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.
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.
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]
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
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.
[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
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.]
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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