This week has seen the launch of a new project in the Oriental Section at Special Collections – the Clay Sanskrit Library.
Generously funded by the JJC Foundation, the Clay Sanskrit Library is a series of over 60 volumes spanning a wide range of Classical Indian literature published as Sanskrit-English parallel texts. With many volumes from the series already held at a number of university libraries, the JJC Foundation has commissioned this project to fulfil a variety of exciting new objectives:
• 50 complete sets of the Clay Sanskrit Library are to be donated to universities, research institutions and public libraries with a committed interest in Sanskrit, South Asian studies and Indian culture
• A new website is going to be launched promoting the collection and keeping academics and the public alike up-to-date with events
• A special outreach programme will be implemented, working with schools and public libraries to raise awareness about the history and value of Classical Indian literature to people today
• An academic conference will be held later in 2010, bringing together scholars who translated for the series to deliver papers on interesting aspects of their work with the collection to an academic audience
• Master classes and workshops will also be running later this year, providing people with an opportunity to discover the world of translation and what working with religious literature is like
Many of these developments are already underway, with a group of students from St James School in London (the only school in the UK to offer Sanskrit!) making a visit to the Bodleian on May 24th to see our outstanding manuscript collection and work with some of the texts.
The sets to be donated are already being held here at the New Bodleian, with the hope of delivering them to those libraries lucky enough to receive a donation in the coming months.
We will be keeping everyone up-to-date on all these aspects of the project and more through our Bodleian Libraries’ Special Collections Project page and blog, both to appear in the coming weeks… watch this space!
Matt Kimberley
Project Officer,
Clay Sanskrit Library