Manuscripts collected by Sir Mark Aurel Stein in Kashmir, 16th-19th century. The vast majority of the manuscripts are Sanskrit, though a little Arabic, Pashto and Turkish material is present. The subjects of the manuscripts are Vedas, Sanskrit grammar and lexicography, rhetoric, Kavya, drama, philosophy, Dharmasastra science, Puranas, Bhakti and Tantra. The manuscripts are mainly written on paper, but the collection does include some rare birch bark items.
Oriental manuscripts of Sir Mark Aurel Stein
This material is held atBodleian Library, University of Oxford
- Reference
- GB 161 GB 3105 MSS. Stein Or. MSS. Stein Or. c. 1-18, d. 1-85, e. 1-22, 23 (R), 24-37, f. 1-18, g. 1-3
- Dates of Creation
- 16th-19th century
- Name of Creator
- Language of Material
- Sanskrit, Arabic, Pushto, and Turkish.
- Physical Description
- 161 shelfmarks
Scope and Content
Administrative / Biographical History
Sir Mark Aurel Stein (1862-1943) was a scholar, explorer and archaeologist. See the Dictionary of National Biography for details.
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
The manuscripts were transferred to the Bodleian during the 1960s.
Note
Collection level description created by Susan Thomas, Department of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts.
Other Finding Aids
All the Sanskrit manuscripts are described in Gerard L. M. Clauson 'Catalogue of the Stein collection of Sanskrit mss. from Kashmir', Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, July 1912, pp. 587-627.
Custodial History
The manuscripts were collected by Stein in Kashmir, chiefly at Srinagar, between 1888 and 1905 and were originally deposited on loan in the Indian Institute, Oxford, in 1911. On Stein's death in 1943 the manuscripts were bequeathed to the Indian Institute.