Georg Bühler and the Western Discovery of Jain Temple Libraries

Summary

In his article “Georg Bühler and the Western Discovery of Jain Temple Libraries,” Donald Clay Johnson revisits the pioneering work of the nineteenth‑century Sanskritist and epigraphist Georg Bühler. Vidya Dehejia’s remark that India’s manuscript collections remain understudied prompts Johnson to examine how Bühler, who lived in India between 1862 and 1881, brought the extensive Jain temple libraries of western India to the attention of both Indian and European scholars. Johnson explains that although Colonel James Tod had earlier described the Hemacandra Bhaṇḍār at Patan, the systematic exploration of Jain libraries began with Bühler. As Professor of Sanskrit at Elphinstone College and later Inspector of Education, Bühler obtained government funding to travel through Gujarat and Rajasthan, where he formed close ties with Jain monks and lay leaders. Overcoming restrictions on non‑Jains entering temple precincts, he catalogued the collections of numerous bhaṇḍārs and acquired manuscripts for the Bombay Sanskrit Collection. His writings highlighted the remarkable resources preserved by Jain communities and documented their contributions to Indian culture. Johnson traces Bühler’s visits to libraries at Patan, Cambay, Siddhpur, Jaisalmer and other centres. Bühler’s accounts emphasise that the collections belonged to specific sub‑castes (such as the Kharttrā section), were controlled by temples but often supervised by wealthy laity, and contained not only Jain scriptures but also works on grammar, astronomy, ritual and secular subjects. Johnson analyses how Bühler’s reports stimulated interest among European scholars like Albrecht F. Weber and encouraged subsequent cataloguing efforts. Bühler’s work also influenced Indian reformers, who came to recognise the importance of preserving and studying their own manuscript heritage. Johnson argues that Bühler’s efforts did more than simply inventory books: by demonstrating that Jainism possessed a rich textual tradition and by negotiating with communities to make manuscripts available to scholars, he helped shift Western attitudes towards Jains from curiosity to appreciation of their historical role. Bühler’s legacy continued in the twentieth century with projects such as the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, which built on his model of combining scholarly research with preservation. Johnson concludes that Bühler’s discoveries mark a turning point in the West’s engagement with Jain literature and underscore the value of collaboration between scholars and custodians of manuscript libraries.