Manuscripts and documents; a gift from Britsh library to Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 3 (UNI) The British Library has handed over volumes of catalogue of Malayalam manuscripts and books among other documents available with them, to the Kerala Council for Historical Research (KCHR).

KCHR director P J Cherian received them from Dr Penny Brook, head of the India Office Records (IOR), British Library, when the former visited U K recently, a release said here.

The microfiche copy of those not included in the published catalogues, the bibliography of the biographical writings by Europeans who came to India as traders, administrators, missionaries and entrepreneurs were among the other documents donated to the KCHR library.

The Malayalam collection in the British Library dates back to the pre-colonial days. The catalogue would provide a glimpse into the nature of 'native' documents collected by the colonial masters of the region, the release said.

The documents related to India in IOR include administrative, political, social and legal records, private papers, diaries, memoirs, maps and photographs.

The KCHR has begun efforts to make a comprehensive list and details of the contents of the documents related to Travancore.

Kochi and Malabar, it said.

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