Research Guides: South Asian Studies: Primary Sources at Princeton

Using the PUL catalog

The Princeton University Library catalog will guide you toward primary resources in print and online, depending on your object of knowledge. Use the catalog to find autobiographies, literature, periodicals, census data, reports, and more.

Refer to the Library of Congress Romanization Tables for assistance with transliterating South Asian languages into Roman script. While this is the system used in the PUL catalog, search creatively as more than one system for representing SA languages is in use worldwide.

Notable SAS Collections at Princeton

South Asia Ephemera Collection The South Asian Ephemera Collection is an openly accessible repository of items that spans a variety of subjects and languages and will support research, teaching, and private study. Newly acquired materials are being digitized and added on an ongoing basis. Collections of ephemera and digital art elsewhere include:

The Priya Paul Collection, which was digitized by Tasveer Ghar and is hosted on Heidicon.
Paper Jewels: Postcards from the Raj by Omar Khan.
The South Asian Pamphlets Collection (1920-2005) at Duke University.
Newly catalogued pamphlets from the India Office Library Collection at the British Library.
Political pamphlets from the Indian Subcontinent, which is on microfilm and can be requested via ILL.
The South Asia Pamphlet Collection from the Library of Congress.
Ephemeriad, a self-funded project by Subhradeep Chatterjee that foregrounds accessibility of the collection for people who are visually impaired.
Olakh's Grassroots Feminist Political Posters in India at University of Wisconsin
Sahiyar's Grassroots Feminist Political Posters in India at University of Wisconsin

