हस्तलिखित हिंदी ग्रंथो की (खोज का विवरण)- Annual Report on The Search For Hindi Manuscripts For The Year 1900, 1901 and 1902 (An Old and Rare Book in a Set of 5 Volumes)

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It was in the year 1868 that the Government of India undertook the task of instituting a search for Sanskrit manuscripts at the suggestion of the late Pandit. Radha Krisna of Lahore. No such organized search work appears to have ever been carried out before, except by individuals. Then came the turn of Hindi and the Asiatic Society of Bengal took up the search for Hindi manuscripts in 1895 at the request of the Nagari Pracharini Sabha of Benares, but the work was suddenly stopped without obtaining any perceptible results. The Sabha then approached the Government of India and the United Provinces Government and the latter were pleased to order the Director of Public Instruction to search Hindi manuscripts also along with Sanskrit ones, but nothing practical was done. In March 1899, therefore, the Sabha petitioned the Local Government again on the subject and they generously sanctioned a grant of Rs. 400 per annum (since raised to Rs. 500) for-the Search work which was thus started by the Sabha in the year 1900.

Babu Syam Sundar Das B.A., the then able and energetic Secretary (now a Vice-President) of the Sabha, was appointed Honorary,. Superintendent of, the search work and six annual reports were published by the Government in detail at intervals, while the 7th report was published in a brief form only. Since then it has been decided to issue detailed Triennial Reports only while brief Annual Reports are submitted by the Sabha for the information of the Government. Babu Syam Sundar Das ably carried on the search work for nine years (1900-1908), after which it was entrusted to me with the' sanction of the Government. His first Triennial Report (for 1906-08) has only lately been published and I have already submitted my first three brief Animal Reports to the Government through the Sabha. I have now the honour to submit the second Triennial Repott as required by the orders passed by the Government at the time of sanctioning the new scheme.

According to the programme the work was to be completed in the whole of the United Provinces during the triennium, but it had become apparent at the close of the very first year that this was impossible and mention of it was made in my brief Report for.1909 and with greater detail in that for 1910. The work Is not likely to be completed in the United Provinces before the end of the year 1914 or 1915, and it would be a pity if it were stopped before all the likely places in the whole of India have been ransacked. In view of the solid work done and the valuable discoveries made during the triennium in question and in the preceding years, an account of which will be found in the reports, I am sure our benign Government will be pleased to continue what is the merest trifle to them but a most welcome and substantial aid to the Sabha and to the cause of the great Hindi Language and its ancient Literature, the richness of which is borne out by a perusal of the Mordern Vernacular Literature of Hindustan by Dr. Sir George Grierson and of the writings of other European scholars also, but the valuable materials since unearthed by the search work which do not fail to throw excellent side-lights on Indian History and civilization, are substantiating the statement unanswerably and are certainly worth far more than the annual grant of Rs. 500 so graciously sanctioned by the Government.

During the triennium under review the work was conducted in 29 districts of the United Provinces, namely, the 3 districts of the Gorakhpur, 5 of the Benares, 5 of the Allahabad, 4 of the Jhansi, 6 of the Fyzabad, 3 of the Lucknow and 3 of the Agra Division. Work is now being carried on in the remaining districts. Babu Chaturbhuj Sahai Varma continues to be the Sabha's Travelling Agent and he submits his diaries and the notices of manuscripts to me for infermation and necessary action ; while a few gentlemen have occasionally favoured me with some notices made by them. My thanks are due to these gentlemen and to the Sabha for the assistance rendered to me in the preparation of this Report.

As usual with all of our Hindi activities, my brother Pandita Sukhdeo Bihari Misra, B.A., is really a joint author of this Report with me, but he is not shown as such on the title page as I alone am the Superintendent of the search work.

THE Second Triennial Report on the Search for Hindi Manuscripts was published in 1914 and the third is now submitted, dealing with the work done in 1912, 191.3, and 1914. A.D. The search-work was nearly coming to a standstill, as the Government of the United Provinces seemed to have some hesitation in coutinuing to assist it financially. The generosity of His Highness the Maharaja Bahadur of Chhatarpur, however, kept it going for one year but subsequently the travelling agent of the Sabha suddenly resigned and practioally no work could be done for about two years. This report may thus be taken to represent the sum total of the search-work for five years (1912 to 1916 inclusive) instead of the triennium ending the year 1914 only. The Local Government have since been pleased not only to renew their financial support for the work but to enhance the amount of the grant from Rs. 500 to Rs. 1,000 per annum, for which the best thanks of the Sabha and of the Hindi-loving. public in general are due to them. The work has now been resumed in all vigour and in an improved form and it may confidently be expected to be continued indefinitely without any let or hindrance.

The system of spelling followed in this report is that approved and adopted by the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, except in case of several well-known proper names where the already established spelling has been adhered to. it will be noticed that references have invariably been made to the "Misra Bandhu Vinoda" in case of all the authors generally known so far. We hesitated a good deal before doing so, we being among the three authors of that work, but we could not help it, as it is practically the only History of Hindi Literature extant and also the latest and most exhaustive work on the subject known to us. We therefore hope that scholars and the public will not take this action of ours ,as presumptuous. The English notes on authors will therefore be usually found to contain such particulars only as are not traceable in the "Vinoda" except that dates have invariably been added, if known. The text has been of course printed as it existed in each manuscript, without any attempt at correction even Where it is manifestly incorrect, for obvious reasons. It is a pity that a very large number of manuscripts should be found incorrectly copied.

**Contents and Sample Pages**