Descriptive Catalogue of Manuscripts in Jain Bhandars at Patan

SR No.: 011005
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Lalchandra B Gandhi
Publisher: Oriental Research Institute Vadodra
Publication Year: 1937
Total Pages: 591
Language: English
Classification: Catalogue
File Size: 32 MB

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numbered like palm-leaf MSS. This is due to the fact that they were copied directly from palm-leaf MSS.
Palm-leaf MSS. are sometimes illuminated. The Bhandars however contain only one palm-leaf MS. with pictures in colour which represent the Tirthankaras. Illustrated palm-leaf MSS. are not very rare. I have seen more than a dozen such MSS. at Pattan. MSS. of Kalpasūtra and Kalakācārya Katha are some of those that are generally illustrated. One illustrated MS. copied in Samvat 1294 has the pictures of Hemācārya and Kumarapala of which I have obtained a photo for the detailed Report. There is another MS. picturing the details of the composition and promulgation of Hemācārya's grammar.
The Pattan Bhandars contain 2 MSS. on cloth one of which, written in Samvat 1418, consists of 92 leaves measuring 25"x5". The MS. is well preserved and the letters are very clear. The leaves are made by pasting together two thick pieces of ordinary khadi cloth. Even at present cloth is preferred for rare works. The transcript of Jayaprabhṛta in the Jain Bhandar at Baroda is on tracing cloth.
There are more than 12,000 paper MSS. in the Bhandars. The paper MSS. in the Sanghavi's Pada are cut in the fashion of the palm-leaves. They say that the paper was first introduced in Gujarat in the time of Kumarapala; but the Bhandars contain no paper MSS. written in the 13th century of Vikrama. I came across one or two paper MSS. bearing this date, but from the script it was clear that they were spurious. Although there is a paper leaf dated Samvat 1329 in a palm-leaf MS., the oldest and most extensive paper MS. in the Bhandars was copied in Samvat 1356-57. Paper MSS. were in many instances written in golden characters. The Bhandars contain about half a dozen such MSS.
During my twelve weeks' stay at Pattan, I examined all the 658 palm-leaf MSS. and about 1,000 select paper MSS. Besides the Jain collections, I examined four collections in the possession of Brahmins, but nothing of importance could be found therein.
1 This photo has been reproduced in the Mohaparajaya GOS No. 9 as the frontispiece.
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