Granville Austin Papers, 1947-2014
Granville Austin (1927-2014) was an independent scholar and political historian known for his work on India's constitution. The collection is composed of Granville Austin's research files on India, mostly in the form of published articles or book excerpts that Austin collected and often annotated. The majority of the research files, notes and drafts relate to Austin's second book, Working a Democratic Constitution, but some files relate to his first book, The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation. Topics documented in the collection include the Indian constitution, center-state relations in India, Indian politicians and political parties, U.S. foreign relations with India, cases tried before the Indian Supreme Court, and various other subjects related to India's political and legal systems. Research material on the Middle East, material relating to Austin's other writings, professional and personal correspondence, including State Department files, as well as U. S. Information Service photographs and negatives compose additional parts of the collection.
Ananda K. Coomaraswamy Papers
Ananda K. Coomaraswamy was a noted art historian and champion of Ceylonese and Indian culture. This collection covers a broad spectrum of Ananda K. Coomaraswamy's work in the fields of art history, philosophy, religion, and social criticism.
Stella Bloch Papers Relating to Ananda K. Coomaraswamy
The Stella Bloch Papers Relating to Ananda K. Coomaraswamy consists of manuscripts, correspondence, drawings, photographs, printed material, and postcards of the American dance critic, art historian, and artist Stella Bloch (1898-1999). This collection documents the relationship between Bloch and the Anglo-Indian art historian, philosopher, and author Ananda K. Coomaraswamy (1877-1947) who embodied the roles of mentor, husband, and friend.
Collection of carte-de-visite portraits taken in Calcutta during the British Raj era / by Conway Hart ; Duval & Co. ; Sache & Westfield ; Schwarzschild & Co.
6 carte-de-visite portraits from Calcutta, 1860-1869.
The discovery of India by Jawaharlal Nehru
This is the copy gifted to Albert Einstein with an inscription by author.
Dissidents and Activists in Sri Lanka, 1960s-1990s
Dissidents and Activists in Sri Lanka, 1960s-1990s documents the activity of a generation of Sri Lankan radical activists who, in their different ways, attempted to escape the claims of rival ethno-nationalisms and build alternative political and development projects, drawing on Marxism, Christian socialism, and feminism, among other inspirations.
"Everything will be remembered" : a palimpsest / Ravi Kumar Kashi.
Artist's statement: In the light of anti-CAA protests and Delhi riots, I wanted to create a copper plate palimpsest for my time, so that the erasure of our constitutional values will not be forgotten. There are two layers of text in the work. In the partially erased layer seen beneath, is the preamble to the Indian Constitution, declaring its claim to secure justice, liberty, and equality to all citizens, and promote fraternity to maintain unity and integrity of the nation. That layer is being eroded, and replaced with textual details of Delhi riots, narrating the incidents of murder and rampage. There are Slogans of violence like “We will enter the house and beat you up” or “Shoot the traitors”. The type face of the second layer of the text is an English font called Samarkan, designed to look like a Sanskrit text, and is intended to act as a visual marker for the Indian right-wing practice of quoting ancient texts to gain validation. It is also a simulation of ancient handwritten palm leaf text manuals from India. The title for the work ‘Everything will be remembered’ comes from the title of the poem written by anti-CAA activist Aamir Azis, lines of which were also recently recited by a member of the band Pink Floyd.
Folk and tribal art about Covid-19
Works by Mithila, Gond, and Warli artists.
പാഠാരംഭം [Pāṭhārambham]
Unrecorded edition (1859) of Dr. Hermann Gundert's Malayalam primer. Only available copy and not available in the Hermann Gundert Portal: https://www.gundert-portal.de/
Princeton Digital Library of Islamic Manuscripts
The Princeton University Library has some 9,500 Islamic manuscripts, chiefly bound paper codices, containing a total of more than 20,000 texts. The manuscripts are located in the Manuscripts Division of the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, at the Harvey S. Firestone Memorial Library. Robert Garrett (Princeton Class of 1897) collected approximately two-thirds of these manuscripts and donated them to the Library in 1942. Since then, the Library has continued to acquire manuscripts by gift and purchase. The manuscripts are chiefly in Arabic but also include Persian, Ottoman Turkish, and other languages of the extended Islamic world written in Arabic script. They date from the early centuries of Islam through the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Most of the manuscripts originated in Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and other main centers of Islamic civilization. But there are examples from Moorish Spain and the Maghreb in the West, to the Indian sub-continent and the Indonesian archipelago in the East, and even sub-Sahara.
Prints by Hiroshi Yoshida: South Asia Series
Works include: Caravan from Afghanistan, The Great Temple at Madura, Moonlight at Taj Mahal No. 4, and Victoria Memorial.
SEPOY REBELLION, INDIA, 1857-1858
Purchased in July, 1994, a small collection of 58 books and pamphlets about the harrowing days of the Sepoy Rebellion, including firsthand narratives by survivors, works of military and political analysis, three decker novels, etc. Also, see the libguide "Narratives of Rebellion" for more resources on this topic: https://libguides.princeton.edu/c.php?g=84228&p=541338
The Vakil Amritsar.
52 issues of the biweekly Urdu periodical (April 1896-March 1897). Published by Khan Ata Mohammad Khan and focused on Muslim political thought.
Veerni Project Records
The Veerni Project is a non-governmental organization based in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India, which provides secondary education and boarding hostels for girls from rural villages in the Thar Desert region. The collection documents the organization's operations, including funding, programming, administration, outreach, and impact.

Alphabetical List of Primary Source Databases at Princeton

Databases by Subject: South Asian Studies
Access all the resources listed below via the Databases page on the PUL website. This is a comprehensive list of the databases available at Princeton for the study of South Asia.

