Southeast Asian languages

Overview

The Southeast Asian collection encompasses several thousand printed works and around 4,100 manuscripts in the languages Burmese, Batak, Javanese and Balinese, Cambodian, Lampung, Laotian, Malayan, Vietnamese, Thai and the languages of the Philippines.

Main focuses of content

A selection of secondary literature in Western European languages is acquired. The main focus of the content of the secondary literature is on humanities – philosophy, religion (Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam in Asia), history, archaeology, linguistics and literature, ethnic studies, architecture and art and classic text editions.

Manuscripts

The Oriental and Asia Department manages the Southeast Asian manuscripts technically (acquisition, subject information, guided tours, exhibitions), while the Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books administrates them and is in charge of their use. The Southeast Asian manuscripts can be consulted in the Reading Room for Manuscripts and Rare Books. At present, the acquisition policy for Southeast Asian manuscripts is determined by the scholarly relevance of texts and their aesthetic-museological aspect.

The 4,100 Southeast Asian manuscripts of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek are subdivided into the following languages: Indonesian languages (2,650), Burmese (900), Thai (500), etc. The materials used for writing on are unusually varied: paper, palm leaves, dluwang, bamboo, wood, textile fabric, ivory, bone, stone, gold, silver and other metals. The Southeast Asian manuscripts are categorised in line with the language.

Burmese manuscripts

The collection of Burmese manuscripts includes writings of Buddhism, astrology (horoscopes, etc.), numerous forms of orders (kammavācās) of different designs, apotropaic and divinatory objects and a number of manuscripts of the minority people of the Shan.

Javanese manuscripts

The 2,600 Javanese manuscripts, most of them palm leaf manuscripts, include texts of Hinduism, medicine, to a limited extent also with Islamic or Buddhist content.

Manuscripts from other Southeast Asian countries

Smaller groups are formed by Laotian, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Malayan and Philippine manuscripts. Manuscripts of Vietnamese provenance can be found under the classification marks Cod.sin. 82 – 84 and 214 – 255. There are 24 Batak and 11 Lampung manuscripts from Sumatra.

History

While the catalogues of the 19th century have entries of a small number of Southeast Asian manuscripts, the majority of these manuscripts was acquired only as of the 1970s. Since 1973, the number of Oriental and Asian manuscripts has quintupled from 3,300 to 18,400 today. In the process, particular emphasis was laid on expanding valuable and extensive source collections from Southeast Asia. Up to this time, the library held only a small number of items from these regions. Partly by consistently purchasing individual items and small groups of items, partly by purchasing complete, large collections, extensive collections of manuscripts from Myanmar and Thailand in particular could be established since 1976.

The next great purchases, not only in view of high quality, but also large quantity, have taken place in the form of the acquisition of palm leaf manuscripts from Java and Bali since 1984. A very noteworthy collection of works from the Yao people native to southern China and various Southeast Asian states, has been added step by step since 1989. (Further information on the Yao manuscripts) Smaller groups of Southeast Asian manuscripts in the languages Batak, Cambodian, Lampung, Laotian, Philippine have also been expanded systematically.

One important collection emphasis is on manuscripts of the Buddhist canon in various languages of Southeast Asia and Buddhist order forms of diverse origin and design.

App

The app "Famous Books – Treasures of the Bavarian State Library" for iPads and iPhones presents the most precious, outstanding specimens from the collections of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Using the app, you can browse the poetology (Cod.siam. 98) virtually, among other things.