It's not at all delicate, but one can buy Sanskrit manuscripts quite easily on eBay.  Some even appear to be astral tables.  I have tried this out with one manuscript, as a proof-of-concept, and it worked perfectly well.  I got an 1830 CE copy of a medical text, no illustrations, for $100.  It is a real manuscript, though of course caveat emptor.  

To export an item more than 100 years old from India requires a license from the Indian Department of Antiquities. 

Best,
Dominik


--

Professor Dominik Wujastyk
​,​

Singhmar Chair in Classical Indian Society and Polity
​,​

University of Alberta, Canada
​.​

South Asia at the U of A:
 
​sas.ualberta.ca​
​​


On 30 October 2017 at 03:59, Clemency Montelle via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
Dear colleagues,

As part of work Kim Plofker and I are doing on manuscripts of numerical tables in Sanskrit, in addition to considering those examples that can be found in manuscript collections from libraries and universities, we found ourselves faced with those that originate from private collections or through dealers.

We realised that we are unfamiliar with research more generally on Indic private manuscript collections, their origins, the extent of them, their circumstances, and what happens to them over time (if indeed such research exists).  There is of course quite a bit of media surrounding the sale of antiquities and art treasures privately and various legal issues surrounding this.

But has anyone done any research on private manuscript libraries on the Indian subcontinent?  Or on related (and possibly more delicate) questions on where private dealers get their manuscripts from?

Any leads would be greatly appreciated.

with best wishes,
Clemency

----

Dr. Clemency Montelle

Associate Professor

School of Mathematics and Statistics

University of Canterbury | Te Whare Wananga o Waitaha

Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140

NEW ZEALAND

http://www.math.canterbury.ac.nz/~c.montelle/

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