South Asian Manuscript Histories and Textual Archive
सं + हिता · collection · bringing together
SAMHiTA is an initiative to create a relational database and digital archive of Indian and broadly South Asian manuscripts housed in libraries, archives and repositories outside India — through collaboration with institutional partners worldwide.
India's learned inheritance spans medicine, mathematics, architecture, philosophy, aesthetics, and literature. Its continuous transmission from ancient times was through hand-written texts in languages such as Sanskrit, Tamil, Odia, and Bengali — in scripts like Nagari, Grantha, Sharda, and Newari — written on copper plate, birch bark, parchment, and palm leaf.
From around the 2nd–3rd centuries CE, texts fanned outwards to regions like Balkh, Xinjiang, Tibet, Japan, Thailand, and Bhutan. Today, Indic manuscripts are scattered across Asia, Europe, and North America. SAMHiTA is the first attempt to bring together repositories on a common platform, sharing all collected information on PANDiT: Prosopographical Database of Indic Texts and Records.
The Nāmasaṅgīti is a liturgical musical text composed in praise of Lord Buddha. This manuscript consists of numerous verses spans across folios 50 to...
This is an unknown text. There are two folios, but the handwriting is illegible. The codex is damaged. Three types of handwriting are present and ther...
This is the larger Sukhāvatīvyūha-mahāyānasūtra text. It speaks of the Buddha Amitābha (or Amitāyus) and the Pure Land, also known as the Blessed Land...
This text is part of the larger Sukhāvatīvyūha. It speaks of the Buddha Amitābha (or Amitāyus) and the Pure Land, also known as the Blessed Land. It d...
A published manuscript record from the SAMHiTA public archive.
A published manuscript record from the SAMHiTA public archive.
Creating a relational database and open digital archive of Indic manuscripts held in repositories outside India.
Partnering with the British Library, Bodleian Oxford, BnF Paris, University of Tokyo, University of Pennsylvania and more.
All collected information is shared on PANDiT — the Prosopographical Database of Indic Texts and Records.
Recovering, preserving and making accessible centuries of Indian knowledge in medicine, mathematics, philosophy and the arts.
Consolidating dispersed manuscript information on an online platform accessible to researchers, students and curious minds.
The Kriti-SAMHiTA lecture series and master classes show how manuscripts unfold centuries-old knowledge traditions.
The history of our manuscripts is intertwined with a very long history of movement of peoples, of ideas, of cultures and even scripts, across the entire space of Asia — Central Asia, West Asia, as well as Southeast Asia. This is a very exciting cultural journey in which I invite all of you to participate.
South Asia's manuscript heritage is what connects us with our intellectual and imaginative inheritance. What we do not have is an international collaborative effort to streamline individual efforts so as to achieve greater impact. SAMHiTA will fill this gap.
There is an urgent need to retrieve this knowledge and put it back together, so that the world can access it for purposes of research and deeper learning. SAMHiTA works with PANDiT to put together a relational database and open digital library for manuscripts abroad.
An exhibition tracing India’s contribution to global mathematics.
View Exhibition
An exhibition tracing India’s contribution to global mathematics.
View Exhibition
The Indian Civilisation’s Contribution to Mathematics, inaugurated at the United Nations Headquarters, New York.
View Exhibition
An online exhibition capturing the stories of South Asian manuscripts.
View ExhibitionExternal Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar inaugurated “From Shunya to Ananta (Zero to Infinity)” at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, highlighting India's civilisational contributions to global mathematics.
Read ArticleThe idea of zero came from yoga — to achieve shunyata. The ideas of mathematics emerged through social science and philosophy. EAM Jaishankar inaugurated a landmark exhibition showcasing India's mathematical heritage at the United Nations.
Read ArticleThe SAMHiTA exhibition at the India International Centre reveals how Indian narratives influenced cultures across Asia through movement, plurality, interaction, and cultural exchange.
Read ArticleIIC's ongoing lecture series demonstrates how manuscripts unfold centuries-old knowledge traditions and their diffusion across regions — and glimpses of everyday life in the past.
Dominik Wujastyk
University of Alberta, Canada
Martin Gluckman
Sanskrit Research Institute, Auroville
In partnership with the Sanskrit Research Institute, Auroville, SAMHiTA is mapping repositories across the world with holdings of Indic manuscripts — collating data to build a list of collections organized by institution, country, size and languages.
The Development Administration Partnership (DPA IV) of the Ministry of External Affairs is the nodal point for India's heritage restoration projects globally — contributing to the restoration of cultural heritage from Sri Lanka to Myanmar to Vietnam to Bhutan. Through SAMHiTA, the MEA extends this mission to scripture preservation and digitization of manuscripts — promoting the revival of Intangible Cultural Heritage including language, rituals, practices, and performing arts in an institutional manner, strengthening India's cultural and heritage linkages with partner nations.
SAMHiTA organises specialised master classes on manuscript studies, palaeography, and South Asian textual traditions, open to scholars, students, and anyone with a passion for this living heritage.
Sessions bring together experts from India and the world to share practical knowledge on reading, cataloguing, preserving, and interpreting manuscripts.
