[INDOLOGY] Query regarding a photograph

[Ananya Vajpeyi]

I haven't been there in years; I couldn't tell you. Someone at Harvard, in
Sanskrit, might have the information. As for the photo, it does look
staged, and it does seem to be a standard 19th century depiction of
"native" castes / rituals /  costumes. Thanks to all of you for your
responses. I'll report back to the list if I hear anything further. All
best, AV.

On Fri, Jul 18, 2025 at 4:18 AM Yahoo!Mail® <alanus1216 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> I’m sorry, but I have no information on the picture.
>
> However, I am puzzled by the “homepage” for Widener Room A. It says there
> are 1500 manuscripts housed there. I have no memory of such a thing from a
> decade inhabiting that room.  As far as I know all the South Asian mss in
> Harvard  are kept in the Houghton along with the Western mss. There were
> some quite rare European printed books there from the 17th century, as well
> as some non-book raria such as glass slides of the old Bangkok royal
> palace, depicting even the female Amazonian harem guards.  But Prof.
> Ingalls, perhaps around 1970, got tired of the disorder and assigned
> students to take some things to their more appropriate depositories.  I
> don’t recall dealing with any non-Western mss.
>
> I don’t see how 1500 Indic mss could be kept in any safe and orderly
> fashion in that small room.
>
> If they are there, could they possibly be a recent gift?
>
> Or could this simply be an error on the Widener A page?
>
>
> Allen
>


-- 
*Ananya Vajpeyi*
https://www.csds.in/ananya_vajpeyi
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