ABIA - Index of South and Southeast Asian Art and Archaeology This link opens in a new window
A bibliography dedicated to South and Southeast Asian prehistory, archaeology of the historical period, art, crafts and architecture, inscriptions and palaeography, coins and seals of these regions.
Afghan Central Press Collection This link opens in a new window
The Afghan Central Press collection brings together four national, Kabul-based publications of Afghanistan whose long runs and prominence provide a concentrated vantage point for understanding developments in Afghanistan for much of the twentieth century. The English-language Kabul Times is presented alongside Pushto publications Anīs, Hewād, and Iṣlāḥ. The archives of these newspapers provide a chronicle of events from the fall of the Kingdom of Afghanistan, the establishment of the People’s Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, the Soviet invasion, the rise of the Mujahedeen, the establishment of the Taliban and Al Qaeda, invasion by the United States and the ensuing period of reconstruction from the view of the capital.
Afghan Serials Collection This link opens in a new window
This is a collection of partisan serials from the Wahdat Library, a private collection of rare newspapers and journals from Afghanistan. It includes more than 2,500 individual issues of 46 newspapers and journals published in Persian, Pushto, Arabic, Urdu, and English. Documenting the breadth of Afghanistan’s political epochs, the Afghan Serials Collection covers the use of the press by many groups that sought to shape Afghanistan’s social and intellectual landscape including the Communist People’s Democratic Party (PDPA); exiled loyalists to the deposed Afghan monarchy; independent humanitarians and intellectuals seeking to better their country; anti-Soviet mujaheddin groups from a range of political movements; the Taliban; and minority political parties that have emerged following the post-2001 transition towards democracy.
Afghanistan War and the United States, 1998-2017 This link opens in a new window
This collection consists of primary documents from the key periods of the 20-year U.S. war in Afghanistan. Largely the product of decades of FOIA requests and appeals, these records obtained from the State Department, CENTCOM, the DIA, and other agencies detail many of the problems that beset the American-led occupation, including reconstruction efforts, diplomatic relations with the Afghan government, relations with Pakistan, Taliban-al Qaeda relations, corruption, and narcotics.

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches
This is the online home of Dr. Ambedkar's writings and speeches. It is produced by the Ambedkar International Center (AIC)

