Complete Set of Nadia Prakash Fully Preserved and Bound

We previously reported the acquisition of the Bookeye 4, a professional, high resolution scanner. Since its arrival, we have been busy scanning beginning with the more delicate works, in particular the 31 bound volumes of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati’s daily newspaper Nadia Prakash.

We are happy to report that the scanning of Nadia Prakash is now completed – a huge task which resulted in almost 40,000 (forty thousand) images!

All 31 volumes have now been:
de-acidified;
laminated with acid-free sheets;
re-assembled in volumes ready for re-binding;
fully indexed 

BRC Acquires a First Class Scanning Machine

Our chief goal this year was to obtain a professional, high resolution scanner. With nearly 15,000 books in our catalogue this was a top priority. We are extremely happy to report that on July 24 2012 after six months of fund raising, we took delivery of a Bookeye 4 scanner (see photo above) by a German company ImageAcess.

Thanks to the enthusiastic support we received since we launched our scanner appeal in January we were able to purchase a better scanner than the Atiz Bookmini mentioned in our last newsletter. Costing almost 15 lakhs (approx. $27,000.00) the Bookeye 4 is a state-of-the-art machine capable of scanning 600 pages per hour.

It has a scanning area of 16×26″ (full newspaper size), a flat/V-shaped cradle, Self Service Scanning to USB, touch screen controls, Integrated 19″ preview screen, and 600 DPI software with OCR for very high resolution searchable images. Readers interested in seeing the technical details can do so here.

Along with the Bookeye 4 we also purchased a dedicated computer plus upgraded our on-line uninterruptable power backup system. The Bookeye can be used as a self-contained kiosk for quickly scanning documents, or with the additional computer it becomes part of our main server system with 5 terabytes of storage.

After receiving two days training our staff have now begun serious scanning, beginning with the multiple bound copies of Nadia Prakash, the daily newspaper of the Gaudiya Matha from the late 1920s.

Images will be uploaded to our website brcindia.com as they become available.

Rare Set of Astronomical Periodicals Found

We continue to be amazed at the contents of the collection of Sri Sundarananda Vidyavinoda. A recent search revealed the entire third year of publication, 1904, of Jyotir Vid, an astronomical periodical edited by both ‘K. Dutt’ and ‘Sri Bimala Prasada Siddhanta Sarasvati’.

Manuscripts Mission Update, West Bengal Report Part 2

Mission for Manuscripts continued in April with a second foray into the mathas and libraries of West Bengal. All told our intrepid team of Smt. Bharati Roy and photographer Ashish visited another eight repositories and photographed a further 81 manuscripts, making a total of 200+ so far. Here’s a few highlights:

Sripat of Srila Rasikananda 

We visited the Sripat (asrama) of Srila Rasikananda Prabhu at Gopiballabhpur in Midnapur. There is a beautiful temple with a repository of all the Goswami literatures. This place is about 400 years old.

Srila Rasikananda was one of the most prominent followers of the Six Goswamis and a contemporary of Srila Shyamananda. His Sripat has a set of his footprints, melted into the rock.

The current Mahanta there is Sri Krsna Kesava Dev Goswami, who comes in direct disciplic succession from Rasikananda.

He was very friendly and gave our team access to all their manuscripts:

Govinda Virudavali
Harinamamrta
Gitagovinda by Jayadeva
Radhika Sahasranama
Alamkarakaustubha by kavi Karnapura
Gopala Campu by Jiva Gosvami
Govinda Lilamrta by Jiva Gosvami
Uddhava sandesa by Rupa Gosvami
Caitanya candramrta by Pravodhananda Sarasvati
Tattva Sandarbha by Jiva Gosvami
Gitavali by Rupa Gosvami
Vaisnava Vandana by Daivakinandana
Pramabhakticandrika by Narottama Thakura.


Apart from the digital access, an actual manuscript copy on handmade paper of Caitanya Chandramrta by Srila Prabhodananda Sarasvati was presented to the BRC.

Phulia Shantipur Museum 

April 8th our team went to the Phulia Shantipur Museum where the library has 11,000 books along with the works of Sri Krittivas who was the celebrated translator of Ramayana into Bengali. He was a contemporary of Kasiram dasa who did a similar translation of the Mahabharata, and Jayadeva Goswami the famous Vaisnava poet. There we took photos of various paintings depicting the Ramayana.

Krishnanagar Public Library 

The secretary there is Deba Babu and he gave full access to their manuscripts library. In reciprocation Bharati returned on April 18 and presented a set of Srila Prabhupada’s books to their general library.

Sri Monami Roy Museum

A visit to an extensive private museum in Krishnanagar that was established by the late Sri Mohit Roy was also fruitful. Thousands of artifacts are on display. One old newspaper, Hicky’s Bengal Gazette, dates back to 1780. They also have an extensive library of manuscripts and literature.

Sri Monami Roy and his mother are the current custodians of his father’s legacy and they were happy to give us full access for digital copying.

The Sudarsanlala Mandir 

The Sudarsanlala Mandir in Navadwip has an extensive collection of printed works by the Six Goswamis and their followers. The Mahanta there, Sri Bhagavat dasa allowed us to photograph sixteen books, and he also presented us with a manuscripts of the Skanda Purana which is now on display in the BRC library (seen here next to a photo of the Sudarsanlal Deity)

Other notable places visited were:

The Dwijendra Pathagar, Krishnanagar, the place of the great poet Dwijendralal Roy who wrote Dhana Dhanye Puspe Bhara and Vande Mataram, two famous songs which are used as popular anthems of India. This is an old library and the librarian Mr. Apurva Kundu allowed us to photograph eleven manuscripts here.

Bally Sadharan Granthagar Howrah District — 7 manuscripts;
Chandannagar Pustakagar Hoogli District — 2 manuscripts;
Vasanti Durga temple, Baharampur in Murshidabad District

Specialised Preservations Begin on Nadia Prakash

After consulting experts in the field of historical preservation, we have decided on the best method of preserving particularly delicate publications. It involves paper lamination as an effort to arrest their deterioration and to enable us to handle them without causing any damage.

In March 2012 we initiated this program, beginning with Nadia Prakash.

A special acid-free tissue is applied both sides of the document, with a thicker half-inch gutter that can be used for binding. The tissue is pasted down with water soluble glue so that the process can be reversed easily if need be. Paper lamination extends the life of the document by at least 50 years.

Because the lamination tissue is opaque the text becomes somewhat obscured. However, despite this, our new Bookeye scanner produces clear, easily readable images at 600 DPI.

Our goal this year is to laminate at least 30 bound volumes of Nadia Prakash as well as multiple volumes of the other periodicals — Sajjana-toshani, Harmonist, Gaudiya, and Bhagavat.