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CULTURAL IMPORTANCE OF THE GRANTHA BHANDARAS
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only from the historical and literary point but they are equally important from the educational point also. These Grantha Bhandars were great educational centres also. In the big centres like Amer, Ajmer, Jaisalmer, Nagaur, Sagwara, Bikaner, there were arrangements for imparting education to the adults and children. In the Grantha Bhandars, there are thousands of manuscripts which were presented to their Heads, so that they may be used by students.
There are so may manuscripts which were written for the Sadhus and their disciples. This system of presentation of the manuscripts to the monks and the students continued for a long time and thousands of the manuscripts had been collected only due to this system. Thus we can say that the Grantha Bhandars gave much help in the spread of education and at one time they remained the pillars of education.
The Grantha Bhandars of Rajasthan are equally important for illustrated manuscripts. The Jaina monks and Sravakas both took great interest in beautifying the manuscripts. They were the lovers of art and painting. These illustrated manuscripts are useful for a study of the history of India miniature and paintings. There are three kinds of illustrated manuscripts, namely, those of palm leaves, paper and cloth. Besides these three main kinds, there are also wooden plates which have some coloured paintings. Illustrated palm leave manuscripts are found only in Jaisalmer Bhandars while the other kind of illustrated manuscripts are found in several Bhandars and mainly in the Bhandars of Jaipur, Mozmabad, Ajmer, Nagaur, Bharatpur, Baswa and Bundi. Though there is not a big number of the illustrated manuscripts yet the material which is found in these Bhandars of Rajasthan are sufficient to establish
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