Archives Unbound This link opens in a new window
South Asia-related collections include:
- Afghanistan in 1919: The Third Anglo-Afghan War
- Afghanistan and the U.S., 1945-1963: Records of the U.S. State Department Central Classified Files
- Evangelism in India: Correspondence of the Board of Foreign Missions, 1833-1910
- Hindu Conspiracy Cases: Activities of the Indian Independence Movement in the U.S., 1908-1933
- India from Crown Rule to Republic, 1945-1949: Records of the U.S. State Department
- Indian Army and Colonial Warfare on the Frontiers of India, 1914-1920
- India-Pakistan Conflict: Records of the U.S. State Department, February 1963-1966
ARTstor This link opens in a new window
Digital library of more than one million images in the areas of art, architecture, the humanities, and social sciences with a set of tools to view, present, and manage images for research and pedagogical purposes.
Brill Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
See the following for South Asia:
The Archives of the Church in North India - Archival Collection
The Archives of the Church in North India - Monograph Collection
Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic, and Marathi Jewish Printing in India Online
Lithographed Editions of Firdawsī's Shāhnāmah Online
U.S. Intelligence on Asia, 1945-1991
British Library Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Covers many topics related to South Asia from mid-eighteenth century to mid-twentieth century.
British Online Archives This link opens in a new window
South Asia-related collections include:
- The atheist politician and his anti-war daughter: the Bradlaughs, 1833-1948
- Colonial women missionaries of the Committee for Women's Work, 1861-1967
- India, business and control 1806 to 1814: in the records of the Governor-General
- India, uprising and reform 1879 to 1910: in the records of the Governor-General
- Indian and Sri Lankan records from colonial missionaries, 1770-1931
- Indian Communists and Trade Unionists on Trial: The Meerut Conspiracy, 1929-1933
- Taking India, how the military established Company rule, 1752-1774 (Indian Papers of Clive and Carnac)
- World News in Indian Newspapers, 1782-1908 (includes three English language newspapers published in India during the period 1782-1908: The India Gazette (1782-1834); The Bengal Hurkaru and Chronicle (1822-1866); and The Bengal Times (1876-1908)).
CapExdx This link opens in a new window
Database of investment projects that involve the setting up of new capacities in India. Captures only those projects that entail a capital expenditure of Rs.10 million or more. 1995+
Registration required from a Princeton IP.
Central Asia, Persia and Afghanistan, 1834-1922: From Silk Road to Soviet Rule This link opens in a new window
This collection of Foreign Office files explores the history of Persia (Iran), Central Asia and Afghanistan from the decline of the Silk Road in the first half of the nineteenth century to the establishment of Soviet rule over parts of the region in the early 1920s. It encompasses the era of “The Great Game” - a political and diplomatic confrontation between the Russian and British Empires for influence, territory and trade across a vast region, from the Black Sea in the west to the Pamir Mountains in the east.
Centre of South Asian Studies : Film Collections This link opens in a new window
Approximately 50 individual collections totaling 80 hours of footage, mostly home movies.
Church Missionary Society Periodicals This link opens in a new window
Documents missionary work from the 19th to the 21st century. The periodicals include news, journals and reports related to the CMS in South Asia.
Colonial Film: Moving Images of the British Empire This link opens in a new window
Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Features films from the British Film Institute, the Imperial War Museum, and the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum.
Critical Collective This link opens in a new window
A rich site focused on Indian visual and performing arts that promotes exhibitions, features interviews, and provides access to a number of articles on topics like photography, gender, film, and related to specific artists. The 20th-century articles accessible here are likely not widely available otherwise.
Digital Himalaya This link opens in a new window
Multimedia anthropological information from the Himalayan region including texts, maps, films, music, and journals.
Digital South Asia Library This link opens in a new window
Digital materials for reference and research on South Asia: dictionaries, texts, images, maps, statistics.
Diplomacy and Political Secrets This link opens in a new window
Documents on some Chinese frontier regions from the perspective of British India, 1869-1950.
Early Arabic Printed Books From the British Library Science & History This link opens in a new window
Digital library of early printed books in Arabic script. Covering religious literature, law, science, mathematics, astrology, alchemy, medicine, geography, travel, history, chronicles, and literature, and including European translations of Arabic works and Arabic translations of European books, it exemplifies the long exchange of ideas and learning between Europe and the Arabic-speaking world. 1475-1900
East India Company This link opens in a new window
A collection by Adam Matthew. Offers access to India Office Records from the British Library. Contains royal charters, correspondence, trading diaries, minutes of council meetings and reports of expeditions, among other document types. Charts the history of British trade and rule in the Indian subcontinent and beyond from 1599 to 1947.
