hindu Centres of Learning 				60

     V. The Libraries of the Early European Settlers of South India 
		and Bengal and the Library of Tipu Sultan		88

    VI. Writing Materials Through the Ages and
	  Introduction of Paper 					04

   VII. Binding of Manuscripts and Books Through the Ages		133

  VIII. Illumination and Illustration of Manuscript and Books   	144

    IX. Library Techniques and Administration   			166

     X. History of Printing in India 					197



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This article last updated on : 2014 Jun 26