Descriptive Catalogue of Oriental Manuscripts in Raghunath Mandir, Jammu and Kashmir (3 Volumes Set)

It was Dr. Karan Singh's forefather the intrepid Maharaja Gulab Singh who, in 1846, created the State of Jammu and Kashmir which was the largest Indian State during the British Rule. That was an extraordinary achievement considering that it incorporated huge areas of Gilgit-Baltistan and Ladakh that had never before really been part of India. These were conquered at great cost and sacrifice by Dogra soldiers drawn from Jammu and Himachal. His son, the second ruler Maharaja Ranbir Singh was also a truly remarkable man. He consolidated and enlarged the borders of the State, gave the people a penal code named after him and was one of the greatest temple builders in modern times. The magnificent Shiva Temple in Jammu, the Sri Ranbireshwar Mandir, and the unique temple complex, the Sri Raghunath Mandir, stand as testimony to his devotion. Maharaja Ranbir Singh was a great patron of scholarship. Soon after he ascended the throne in 1856 he sent a team of pandits from Jammu to travel around India and acquire as many manuscripts as were available. As a resultof these efforts a collection of around 8000 manuscripts was built up covering almost every area of theological scholarship, including Buddhist and Jain texts. This unique collection is located in the Sri Ranbir Sanskrit Research Institute within the Sri Raghunath Mandir complex which includes the priceless Gilgit manuscripts - Buddhists texts discovered in the Gilgit region in 1931 including celebrated Lotus Sutra. These are dated to approximately 5th-6th century A.D. and are written in Buddhist Sanskrit in the Sarda script. Many extremely rare manuscripts are preserved in the Institute which is a treasure trove of Sanskrit manuscripts. No collection is complete without a catalogue. The first catalogue of this collection was made by the eminent scholar Aurel Stein in 1856. Several decades ago Maharaja Hari Singh handed over the responsibility of managing the Dharmarth Trust which was set up by Maharaja Gulab Singh when he founded the State in order to preserve and protect Hindu monuments in Jammu & Kashmir. Down to today the Trust manages over a hundred shrines, both in the Jammu and Kashmir regions. Soon after taking over Dr. Karan Singh realised that subsequent to the Stein catalogue there had been many more additions to the manuscript library and, therefore, the catalogue needed updating. After making enquiries he located Dr. M.M. Patkar from the Deccan College, Pune, and invited him to visit Jammu and complete the catalogue. He did so and worked intensely for several years with great dedication. The first volume came out in 1970, the second in 1973 and the third, regretfully after his passing away, in 1984. With these volumes Dr. Karan Singh thought thatthe catalogue was complete but it transpired that there were still a number that had not been catalogued. This task was finally completed in 2004 by the Director of the Institute, the late Dhaniram Shastri, assisted by Dr. Kamal Kishor Mishra. This will now be available to institutions and individual scholars, not only inIndia but around the world because this collection contains rare manuscripts about which the world of scholarships should be aware, published by Motilal Banarsidass Publishing House. A large number of manuscripts are available in India in various universities and institutions, but surely many thousands more are still lying with individual owners and steadily deteriorating. It is important to get as many of these as possible into libraries where they can be properly conserved and catalogued, because they represent an invaluable treasure reflecting our rich and multi- faceted cultural tradition in three religions - Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Our Institute is always prepared to receive manuscripts from interested donors.