Dear Harry,
All these Ms are from the collection of the Oriental Research Library (located in Srinagar) of the Jammu and Kashmir Government. Someone who does not want to be identified has accessed the digital copies of these Mss from the ORL, Srinagar, and
has made them openly available, clearly defying the library's rules.
As much as I have fought with the archives/manuscript libraries across India that scholars should have easy access to manuscript materials, I also respect their rules. I have insisted repeatedly that many of these rules need to be changed, but
I have no reason to be an outlaw. In fact, many of these manuscript libraries have become extremely suspicious or sceptical of offering scanned copies of Mss to scholars because they openly violate their rules. This case is a clear example of such a violation.
The ORL authorities have been very generous, but I know the scholars who have taken advantage of their generosity and innocence. They have shamelessly violated their policies by sharing MS images on Facebook and other social media platforms. One should certainly
bring this to the notice of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir.
Mrinal
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Mrinal Kaul (he/ him/ his)
Assistant Professor of Indian Philosophy
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS)
Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B)
Powai, Mumbai 400076, INDIA
Tel: +91 22-2576-5349 Extn: 5349 (office)
Tel: +91 22-62513773 (Residence)