Eighteenth Century Journals This link opens in a new window
A collection by Adam Matthew. Digital edition of journals and newspapers published between 1685-1815 in England, Scotland, Ireland, Jamaica, and British India. South Asian titles include the Bombay Courier, the Calcutta Gazette, or, Oriental Advertiser, the India Gazette, or, India Public Advertiser, and others.
Elections in India This link opens in a new window
Provides electoral information for 543 parliamentary constituencies, 4120 assembly constituencies, 640 districts, 5924 sub-districts, 7933 towns, 640930 villages and 927553 polling stations of India.
Empire Online This link opens in a new window
A collection by Adam Matthew. Brings together manuscript, printed and visual primary source materials for the study of 'Empire' and its theories, practices and consequences. The materials span across the last 5 centuries and are accompanied by secondary learning resources including scholarly essays, maps and an interactive chronology.
Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
Interdisciplinary, bilingual (English and Spanish), full-text database of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority, and native press.
Ethnographic Video Online This link opens in a new window
Covers every region of the world and features the work of many of the most influential documentary filmmakers of the 20th century, including interviews, previously unreleased raw footage, field notes, study guides, and more for the study of human culture and behavior.
Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports This link opens in a new window
Translation service of the U.S. Government, usually attributed to the Central Intelligence Agency. It covered political, military, economic, environmental and sociological news and commentary, as well as scientific and technical information. Can narrow results geographically. For later years see World News Connection.
For later years see World News Connection.
Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan This link opens in a new window
Material from the British government on the countries of South Asia from shortly before Indian partition and independence up to 1980. Includes DO 133, DO 134, FO 371 and FCO 37 files from The National Archives, Kew.The Foreign Office was created in 1782 and became the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1968. It was the government department responsible for the conduct of British relations with nearly all foreign states between those dates (British colonies and dominions were dealt with by separate departments)
Hindustan Times This link opens in a new window
Hindustan Times is one of the largest newspapers in India and was founded in 1924 by the leader of the Akali movement, Sunder Singh Lyallpuri. Introduced at the opening ceremony by Mahatma Gandhi and edited by his son, Devdas Gandhi, the Hindustan Times played an essential role in the Indian independence movement. The digital archive of this newspaper serves researchers interested in colonialism and post-colonialism, British and world history, class and gender, international relations, comparative religion, international economics, and more. Hindustan Times is the second most widely read English newspaper in India (after The Times of India).
ImageQuest This link opens in a new window
Over two million images of objects, events, places, works of art, sports, and scientific pursuits, from dozens of collections such as Getty Images and the National Geographic Society. Each image includes full citation and copyright information. Rights have been cleared for education use.
India, Raj and Empire This link opens in a new window
A collection by Adam Matthew. Digitized manuscripts from the National Library of Scotland, from the foundation of the East India Company in 1615 to the 1947 Independence of India and Pakistan.
Indian Army and Colonial Warfare on the Frontiers of India, 1914-1920: This link opens in a new window
Focusing on the North-West Frontier, this collection contains Army Lists; Orders; Instructions; Regulations; Acts; Manuals; Strength Returns; Orders of Battle; Administration Summaries; organization, commissions, committees, reports, maneuvers; departments of the Indian Army; and regimental narratives. Reproduction of the originals from the British Library. Date range of documents: 1914-1920.
Indiastat.com This link opens in a new window
Socio-economic statistical facts and figures for India at the national and state level.NOTE: Click on "IP Login" to access. One concurrent user.
Click on IP Login.
Joint Publications Research Service (JPRS) This link opens in a new window
English-language archive of U.S. government translations of foreign scientific, technical, and social science monographs, reports, journal and newspaper articles, and radio and television broadcasts. Can narrow results geographically. Companion to Foreign Broadcast Information Service Daily Reports, 1957-1995.
Khabar Lahariya This link opens in a new window
Khabar Lahariya is a women-run independent rural news outlet in India. The sign-in provides access to KL Hatke, Khabar Lahariya’s premium content.
Legal Information Institute of India This link opens in a new window
Free, independent and non-profit access to 109 databases of Indian law.
Making Of Modern Law: Foreign, Comparative, and International Law, 1600-1926 This link opens in a new window
Provides digital access to historical legal treatises and commentaries covering the law in a variety of foreign jurisdictions including Afghanistan, India, and Sri Lanka as well as international, comparative and religious (Canon, Jewish, and Islamic) law topics.

