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Page 1
“...m SOAS
X University of London
------100 Years-
The Michael Palin Scholar and Dr Alan
Entwistle Digitisation Project
2016-17...”
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Page 8
“...much
of it composed in the local dialect of Hindi, Braj
Bhasa.
The nearby town of Hathras was the birthplace of
Ram Das Gupta, who was Lecturer in Hindi at
SOAS from 1962 to 1996. Ram Das Gupta
established the Vrindaban Research Institute [VRI)
in the upper floors of a pilgrim hostel owned by his
family in 1968. The VRI was dedicated to the task
of collecting, cataloguing and conserving some of
the manuscripts that were mouldering away in
their thousands in temple storerooms all across
the town. Dr Gupta recruited a small team of local
scholars and enabled a number of young people
to acquire the skills of manuscript
conservation. During the 1970s and 1980s the VRI
project, now supported by the International
Association of the Vrindaban Research Institute,
drew in other SOAS specialists in Hindi, Urdu,
Bengali, Sanskrit and Persian. Several SOAS
students completed Ph.D theses on Vaishnava
Hindu literature that drew on materials at the VRI.
The late Alan W. Entwistie (1949-1996) was one
such...”
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Page 9
“...and fit within the
bigger picture.
As a direct result of this project, users could
therefore use the digital images and interactive
map to put their own tour together, guided by the
images and information online.
Students, academics and amateur enthusiasts can
tailor their use of the digitized collection to
support their individual needs.
Brill Publishers, who hold the rights to Alan
Entwistle's monograph, have agreed to place the
monograph in the public domain. This means that
in due course. Dr Entwistle's text and maps will
also be brought to life in the same way.
Finally, a key feature of this collection is language.
Every photo's description records key data in
English and Hindiand some also support Tamil,
Telagu and Urdu.
It was vitally important to us that the collection be
easily searchable and usable by English and non-
English speakers alike. To this end, a fully
functional Hindi interface is planned for later in the
year, funded separately by the SOAS Library.
Some examples...”
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Page 10
“...Three digitised images
from The Dr Alan
Entwistie coliection.
Top: MukutavalT dukan in
LoT Bazaar : a shop seliing
headdresses for deities
Middle: Rath ka Mela : the
chariot
Bottom: Bengal
yogapitha...”
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