54 Address. [Feb. 



which comprises the whole period from 1881-82 up to this year. The 

 principal places visited for the purpose of the search were Benares, the 

 chief towns of Tirhut, Rangpur and Dinajpur, Piiri in Orissa, and 

 'Azimganj, near Murshidabad. Benares and Tirhut, being ancient and 

 flourishing seats of Sanskrit learning, yielded rich harvests. The search 

 in Rangpur and Dinajpur was disappointing. In Piiri the richest 

 collection, of over 1,200 works, is in the S'ankara Matha ; but it contains 

 nothing unique or exceptionally rare. But the most valuable results 

 were obtained at 'Azimganj. This place is the seat of a large and afflu- 

 ent Jain community, which maintains several monasteries possessing 

 more or less valuable collections of MSS. The most extensive and 

 valuable library, however, of over 600 works, is in the possession of a 

 private Jain gentleman, Rai Dhanapat Singh, whose name will be known 

 to you in connection with his publication of a large number of Jain 

 Sacred Books. In spite of the well-known reluctance of the Jains to 

 allow the inspection of their literary treasures, Raja Rajendralala Mitra 

 succeeded not only in examining a portion of the Jain libraries, but also 

 in purchasing a considerable number of Jain works. This class of 

 literature was not much noticed until very recently. The first list of 

 any larger dimension was published by the Raja in his " Catalogue of 

 Bickaneer MSS." This was followed by the lists contained in Professor 

 Peterson's and Professor Bhandarkar's " Reports of the search in the 

 Bombay Presidency," during the years 1883 to 1884, 1884 to 1886. It 

 is particularly gratifying that the search for Jain MS. is now being 

 taken up also in Bengal. The Bombay Government collection, having 

 been begun earlier, is richer in Jain works, but a very respectable nucleus 

 has now been formed for the Calcutta collection. Altogether Raja 

 Rajendralala Mitra has purchased 918 works, of which 94 are Jain. In 

 his "Notices," which cover the period from 1881 — 1888 and which are 

 included in the volumes VI — IX, a total of 1,260 works are described, 

 many of which will appear new to Oriental scholars. 



The search in the province of Oudh is entrusted to Pandit Devi 

 Prasada. His " Catalog-lie of Sanskrit Manuscripts " records the work 

 done in 1888, and notices 316 manuscripts, including 3 Jain. 



Of the operations, conducted in the Bombay Presidency by Professor 

 R. G. Bhandarkar, we have received his " Report of the Search for 

 Sanskrit Manuscripts during the year 1883-1884." It is a large volume 

 with numerous extracts from selected manuscripts, described in the 

 report. Its catalogue enumerates 737 manuscripts as purchased for 

 Government. A noteworthy and valuable feature in it is the large space 

 devoted to the description and discussion of manuscripts of the Jain 

 literature, both of the Digambara and S'vetambara sects. 



