Report On Search For Sanskrit MSS Year 1880 1881

Author(s): F Kielhorn
Publisher: Government Central Book Depot

Page 11

are numbered F7, fet, and sft; in No. 7, 20, and 32, simply FT, FF, and xít, without the addition of 9, 2, and 8; in No. 24 the numerals 1, 2, and 3 are throughout denoted by FT, E, and eft, e.g. y is 21, 2 22, and y 23. In No. 19 the leaves
स्वस्ति श्री 4 to 9 are correctly marked with the signs given in the preceding paragraph, but on the later leaves the same numerals are denoted by the ordinary numeral figures 8,4, $ etc.; e. g. 67 is , 109, 138 ? &c.
Finally, it deserves to be stated that in some cases those leaves of a MS. which happen to be more modern than the rest of the MS. are numbered only with the ordinary numerals. For details see the list of the MSS. Nos. 4, 26, 38, &c.
14. Notwithstanding their great age many of these palm-leaf MSS. are exceedingly well preserved, and I feel no hesitation in saying that, with reasonable precautions, they will last as long again as they have lasted already. The state in which the MSS. were made over to me did certainly not indicate that any particular care had been bestowed on their preservation ; yet in most cases the material of which they consist shows no signs of decay, and the writing is as clear and distinct as in the best modern paper MSS. These facts tend to disprove the generally prevailing notion that MSS. in India will not last beyond a few centuries, and give rise to the hope that we may yet discover in the old libraries of this country MSS. far more ancient than those which have been obtained already.
When the MSS. were first brought to me they formed huge bundles of palm-leaves, in which frequently the leaves of one MS. were mixed up with those of one or more other MSS. I have myself examined every single leaf, have with the help of my assistants put together what belongs together, and have had the leaves of each MS. put between wooden boards, so as to ensure their preservation and to facilitate their being used by other scholars.