The Pondicherry Library
Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient
Centre d'Indologie Po Box 151
16-19 rue Dumas
605 001 Pondicherry, INDIA
Tel. : + 91 413 233 45 39
Fax : + 91 413 233 08 86
Library: Shanty Rayapoulle
The coordination of various research programmes by the Pondicherry Centre of the EFEO has resulted in a collection of documentary resources comprising of 11400 printed volumes, 46 periodicals and 1633 palm-leaf manuscripts. The collection covers different branches of Indology: art, archaeology, epigraphy, grammar, linguistics, literature (Sanskrit and Tamil), traditional medicine, philosophy, religion, etc. and also includes the private collections of Marguerite Adiceam and Françoise L'Hernault. The Centre is also able to benefit from the well-stocked indological library of the French Institute of Pondicherry, which it helped develop and housed in its own premises until 2002.
The Centre's Library has always catered to the specific needs of the philological projects undertaken by indological teams and this has resulted in several unique collections such as the collection of Vaishnava.
The Centre has launched a Archive named SITA (South Indian Temple Archives).
The Centre also holds a precious collection of plans and elevations of South Indian temples, Tamil and colonial houses as well as maps of South-Indian towns and cities.
The Centre houses a collection of about 1633 palm-leaf manuscripts, most of which transmit vaishnava texts in Sanskrit, Tamil, and Manipravalam, which is a mixture of both these languages. In recognition of the importance of the manuscript holdings of the EFEO and of the French Institute of Pondicherry, the "Shaiva Manuscripts of Pondicherry" were in 2005 deemed a UNESCO "Memory of the World" Collection. A project aiming to catalogue this collection is presently underway.
Conditions of use and opening times
From Monday to Friday, 8.30 to 12.30 am and from 2.00 to 5.30 pm
- Closed on public holidays
- Loan restricted to EFEO staff
École française d'Extrême-Orient
16-19 rue Dumas
605 001 Pondicherry, India
Tel: +91 413 233 45 39
Fax: +91 413 233 08 86
goodalldominic@gmail.com
administration@efeo-pondicherry.org
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Jointly organised by IFP, the Alliance française de Pondichéry and the EFEO Centre in Pondicherry, this exhibition, conceived and realised by Jean Deloche, will be held as part of the Pondicherry Heritage Festival 2021.
This exhibition is an introduction to the history of the old French establishments in India and an inventory of their vanished monuments.
The whole meeting will take place online, the number of places will be restricted to 25 participants. For participation and registration please contact Eva Wilden. READ MORE