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South Asia: Himalayan Studies: Collection Highlights

This Guide contains information about Himalayan Studies (including Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, and the Tibetan cultural areas that traverse the borders of all those states), in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

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Overview of South Asia Collections in the Beinecke

The Beinecke holds many treasures from South Asia. Some are in Orbis, some require special assistance from the Beinecke staff:

Overview of the Tibetan Collection

We also have a very unique collection of Tibetan and other Himalayan material. To browse through the collection, search in Orbis for the following Local Call Numbers:
  • Tanka (Thangka) collection: 77 thangkas, circa 1600-circa 1950. All thangkas have been carefully photographed, front and back, and the images are available online.
  • "Newari" collectionNot in Orbis. Includes 150 manuscripts in Newari, Nepali, and Sanskrit. Most are from Nepal or northern India. Includes some palm leaf manuscripts.
  • Tibet Bernard: A very large collection (approx. 395 volumes) that includes the Rin chen gter mdzod, collected by Theos Bernard in 1937.
  • Tibet Kanjur: A 1949 copy of the Lhasa Kanjur in excellent condition. 
  • Tibet MSS: About 65 original Tibetan manuscripts from the 18th and 19th centuries.
  • Tibet T: Includes approximately 410 block prints (including Tibetan Book of the Dead); Bonpo texts.
  • Tibet T 401 - Tibet T 415: Fifteen Tibetan Buddhist scroll broadsides, mainly astrological.
  • BrSides Tibet T: A collection of approximately 100 broadsides (small poster-sized Buddhist illustrations).
  • Needham's papers, box 21: contains black and white photos of thangkas and Tibetan ritual objects held at other institutions.

Yale University Art Gallery

Regular circulating collection. To browse, search a starting call number (i.e. Tib 1) as "Call number (Local)" in Orbis.

  • Tib: This is the original PL480 collection of approximately 1000 Tibetan language items. 
  • Tib+: Over 700 reprints of Tibetan manuscipts, mostly from the Gene Smith TBRC collection.
  • Tibet: A slightly haphazard collection of 8 titles, mostly in English.

About Theos Bernard

Want to learn more abut Theos Bernard? Read through these books and articles:

Librarian for South Asian Studies