Making of the Modern World Digital Archive
Digital edition of the Goldsmiths'-Kress collections of books that document economic and business activity in the West, from 1450 to 1945. Materials include books, pamphlets and ephemera and cover a broad range of topics in political science, history, sociology, and banking, finance, transportation and manufacturing.

MARG Magazine Archive Collection This link opens in a new window
The MARG Magazine began in 1946 and is published four times a year. It’s founding editor was writer Mulk Raj Anand, who intended it to be a loose encyclopaedia of the arts of India and related civilizations. Now it is a quarterly, produced in Mumbai.
Mitra Sharafi's South Asian Legal History Resource Page This link opens in a new window
Tools and resources for the historical study of law in South Asia.
NewsBank (Access World News) This link opens in a new window
Provides full-text of many USA and international newspapers. Can narrow geographically.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
Also, see the alternative interface Artemis Primary Sources that allows users to analyze content using frequency and term-relationship tools.
Pakistan Law Site This link opens in a new window
The Pakistan Law Site is a repository of statutes, rules and cases related to Pakistan. The repository also contains academic articles published in the law-reporting journals of PLD Publishers.
Policy Commons: Global Think Tanks This link opens in a new window
Policy Commons preserves and provides access to more than 30 million pages of curated policy reports and briefs, analyses, working papers, books, case studies, tables, charts, media, and statistical publications created by 25,000 policy organizations (NGOs, IGOs, foundations, think tanks, government agencies, etc.) from around the world. Platform provides multiple filters and advanced searching operators.
Prowess This link opens in a new window
Daily stock price data and detailed fundamentals data for companies in India. Both private and public companies are included. Produced by Centre for the Monitoring of the Indian Economy (CMIE). Also contains data on Ownership and governance (board composition, meetings, major stakeholders, subsidiaries etc.) and mergers & acquisitions. 1989+
Registration required from a Princeton IP.
Savifa: Virtuelle Fachbibliothek Sudasien This link opens in a new window
University of Heidelberg information gateway for South Asian Studies.
SCC Online Indian Law This link opens in a new window
Extensive searchable database of Indian case law and statute law. Contains some secondary source material and some pre-statehood material as well. NOTE: Must register for an account before first use.
Shodhganga This link opens in a new window
Reservoir of theses from India.
South Asia Archive This link opens in a new window
The South Asia Archive is a resource for students and scholars across the humanities and social sciences, and the historical documents within it cover colonial and early post-colonial India and the wider sub-continent. Comprising material sourced from collectors and archivists by the South Asia Research Foundation, this Archive brings together primary and secondary content.

South Asian Media Net
The South Asian Media Net strives to bring together "news, views, analyses and information from a diverse collection of sources under one banner."

South Asian Newspapers (Center for Research Libraries - Global Research Network) This link opens in a new window
Chronicles conflicts as well as contemporary perspectives on independence movements, early statehood, and the extensive economic and social growth taking place in South Asia. The collection covers several countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan), India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, and features multiple languages such as Bengali, Dari, English, Nepali, and more.

Daily Business Post, 1963-1973
Dainika Basumati, 1962-1992
Dnyanaprakasa, 1914-1938
Eastern Examiner, 1962-1973
Kerala Chronicle, 1962-1963
Lahore Chronicle, 1850-1868
Malabar Herald, 1962-1972
Pakistan Observer, 1962-1971
Samaja, 1978-1983
South and Southeast Asian Literature This link opens in a new window
Fiction & poetry written in English by authors from South & Southeast Asia & their Diasporas. Focusing on works composed during the late-colonial & postcolonial eras, the collection will also feature author interviews & manuscript materials.
States of India This link opens in a new window
Demographics, infrastructure, investment, economic, socio-economic and political data on India. Includes states, union territories, and districts.
Registration required from a Princeton IP.
TBRC Digital Library: Core Text Collections This link opens in a new window
Provides digitized copies of a range of Tibetan texts from the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center.
Times of India (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new window
Covers The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce, The Bombay Times and Standard, and The Times of India, 1838-2009.
Times of India This link opens in a new window
Covers August 2001+
U.K. Parliamentary Papers This link opens in a new window
Includes the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers from 1715 to the present (with supplementary material back to 1688) and the House of Lords Papers from 1715-1910. Includes searchable full text and subject indexing. The Parliamentary Papers are an essential primary source for Britain, its colonies, and the wider world. They are the working documents of government for all areas of social, political, economic, and foreign policy. 1688+
World Almanac of Islamism This link opens in a new window
Designed to track the rise or decline of radical Islam on a national, regional and global level. Focuses on the nature of the contemporary Islamist threat around the world, and on the current activities of radical Islamist movements worldwide.
World Newspaper Archive - South Asian Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Historical newspapers include Amrita Bazar Patrika (Calcutta, 1870-1922), Bankura Darpan (Bankura, 1903-1908), Ceylon Observer (Colombo, 1864-1922), Indian People (Allahabad, 1903-1909), Kayasare hinda (Bombay, 1882-1922), Leader (Allahabad, 1909-1922), Madras Mail (Madras, 1868-1889), Pioneer (Allahabad, 1865-1903), and Tribune (Lahore, 1881-1922).