Oriental Research Institute — Attraction in Karnataka

When Scholars felt the need to collect, and preserve Sanskrit and Kannada palm leaf and Manuscripts, the idea of establishing an institution in the name of ‘Oriental Library’ came in their mind and that resulted in its establishment by Maharaja Sri Chamaraja Wadeyar in 1891. Mysore University was started in 1916. Since then ‘Oriental Library’ became an integral part of Mysore University. Its objects are to collect, preserve, edit and publish the rare valuable Sanskrit and Kannada palm leaf as well as Paper Manuscripts available in our country. Later in 1943 ‘Oriental Library’ was renamed as ‘Oriental Research Institute’. It is managed and administered by Director and staff. It has compiled and published ‘Sritattvanidhi’ of Sri Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadeyar, in three Volumes, comprising of Shakthi Nidhi, Vishnu Nidhi and Shiva Nidhi, apart from many other rare Sanskrit works. It has to its credit vast number of collection exceeding a lakh. Its library, as I have seen, contains more than 50,000 books in Sanskrit, Kannada, English, Hindi and other languages. It is an internationally recognised institution getting financial aid from USA and others. Infact Oriental Library was the first public library in Mysore that was dedicated to the cause of research and editing of manuscripts, keeping Indology as its prime focus. It has published nearly 200 titles from 1893 till date. It has preserved in its womb a rich collection of more than 75000 ancient, rare and highly valued materials, books and documents. I can quote some important and rare collections like Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics by James Hastings, Vedic Concordance by Maurice Bloomfield and critical editions of Ramayana and Mahabharata. I could not find any difficulty to pick the book of choice because the books are systematically arranged to have easy access to reader’s desired books and documents. The palm leaves manuscripts are of standard size of 15cm x 3.5cm. These are extraordinary manuscripts that open an unusual window to literature, philosophy, astrology, religious practices and languages that were in vogue in primordial times. Manuscripts are organic materials at risk of decay and destruction by Silverfish. Lemon grass oil is applied on manuscripts to preserve them. Lemon grass oil actually injects natural fluidity into the brittle palm leaves and hydrophobic nature of oil keeps the manuscripts dry and the text is not lost due to humidity. Conventional method is adopted to preserve manuscripts in microfilm. Original manuscripts are available for reference. ‘The Emperor's Riddles’ authored by Satyarth Nayak was featured by it in 2014. It is a mystery thriller novel as I have seen. I have visited this library several times. Oriental Institute is a treasure trove for knowledge seekers and research students and scholars, having preserved several greatest works of literature, philosophy, religion and what not! Visitors are allowed to see the palm leaf and paper manuscripts. It has preserved not only the rare manuscripts safely but also makes them available for research purposes. The name itself suggests its commitments to propagate Indian culture and heritage. It has been encouraging and furthering Indological research all these years from its inception. It is in reality a museum displaying 50,000 ancient palm-leaf manuscripts and later manuscripts in paper. Oriental Institute is found at northern end of Krishnaraja Boulevard Road. It is adjacently opposite to Crawford Hall and within the campus of Mysore University. Its building is architecturally beautiful and attracts viewers from a distance. It is actually the Jubilee Hall built in 1887 to commemorate golden jubilee of Queen Victoria`s taking over British throne. It is kept open for public from 8am to 8pm on all days. Contact on 0821 –...

Formerly known as the Oriental Library, the Oriental Research Institute (ORI) at Mysore, India, is a research institute which collects, exhibits, edits, and publishes rare manuscripts written in various scripts like Devanagari (Sanskrit), Brahmic  (Kannada), Nandinagari (Sanskrit), Grantha, Malayalam, Tigalari, etc. The Oriental Library was started in 1891 under the patronage of Maharaja Chamarajendra Wadiyar X. It is located at the northern end of Krishnaraja Boulevard (adjacently opposite to Mysore University's Crawford Hall), in the architecturally attractive Jubilee Hall built in 1887 to commemorate the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria's accession to the British throne. It was a part of the Department of Education until 1916, in which year it became part of the newly established University of Mysore. The Oriental Library was renamed as the Oriental Research...

It's high time Google maps introduced negative ratings. Library is good but worst staff. They're least bothered to preserve manuscripts and behave rudely with research students. They open the library very late and close for lunch break way before the lunch time and never open. They don't allow to use the library even if we have...