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PREFACE.
IT was in the year 1900 that the research of Hindi manuscripts was started under the patronage of the United Provinces Government by Babu Syamasundaradasa, the then Secretary of the Kasi Nagari Prachariņi Sabha. He supervised the work for nine years and issued annual reports for the first six years and a triennial one for the last three. The work was then undertaken by Pandit Syama Bihārī Misra, who continued to do it for 12 years or till the end of 1920, for which four triennial reports were due. He, however, wrote two covering a period of eight years or until the end of 1916. This report, therefore, deals with the search work done during 1917, 1918 and 1919. Thus it would appear that it has been long overdue, owing chiefly to the changes that have since taken place in the office of the Superintendent and the travelling agent, who actually collects the necessary information. Pandit Syama Bihari Misra could not finish his report before he retired from this work. His brother Pandit Sukadeva Bihārī Misra, who succeeded him in 1921, continued to be the Superintendent of the search operations for one year, but resigned in July, 1922, mainly for want of sufficient time at his disposal. The work is honorary and troublesome. The travelling agent is a paid servant, yet it took no less than four and a half months to fill up the vacancy caused by the resignation of the old incumbent in 1919. New travelling agents have been appointed and it has now been decided that each district should be thoroughly searched and finished before another is taken in hand. This would certainly be more business-like, though it may occasionally be found necessary to start work at a new place without finishing the one in hand, for instance, in the case of owners of valuable manuscripts who may fix their own time to show them. If that
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