Shahin Bepari Lambe
Panaji : The Kundaikar Collection, a rare compilation of books and manuscripts in Portuguese, English, and Marathi, has been catalogued by the Archives Department and will soon be accessible on its official website, an official from the department said.
The department has been in possession of the collection since 1980, after it was donated by the Kundaikar family of Kundai village in Ponda taluka.
“To help students and the general public explore these valuable works, the department has created a detailed catalogue of the entire collection. This catalogue will soon be available on the department’s official website. Those who prefer can also visit the library to browse the physical collection,” the official said.
All manuscripts have been carefully digitised to ensure their long-term preservation, making them accessible to future generations and easier to study without damaging the originals.
In addition to books, the family gifted several ancient Sanskrit manuscripts to the department, covering subjects such as religion, astrology, mathematics, grammar, and traditional Indian medicine.
Some of the important manuscripts in the collection include: Sahyadri Khand, part of the Skanda Purana, giving detailed information about the Konkan region and Brahmin communities of southwest India; Laghu Chintamani, a text on ‘jyotish shastra’ (astrology) containing calculations related to time and planetary positions; Lilavati Vivaran, a famous mathematical work by Bhaskaracharya (Bhaskara II), dealing with topics such as area, perimeter, and diameter; Amarkosh, a Sanskrit dictionary divided into three sections — Svargadi Kanda (words related to heaven and celestial beings), Bhuvargadi Kanda (words about earth, towns, animals, and people), and Samanyadi Kanda (common and grammar-related words); and Dhaturupavali, a Sanskrit grammar text.
The collection also features manuscripts of the Bhagavad Gita, Dnyaneshwari, Ramayana, Mahabharata, various stotras (prayers), pujas, and ancient works on Ayurveda, Puranas, Upanishads, and Sanskrit epics such as Raghuvansh Mahakavya and Karatarjuniya Mahakavya.
“The department also held a practical demonstration and PowerPoint presentation to show the importance of preserving and handling rare manuscripts. Attendees got hands-on experience and learned how to care for ancient documents. The library plans to organise more such events in the future to inspire interest in ancient Indian knowledge,” the official said.
The department has invited students, researchers, and scholars to study these manuscripts and collaborate in promoting Sanskrit and India’s cultural heritage. “By digitizing these manuscripts and making them available to all, the Department hopes to encourage more people to discover and value the treasures of Indian history and knowledge,” the official added.
The catalogue was prepared with the special assistance of Mahesh Kapdi, a Sanskrit scholar from Shankar Pathshala, Ponda.
