Unlocking access to the Bodleian Libraries’ Sanskrit collection
Preserving and sharing South Asia’s cultural heritage at the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
The Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford has collected Sanskrit materials since its foundation in 1602 and has amassed a wealth of treasures. Its collection boasts rare and incredibly significant Sanskrit materials, including one of the earliest manuscripts from India to survive and a very important witness of Indian medical knowledge dating back to 6th century CE.
Now, with the support of The Digital Clay Sanskrit Library (eCSL), and as part of its ‘Future Bodleian’ digital vision, an unprecedented project transforming the Libraries’ digital capacity, the Bodleian will unlock a significant volume of this extraordinary Sanskrit collection, building further on the close association between Oxford and the legacy of John P. Clay.
This two-year project will see the completion of digitisation of manuscripts such as the splendid illuminated copy of Pālakāpya’s Treatise on Elephants, written on Western paper between 1874 and 1878. It will be undertaken in-situ in Oxford at the Weston Library’s specialist imaging services and include conservation surveys and result in the incorporation into the Digital Bodleian platform, where at present a small selection of Sanskrit manuscripts are available for open access. During the course of the project, links to the manuscripts will be posted on the eCSL section of www.claysanskritlibrary.org.
One of the treasures of the Bodleian’s Sanskrit collections: an illuminated copy of Pālakāpya’s Treatise on Elephants, 1874-1878. MS. Ind. Inst. Sansk. 2, fol. 23r.
