A brief presentation of the main South Asia collections in French libraries Dr. Rachel Guidoni (Mrs.), Head Librarian, French School of Asian Studies (Paris, France)

The first French School dedicated to Eastern languages and civilisations Source: www.inalco.fr/institut/presentation-politique-institut/histoire-riche

The school today The building was inaugurated in 2011. The upper part of the building houses the school The lower part is for the library. Source: www.archi-guide.com/PH/FRA/Par/P13MasPolLangCivLi.jpg

The Collège de France, founded in 1530 The motto of the institution : « Teaches all » Source: www.cartophilie-viroflay.org/article.php?id_article=165

The main French libraries with South Asia collections National library of France (Bibliothèque nationale) French School of Asian studies (Ecole française d’Extrême- Orient) Asian society (Société Asiatique) Centre for South Asian studies (Centre d’études de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud) Éric-de-Dampierre library Centre for Himalayan studies (Centre d’études himalayennes)

Location of the main Paris libraries with South Asian collections

Why this presentation? Improve the knowledge of these collections Value these collections both to the Indian scientific community and to the librarians’ network Create tighter connection between French institutions and Indian libraries Promote a broader choice of patrimonial and contemporary collections on South Asia

The BULAC library Core collection: linguistics, literature, travels accounts, geography and history, social and religious sciences South Asia section : rich collections in Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, and Urdu languages Digital library: a dozen of books from the Fort William College

A book from the Fort William College Polyglott Munshi, or vocabulary, exercises, pleasant stories, etc. in English, Persian, Hindi, Hindustani and Bengali, for the use of students both native and European, Calcutta, 1841 Source: num.bulac.fr/archive/files/a36d5a9d310503b7c2280d568019a0e0.pdf

The South Asia collection in the Bulac library Hindi (and Nepali) section: more than 7 000 books Bengali section: 6 000 books and a dozen of periodicals Urdu section: 8 000 books and 40 periodicals Tamil section: more than 7 000 books and a collection of manuscripts

A pioneer catalogue for the scripts Urdu Tamil

Hindi Nepali

The Institute of Indian Studies Founded in 1927; part of the Collège de France since 1973 Domain: the whole ancient Indian world, mostly Pre-Islamic India Subjects: literature, philosophy, history, history of religions, linguistics and grammar, art history and archaeology → one of the richest collections in France on Sanskrit literature and ancient Indian languages

The Institute of Indian Studies Local catalogue: bude.college-de-france.fr Digital library: some manuscripts and pictures (salamandre.college-de-france.fr) Core collection: 35 000 books, 600 periodicals, 2 700 maps, more than 100 manuscripts, archives and about 35 000 pictures

The Pakistan photo collection Source: salamandre.college-de-france.fr/ead.html?id=FR075CDF_00IEI00PK-2#!{%22content%22:[%22FR075CDF_00IEI00PK-2_de-901%22,false,%22%22]}

The Kabul museum photo collection Source: salamandre.college-de-france.fr/ead.html?id=FR075CDF_IEI_arbois#!{%22content%22:[%22FR075CDF_IEI_arbois_de-38%22,false,%22%22]}

A Nepali manuscript from the S. Lévi collection Devatāparipūrṇam, 19th Century, bookmark: MS-SL 69 Source: salamandre.college-de-france.fr/img-viewer/IEI-SL/MS-SL-69/viewer.html

The National Library of France South Asia section since the 18th century Subjects: literature, religion and history Core collection: 15 000 books, with 1/3 in Indian languages, more than 100 periodicals Online catalogue: catalogue.bnf.fr

A bibliographical record with Devanagari script in the BnF catalogue Source: catalogue.bnf.fr/servlet/biblio?idNoeud=1&ID=43715350&SN1=0&SN2=0&host=catalogue

A digitized document in Gallica Source: gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b6949524w.r=pondichery.langFR

The digitized catalogue of the Sanskrit collection at the Bnf Source: gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k255707s/f80.image

The French School of Asian Studies Founded in 1901 Core collection: 21 000 books, 133 periodicals, more than 120 Pali manuscripts, 100 maps, rubbings, scientific archives, about 17 000 pictures Mss Pali 40

The French School of Asian Studies Domain: all the South Asia, including also Tibet Subjects: mainly classical studies: religion, art, archaeology, epigraphy, ancient history, literature and textual studies Online catalogue: www.sudoc.abes.fr and catalogue.bulac.fr

The French School of Asian Studies A Nepali (?) rubbing Bouddha Sakyamuni (D71-8)

The EFEO Centre in Pondicherry 12 000 books, 21 periodicals, a great collection of private libraries, scientific archives of French Indianists, rubbings and plans Photo S. Rayapoulle

The EFEO Centre in Pondicherry More than 1 600 Vishnuit manuscripts, digitized and soon available online A photo library with old collections and a more recent collection on South Asian temples, soon available online Photo S. Rayapoulle

Library of the Asian society Founded in 1822 Edits the famous periodical Journal Asiatique Core collection: 100 000 books, 1 800 periodicals, manuscripts, rubbings and off-prints, pictures and scientific archives. 20% concerns India Source: www.aibl.fr/societe-asiatique/organisation-68/organismes-associes

Centre for South Asian studies Founded in 1955 Presently the biggest French collection of books and periodicals on South Asia for the modern and contemporary periods The Maison de l’Asie’s reading room

Centre for South Asian studies Core collection: 30 000 books, 450 periodicals, scientific archives, census, maps Domain: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives Islands, and Mauritius Subjects: social sciences, social anthropology, law, history of economic development, and religious sciences

Éric-de-Dampierre library Founded in 1967 Specialised in anthropology and sociology 2 600 books on South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives Islands, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Burma, and Tibet Source: www.mae.u-paris10.fr/bibethno/ Entry of the reading room

The archives of Philippe Sagant Table of his archives One of his book

The archives of O. Herrenschmidt Source: www.mae.u-paris10.fr/lesc/ spip.php?article78 Source: www.mae.u-paris10.fr/dbtw-wpd/arch/ar.aspx?archive=lesc&reference=foh

Centre for Himalayan studies Founded in 1965 First focused on Nepal and on anthropology, geography and biology Photo O. Aubriot

Centre for Himalayan studies Covers now all the other Himalayas regions: Tibet, Bhutan, Sikkim and the North Indian States And includes other subjects such as geology, environmental studies, agronomy, history, economics, politics, languages, arts 15 000 books, theses, reports and off-prints, 1 300 maps and 800 periodicals

Thank you for your attention! આભાર তোমাকে ধন্যবাদ ਤੁਹਾਡਾ ਧੰਨਵਾਦ ధన్యవాదాలు Thank you for your attention! Merci beaucoup ! நன்றி धन्यवाद آپ کا شکریہ तुझे उपकार मानतो ಧನ್ಯವಾದ