In India, Marking the Paper Trail of History 30,000 Help
Catalogue Manuscripts By Rama Lakshmi Special to The Washington
Post Monday, June 20, 2005; C01 NEW DELHI -- In the walled
quarters of the old city, a Sanskrit language scholar walks
purposefully along the packed, narrow and twisting alleyways,
jostling past rows of jewelry shoppers, cycle rickshaws, bullock
carts and beggars. When he comes upon an old temple with an
ornately carved doorway, he stops, sweating profusely in the
sweltering sun. "Do you have any ancient handwritten manuscripts
here?" Dilipkumar Rana, the scholar, asks in a whisper. The
stunned temple manager nods. "The government is doing a survey
of old manuscripts," Rana says. "But I have very few left now,"
says Jaipal Jain, the 61-year-old temple manager. "I threw many
old manuscripts into the river last year." "Why?" Rana asks
anxiously. "I had put them in the attic. Last year during the
monsoon, the ceiling leaked. And the water destroyed many of the
manuscripts," Jain says, sighing.