Indore library has rare volumes of Hindu scriptures in Arabic, Portugeese and Farsi

ANI

Tue, 01 Jan 2008: 

Indore, July 24 (ANI): Not many people may know that some Indian scriptures, which were originally written in Sanskrit or Pali languages, are available in various foreign languages besides English. A visit to a special library here reveals that and much more.

 

Aziz Indori's private library, located in Khrana area of Indore, boasts of several rare volumes and publications of Hindu epics such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata in Portuguese, Urdu, Arabic and Persian languages.

 

The eight decades old library has a huge collection of over 11,000 ancient books written in Hindi, Urdu, English and Persian.

 

It is claimed that these ancient epics may not be available elsewhere in these languages.

 

For instance, the library has Mahabharata written in Persian language and a 300-year-old Ramayana, written in Persian and Urdu languages by Abul Fazal. All these versions have been well-preserved at the Aziz Indori's library.

 

Aziz Indori, the librarian says that the main aim behind translating the two ancient epics by a Muslim Abdul Fazal in Arabic, Portuguese and Farsi languages appears to spread the preaching of Ramayana and Mahabharata in Islamic countries.

 

"It's known that the Muslims didn't know Sanskrit, they only used to read Persian literature. The aim of writing this book in Persian is that the Muslim community could learn the religious stance and history here. The other reason was to send these books to the other countries outside India, where Persian was spoken.," said Aziz Indori, the librarian owner.

 

"A noticeable result comes out of it is that a Muslim wrote the scriptures and epics of Hindu religion. This was the specialty of that era," Aziz added.

 

Abdul Gani Khan, one local resident, said: "I can say only one thing about these Mahabharata and Ramayana that these are unique books, which can be found very rarely. These books have been written in Persian and Urdu language."

 

There is a huge collection of books on literature, mythology, religion, music such as Ghazals and Shayari, English literature and also on technology.

 

A number of students here visit this library to study books for their research work. By Rajni Khaitan(ANI)