[RAS Tod MS 126] Two texts on Indian history and legends

The manuscript consists of two texts bound together in one volume: 126.1: Hindusthān-kī bādshāhī-kā pramāṇ vā oddhā kārkhānā-kī kitāb (tabulated sketch of administrative offices in the kingdoms of India); 126.2: Vikrama-vilāsa (tales of King Vikramāditya by Miśra Gaṅgeśa). The flyleaf is inscribed by Tod with a list of contents – ‘Bikramabhilās – Bikram Bulass – a Hist. of Beekramajeet’ and ‘Hindustan’s Kings’, including the fact that the material is ‘from Jepur Library, Gwalior 1815. James Tod’. Rima Hooja notes that these texts appear to have been copied from texts in the library of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh – Jaipur’s original library. Part of this library was dispersed early in the 19th century during the reign of Maharaja Sawai Jagat Singh. It is therefore possible that these texts were copied from manuscripts no longer in the City Palace Library in Jaipur. Tod Manuscript Collection. See L. D. Barnett ‘Catalogue of the Tod Collection of Indian manuscripts in the possession of the Royal Asiatic Society’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1940, Pt. 2, p.157. See also unpublished catalogue of the RAS Tod manuscripts by Dr. Rima Hooja, 2002, held in the RAS library. Lt. Col. James Tod, gift, 182-?. Copies completed c.1815 CE.

Description: 20, 39 f.; 31 x 23 cm. Paper; text in black ink, with left and right-hand margins marked by parallel lines of red ink, and tables and underlining also in red. The handwriting indicates that the two texts were copied by different scribes.
Digitization sponsored by Dr Shuchi Gupta, 2022.