At a time when the nation is celebrating the birth anniversary of a great Buddhist scholar and traveller Pandit Rahul Sankritayana (1893-1963), his priceless rare Tibetan manuscripts are gathering dust in the lock and key room of the 108-year-old Bihar government’s Bihar Research Society ( BRS) a research and development wing of Patna museum building.

“Nobody is bothered about his rare and priceless collection of ten thousand Tibetan Buddhist manuscripts which he brought here from Tibet (from 1929-1938) on his four trips to Tibet,” said a fourth-grade employee of Patna museum. Rahul ji had donated all his collections to the 106-year old Patna museum in the year 1933 for researchers to study them.

These manuscripts were originally written in Sanskrit by scholars and monks studying at ancient Nalanda and Vikramshila universities between 7th to 12 century AD. Their copies and translations were taken to Tibet while the originals were lost when these two universities were destroyed, said an archaeologist.

For Indologists and Buddhist scholars, Rahul ji needs no introduction. He knew almost 30 languages but mostly wrote in Hindi. He spent over three decades travelling. There is also a separate Rahul gallery in Patna museum. All his manuscripts have been digitised but yet to be published. The Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh has made digitised copies of all his manuscripts.

The condition of all digitised copies (hard discs) are stored in a lock and key room of the BRS. A fourth grade gallery attendant of Patna museum normally opens it only for dusting of tables and chairs. About 40,000 books and journals of the BRS library are also gathering dust due to the absence of library assistants and other staff to look after rare Indological books and historical journals.

“I had gone to consult some reference journals in the BRS library but I found it locked so I had to return back”, said a young researcher from Patna.

With the transfer of the lone research assistant of the BRS in July last year, there is none to look after the library as well as the manuscript section of the BRS. As a matter of fact, there are eight sanctioned posts of the BRS, said an official. “The state department of art, culture and youth affairs is not at all bothered to look after the affairs of BRS where rare Buddhist manuscripts are kept”, said an employee.

“None of the senior officials have bothered to see the present condition of BRS once.”, said a staff of Patna museum. Incidentally BRS is one of the earliest Indological Research Instiutes of the country.

The major donor of the BRS is Pandit Rahul Sankrityana. The social media is abuzz with a bunch of messages of glowing tributes to Rahul ji but in reality his collections are at the mercy of God. Bihar is dotted with Buddhist sites/ centres throughout the state. There are innumerable Buddhist footprints in major Buddhist sites like Rajgir Nalanda Vaishali and Bodh Gaya . There are already two UNESCO world heritage sites in Bihar- Bodh Gaya and ruins of ancient Nalanda Mahavihara.