South Asian Core Collections

The South Asia collection at EFEO Central Library in Paris includes: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan.
This collection mainly focuses on classical research in religion, philosophy, religious history, art and religious iconography, archaeology, epigraphy, studies of source material, ancient history, and to a lesser extent, social sciences.

The collection expanded according to fields of research of EFEO researchers, such as Jean Filliozat, Suzanne Karpelès, François Gros, N.R. Bhatt, Françoise l'Hernault, etc.
Nowadays, it consists of approximately 21,000 documents in Western and Eastern languages (mainly in Sanskrit and Tamil), 133 titles of periodicals mainly in English language (including 22 current titles), more than one hundred manuscripts, a hundred maps, some rubbings and works of art (Tibetan figurines), and approximately 19,000 photographs (available for consultation at EFEO Paris photo library).

Since 2011, approximately 5,000 monographs and 50 titles of periodicals were deposited at BULAC (the following fields are in deposit according to documentary policy: literature and linguistics, Tamil studies, law, economics, sciences).
Collections of the Library of Pondicherry EFEO Center, which focus on Tamil and Sanskrit philology, archaeology, art history and epigraphy of South India, are also available in our online catalogs.

Contact: Maïté Hurel, head of the South Asian collection