Sanskrit manuscripts purchased in India for the administrators of the Max Mller Memorial Fund

This material is held atBodleian Library, University of Oxford

  • Reference
    • GB 161 MSS. Max Mller Memorial c. 1-33, d. 1-46, e. 1-11, f. 1; MSS. Max Mller Rotogr. 1-35
  • Dates of Creation
    • 15th-20th century (the rotographs are of 11th-19th century manuscripts)
  • Name of Creator
  • Language of Material
    • Sanskrit.
  • Physical Description
    • 126 shelfmarks

Scope and Content

Sanskrit manuscripts, 15th-19th century, purchased in India for the administrators of the Max Mller Memorial Fund. They consist of copies of the Vedas, one of these is the earliest known dated copy of the Rigveda; and of the great epic poems styled Mahabharata and the Puranas. The rotographs in the collection are of manuscripts dating from the 11th to the 19th century.

Administrative / Biographical History

The Max Mller Memorial Fund was established by the friends of German orientalist Max Mller (1823-1900) for the encouragement of research into the history, languages and religion of ancient India.

Access Information

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card (for admissions procedures see http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk).

Acquisition Information

Purchased 1907-8, from a Brahmin pundit in Benares, by Professor Arthur Anthony Macdonell (1854-1930) for the administrators of the Max Mller Memorial Fund.

Note

Collection level description created by Susan Thomas, Department of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts.

Other Finding Aids

T. Gambier-Parry A catalogue of the manuscripts purchased for the administrators of the Max Muller Memorial Fund (Oxford, 1922), lists 99 manuscripts.

T. Gambier-Parry A catalogue of photographs of Sanskrit manuscripts purchased for the administrators of the Max Muller Memorial Fund (Oxford, 1930), lists 60 Rotographs.

Related Material

Professor Macdonell recommended to the Library's curators that the remainder of the Library in Benares be acquired en bloc. Lord Curzon, then Chancellor of the University, prevailed upon the Maharajah Sir Chandra Shum Shere, Prime Minister of Nepal, to buy the collection (now MSS. Chandra Shum Shere) and present it to the Library in 1909.