The Bihar government has initiated the process for an institutional collaboration between the Mithila Sanskrit Shodh Sansthan (Mithila Sanskrit Postgraduate Studies and Research Institute) in Darbhanga and the Oxford Sanskrit Text Society (OSTS) after receiving a formal proposal from the UK-based organisation seeking collaboration in preserving, digitising and promoting India’s rich manuscript heritage.
The proposal was submitted by Professor Diwakar Acharya, chair of founding trustees OSTS and Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics at the University of Oxford, in a letter to Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Kumar Jha, who has been spearheading efforts to revive the historic institute.
In the letter, Acharya described the Darbhanga-based institute as an internationally respected centre of Sanskrit scholarship and proposed an institutional Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for long-term collaboration in manuscript preservation, scientific cataloguing, digitisation, preparation of critical editions of unpublished texts, academic publications, research, training and international scholarly exchanges.
He also proposed including the institute in an international initiative on manuscripts and Indian Knowledge Systems being developed under the University of Oxford’s TORCH (The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities) programme.
Following the proposal, Sanjay Kumar Jha met Bihar chief minister Samrat Choudhary on Tuesday, seeking the state’s approval for the proposed MoU. In his letter to the chief minister, Jha said the institute houses thousands of rare Sanskrit manuscripts on philosophy, Nyaya, grammar, literature, Ayurveda, astronomy and several other branches of India’s traditional knowledge.
{{/usCountry}}Following the proposal, Sanjay Kumar Jha met Bihar chief minister Samrat Choudhary on Tuesday, seeking the state’s approval for the proposed MoU. In his letter to the chief minister, Jha said the institute houses thousands of rare Sanskrit manuscripts on philosophy, Nyaya, grammar, literature, Ayurveda, astronomy and several other branches of India’s traditional knowledge.
{{/usCountry}}He said the collaboration would facilitate scientific cataloguing, digitisation, conservation, international research publications, scholar exchanges, training programmes and global academic partnerships while complementing the Centre’s Gyan Bharatam Mission for preserving ancient manuscripts.
Sharing the development with reporters on Wednesday, Jha said chief minister Samrat Choudhary had responded positively to the proposal and directed the education department to initiate the formal process for signing the MoU.
The chief minister’s office later confirmed the decision through its official X handle, describing the proposed collaboration as a “historic opportunity” for Bihar. It said the partnership would facilitate scientific documentation, digitisation, conservation, research and international publication of thousands of rare manuscripts preserved at the institute.
The proposed collaboration comes against the backdrop of the Bihar government’s ₹56.8 crore redevelopment plan for the institute, approved by the state cabinet in February 2025 following an announcement made during then chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Pragati Yatra. Of the total outlay, ₹48.64 crore has been earmarked for renovation, new construction and campus development, while ₹8.16 crore has been allocated for conservation and digitisation of manuscripts. The construction project is being executed by the Bihar State Educational Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited.
Located on the banks of the Bagmati River, encircling the campus at Kabraghat locality in Darbhanga, the institute stands on 62 bighas of land originally supported by a donation of land and fund from Maharajadhiraj Sir Kameshwar Singh. The foundation stone of its main administrative building was laid by India’s first President, Dr Rajendra Prasad, on November 21, 1951.
Regarded as a premier centre of Sanskrit learning in the country, the institute houses a vast repository of intellectual heritage, including 12,337 manuscripts, around 30,000 reference and research books, and its renowned 25-volume Buddhist Sanskrit Series.
The institute, however, continues to function without a full-fledged director and is currently being looked after by an in-charge director who, according to sources familiar with the matter, is “not a Sanskrit expert”.
Reacting to the development, former head of the institute’s Manuscripts Department, Dr Mitranath Jha, said that the initiative would give fresh recognition to Mithila’s scholarly heritage and have far-reaching implications. Calling the move historically significant, he said it would help realise the vision of the institute’s founder, Maharajadhiraj Sir Kameshwar Singh.
Ujjwal Kumar, who has long been associated with efforts for the institute’s development, said the proposed collaboration would open a new chapter in knowledge exchange between Mithila and Oxford, strengthening advanced research and scholarly publications through sustained academic engagement.