A Catalogue Hindi Manuscripts of in The Vrindaban Research Institute- Set of 2 Volumes (An Old and Rare Book)

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Since its inception in 1968, the Vrindaban Research Institute has made some notable progress towards the achievement of the two main aims-Samskrtisamraksana and Jnanasamvardhana: in this case, the preservation of the cultural heritage of Vaishnavism in North India and the diffusion of knowledge about Indian society in the post-media eval period.

Timely support, when the Institute was struggling its very existence, came from the Ministry of Education and Social Welfare (Government of India), the Department of Cultural Affairs (Government of Uttar Pradesh), and the University of Agra. An International Association of the Vrindaban Research Institute was formed in London in 1973, and through the efforts of Its members, academic links have been established with the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), the British Library, and the India Office Library and Records.

Between 1975 & 1918, a special project brought scholars and archivists to Vrindaban to enable them to make their contribution to the preservation and study of the Institute's rich holdings in respect of documents and manuscripts. In this way a considerable part of the the Institute's first aim was realized of some 20,000 manuscripts acquired, nearly a quarter have been fully fumigated, repaired and stored according to the most modern scientific techniques available in India and Europe.

The second, but equally important objective has been met to the extent that catalogues of approximately one half of the material will have been published by 1979. A third part of the Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts is in preparation. The campanion volume, A catalogue of Bengali manuscripts in the Vrindaban Research Institute, compiled by Dr. Tarapada Mukherjee, and published in London by School of Orieatal and African studies: and the present Catalogue of the Hindi Manuscripts will further ensure that, in little more than a decade since the first donations of manuscripts, scholars may enjoy access to a collection of Vaishnava Bhakti literature that is without parallel in North India. A Journal of the Vrindaban Research Institute and the Association's IAVRI Bulletin have kept the progress of work and discovery before the eyes of the general public. Lectures, symposia, shows of film and slides, and exhibitions have been held from time to time at various centres of learning in U. P. The Institute has been recognized as a research centre for Ph. D. by the University of Agra, and a postgraduate course in manuscriptology has also been planned.

Since the inception of the Vrindaban Research Institute, research on manuscripts collected was taken up with earnestness. The researchers and the scholars have much benefitted from our published catalogues of manuscripts in Hindi, Sanskrit and Bengali.

So far six catalogues of manuscripts in the Vrindaban Research Institute have been published. With the financial assistance from the Ford Foundation, New Delhi and the Department of Culture, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India a catalogue of manuscripts available on microfilms has also been published. The format of the catalogues adheres to the format prescribed by the Government.

The first volume of the catalogue of Hindi manuscripts listed 1500 manuscripts. This second volume contains further 1350 entries.

In this catalogue most of the manuscripts are in Brajbhasha. Information regarding scribes and manuscripts other than Brajbhasha has been given in the remarks column. The titles of the manuscripts and names of the authors have been mentioned in the Devnagari script and also in roman transliteration. The description of 200 scroll manuscripts wherein Krsnalila is depicted is a salient feature of this catalogue. They were composed by the founder of Lalit Nikunj (Shahjee Temple, Vrindaban) a famous poet named Lalit Kishori (Shah Kundanlal), who was a profound lover of rasa and well versed in the art of singing. In Vrindaban, Lalit Kishori was arranging rasalila with grandeur and as such was patrosnising folk-theatre. He got prepared a large number of scroll manuscripte of his own poetical compositions, particularly for the fair direction of samaja singers and the rasa artists. That is why Shahjee himself scribed sahi ('correct') in Persian script at the top of the scroll manuscripts. We conjecture two reasons for this. First, the material was compiled from the scattered pages in his own hand-writing; second, it was largely based on an early manuscript of 'Laghurasakalika. This material is particularly valuable from the view point of rasalila anukarana, i. e. the tradition of folk-theatre in the Braj area. It relates to 'Nikunjalila or grove dalliance. Shahjee admired the folk language in which a sweet combination of Braj bhasha, Khariboli and Urdu is maintained. He presented his compositions in musical and dramatic direccions.

**Contents and Sample Pages**