[INDOLOGY] Position at Jaipur City Palace Pothikhana

[Jean Michel DELIRE]

Very interesting indeed. I would have applied, if I had been ... younger.

I know very well the Library of the Maharaja Man Singh Museum in Jaipur,
where I worked on manuscripts almost every year (excepted the COVID years)
since 2012. For those interested, I attach the English version of a paper
about Savai Jai Singh I published in the *Journal des savants*, 2013, after
some complementary visits to archives in Lisbon and Goa.
It would be invaluable if someone thoroughly familiar with the European
methods of requesting and obtaining (copies of) ancient manuscripts were
assigned to this position. We, researchers in Indology, could then benefit
from much easier access than I have had over these many years. Of course,
there had been some exceptions, I fondly remember the help Mrs. Rima Hooja
gave me just before COVID and also Giles Tillotson's unwavering support for
my research. But I also remember hard times when I waited for days for the
person (a sort of powerful figure in the Palace hierarchy, not really
familiar with best practices for research support) who held the key to the
library cabinets. Things have improved somewhat in recent years, but the
new procedure, inspired by those used in England, is rather cumbersome,
especially given the obvious disarray of the Jaipur collections. Here is an
extract of an Email I sent last year, in which I expressed my reservations
about the classification of the manuscripts :

"Thank you for your answer. I will try to fill this form, but the problem
is that your Persian/Arabic manuscripts are not properly/not at all
catalogued. And for the Sanskrit manuscripts, I would say : not
unequivocally catalogued. For them, there are at least three different
catalogues (Bahura 1971, Bahura 1976 and Pingree 2003). I will find the
Sanskrit items I am looking for in one of these catalogues (Pingree, by
instance, is quite complete for astronomy, but not so for mathematics) or
the others, but I am not sure I will be able to find an accession number
for the manuscripts I want to receive a copy. Perhaps, a real effort should
be made in order to edit a complete catalogue of all the manuscripts in the
MSM, on the model of the catalogues edited by the RORI, by instance, and to
make it available on the internet.
Some years ago, I went to Jodhpur's RORI, searched the catalogue and saw
the manuscripts. On the same day. I asked for complete copy of 12
manuscripts (including a very interesting *rekhāgaṇita*) and receive them
three days later, digitalized."

As I have been informed that the Pothikhana manuscripts are going to be
digitized (and I assume the above announcement is related to this project),
I hope things will improve further. We'll see...

I must add that I visited Jodhpur's RORI again some weeks ago, and that,
thanks to the help of Dr Kishore, I could have access to copies of
manuscripts in Kota's, Jaipur's and Alwar's RORIs very easily. I was also
most welcome in the IGNCA, Delhi, where I received copies of some Banaras'
manuscripts, otherwise inaccessible. If anyone is interested in my contact
information, feel free to ask.


Best regards,

Jean Michel Delire


Le lun. 23 mars 2026 à 19:37, Jim Mallinson via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> a écrit :

> Dear Colleagues,
>
> Please find attached (I hope) an announcement about an exciting position
> for an early career scholar at the Jaipur City Palace’s Pothikhana
> (manuscript library).
>
> Yours, with best wishes,
>
> Jim Mallinson
>
>
>
>
> James Mallinson
> Boden Professor of Sanskrit
> Balliol College, Oxford OX1 3BJ
> +44 (0)1865 277710
> www.balliol.ox.ac.uk
>
>
>
>
>
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