1874.] Biililer — Sanshrit MSS. in Jesalmir, ^'c. 98 



large libraries, which he found, were at Jodhpur. The Maharaja of that 

 place possessed a collection of about 1,800 Sanskrit MSS. purchased 

 originally by Maharaja Mansingh, the great devotee and student of Yoga 

 and Vedanta, of whom Col. Todd had given an account in his ' Annals of 

 Rajasthan.' The MSS. of Puranas, Vedanta and Yoga works were most 

 numerous ; and the first included many very rare works. Unfortunately, 

 many of the MSS. were very incorrect and unfit to be copied, though they 

 might be useful for collation. Two MSS., a text of and a commentary on, 

 the Kaushitaki Brahmaiia as well as a rare commentary on the Charanarvuha, 

 had been selected for copy. A number of old Jaina MSS. had likewise been 

 bought in the bazar, among which there were a Desinamamala and a 

 complete copy of the Sanskrit grammar of Hemachandra. 



The town next visited by Dr. Biihler was Jesalmir, and there the 

 Bhandar of the Oswal Jainas gave unexpected results. Besides complete 

 sets of the Jaina scriptures with commentaries, very old copies of five 

 dramas, several epic poems and works on Sankhya, Nyaya and Alankara were 

 found. The oldest of these MSS. dated from Samvat 1160, or 1103-4 A. D. 



There appeared to be no doubt that a collation of these MSS. with the 

 known texts would give most important results. Further, about a dozen 

 unknown poems and scientific works came to light, among which there were 

 two historical books. One of these, the Vikramarka-charita of Bilhana, 

 had been already copied, and Dr. Biihler proceeded to give an abstract of a 

 portion of the work. It appeared that it contained the history of the great 

 Chalukya prince, Vikramadityadeva of Kalyanakataka, or Kalbarga, written 

 by his Vidyapati or chief Pandit, as well as notices of his predecessors and 

 of contemporaneous princes, such as Bhoja of Dhara and Harshadeva of 

 Kashmir. 



Besides the Bhandar, Dr. Biihler saw at Jesalmir four other large Jaina 

 libraries and purchased from pandits and others twenty -three valuable 

 MSS., amongst which there was an unknown Karana by Bhoja of Dhara. 



Bikaner also, whither Dr. Biihler proceeded from Jesalmir, furnished 

 many valuable books. From the Raja's library copies of very rare Vedic 

 works, among them the Pratisakhyas of the Atharvaveda and the Natya- 

 s'astra of Bharata were obtained. Besides, 120 MSS. were purchased 

 for Government, referring chiefly to tbe Jaina religion. But also some 

 exceedingly rare Brahmanical books, such as Yuzapurana of the Gargt 

 sanshita and a large portion of the Nyasa, a Bauddha commentary of the 

 Kas'ika vritti, were secured. 



Bhatnir, the last town visited, did not furnish as good results as 

 had been expected. But a library containing about 800 MSS. was examined, 

 and some works referring to the history of the Jains and of Gujarat were 

 secured. 



