Bhandarkar Report 1904
BHANDAKAR REPORT on the search of Prākṛit and Saṃskṛit manuscripts 1904 [36 of 69]
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36. Most of my work at Jaipur was done with the help of a few young friends. Had I had to rely solely on information to be obtained through the Resident, I should not have gone to Jaipur at all, because I have not had any information from him as regards Jaipur. As regards Kishengarh I had information from him soon enough. But the Jaipur Darbar, I believe, never replied to his enquiries. In one particular only I wanted his help most. I had heard of a very valuable private library of manuscripts belonging to His Highness the Maharajah which no one was allowed to see and the keepers of which were strictly prohibited from giving out any information to anybody as to the manuscripts existing in it. Long before, when I wrote to the other Political officers in Rajputana, I had written to the Resident, Jaipur, also, and had asked him to see if he could do anything to let me have access to this library. As soon as I was in Jaipur, therefore, I saw him and he advised me to see the Senior Member of Council which I accordingly did. The Senior Member arranged to let me have access to the private library of a Digambara Jaina of liberal ideas who had previously helped such scholars as Drs. Bühler and Bendall. He also asked me to go to a certain Śvetāmbara Jaina Yati who, he said, would readily show me the manuscripts in his charge. But the Yati simply examined me and the young friend who accompanied me in a Jaina book on Nyāya he had before him and put off showing his manuscripts under some very feeble excuses. The Senior Member also got His Highness' permission for me to see a library which is a part of some property that has been the subject of a law-suit relating to inheritance of about 15 or 20 years' standing. I was taken to the house which is a long way off, the State officials in whose presence the room containing the manuscripts waste be opened were gathered together after some length of time, and at last the room was opened. The bundles of manuscripts and some loose manuscripts as well as the floor of the room were discovered uniformly overlaid with a layer of dust an inch or two thick. It was impossible to examine the manuscripts. But the library had a reputation and some of the manuscripts seemed to be old.
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