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Grantha Bhandars of Jodhpur Division
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After 45 years of Colonel Tod's visit, Dr. Buhler and Dr. Jacobi examined these Bhanḍārs. He described in India Antiquary that a large portion the Bhandar consists of palm leaf manuscripts dated from 1140 to 1340 A.D. He was under the impression that he had seen all the contents of the Bhandars but as a matter of fact he could not see more than 400 manuscripts. Dr. Buhler in his communication to India Antiquary remarks:
"In Jaisalmer, which was founded about the middle of the 12th century there is a large colony of Jainas. A temple was built under the pontificate of Jina Bhadra Suri, to which were gradully added six other temples. Through this temple and the wealth of the Jaina community, Jailsalmer has obtained a high fame as one of the principal seats of the Jaina faith. Especially, however, is the renown of the Bhandar every where celebrated which according to the statements of Gujaratis surpasses all similar Bhandārs in the world."
About 30 years after Dr. Buhler's visit, a prominent Indian scholar Prof. Sridhar R. Bhandarkar visited the Bhandars of Jaisalmer. He gave full account of his visit in the "Reports of a record tour in search of manuscripts in Rajputana and Central India in 1904-5 and 1905-6 and which was published in year 1909 A.D. At the same time the Jaina Swetambara Conference deputed Pandit Hiralal Hansraja for preparing the catalogue of the Bhandars. The catalogue which he prepared was used in the book "Jaina Granthawali" published in the year 1909 A D.
Several attempts for preparing the catalogue were also made after the publication of Jaina Granthawali. Among those are the names of Muni Hansvija1ī and Jina Kripa Candra Suri and Śri C. D. Delal. But Delal was the only scholar who had the credit to place the importance of the Bhandars before the scholars. He was the librarian of Central Library, Baroda, He was sent by Mahārājā of Baroda in 1916 and he carefully examined all the contents of the big Bhandar and of three other Bhandars. This has been published already in the year 1923 A D. by the Central Library Baroda
Among the recent scholars the names of Muni Jina Vijaya, Śrī Nähta and Muni Punya Vijaya are well known, Muni Jina Vijaya along with five scholars and some copyists remained there for five months and got copied about two hundred manuscripts. He wrote a good description of the collection in third volume of Bhartiya Vidya, Bombay. Muni Punya Vijayji also remained here for about 16 months, the largest time given by a scholar so far. He got microphone of 214 manuscripts and prepared a complete calalogue again.
