Lalbhai Dalpathbhai Institute of Indology

The Lalbhai Dalpathbhai Institute of Indology, was started in 1956, to preserve a repository of rare art, manuscripts and archaelogical objects of India. In 1984, a museum was opened to cover topics ranging from Buddhism, Jainism and its darshans (expressions), grammar, tantra and poetry, Vedas and other different branches of Indian philosophy. The museum houses about 76,000 hand written Jain manuscripts with 500 illustrated versions and 45,000 printed books, making it the largest collection of Jain scripts. It has precious old books written in languages such as Sanskrit, Pali, Old Gujarati, Apabhramsa, Hindi and Rajasthani. It also showcases Indian sculptures, terracottas, miniature paintings, cloth paintings, painted scrolls, bronzes, woodwork, Indian coins, textiles and decorative art, paintings of Rabindranath Tagore and art of Nepal and Tibet.