Asiatic Society of Bombay

The Asiatic Society of Bombay is based in Mumbai. It can trace its origin to the Literary Society of Bombay which first met in Mumbai on November 26, 1804, and was founded by Sir James Mackintosh. It was formed with the intention of “promoting useful knowledge, particularly such as is now immediately connected with India”. After the Royal Asiatic Society was established in London in 1823, the Literary Society of Bombay became affiliated with it and was known as the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society since 1830. The Bombay Geographical Society merged with it in 1873 followed by the Anthropological Society of Bombay in 1896. In 1954, it was renamed the Asiatic Society of Bombay; it acquired its present name in 2002. It is funded by an annual grant from the Central Government of India.

The library has over a hundred thousand books out of which 15,000 are classified as rare and valuable. It also has priceless articles, over 3,000 ancient manuscripts in Persian, Sanskrit and Prakrit.
Among the rare works are:
1. One of only two known original copies of Dante’s Divine Comedy
2. The Vasupujyacharita (12th century) Sanskrit text following the life of the Jain Tirthankara Vasupujya
3. The Shahnama of Firdausi (1853), written in Persian
4. The Aranyakaparvan (16th century) manuscript contains illustrated text from the Mahabharat and is  written in Sanskrit.
5. Five Buddhist caskets excavated in the ancient port town of Sopara near the suburb of Nala Sopara.
Source: Wikipedia

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