This guest blog is by Muhammed Khaleel, who in 2024 surveyed early Arabi-Malayalam lithographed books in the British Library.

While I was going through the uncatalogued collections of early Arabi-Malayalam printed books in the Asian and African Collections in the British Library, I came across dozens of lithographed books all sharing a consistent structure, style and format, and which were copied by no more than three scribes all with very similar handwriting, suggesting a common origin. However, essential data such as author details, copyright information and seals of registration were missing from the title pages compared to later Arabi-Malayalam texts printed in the twentieth century in Kerala, while the colophons generally only gave information on the publisher. I thus began checking these works in detail against the entries in the official quarterly lists of books published from Madras, the Fort St. George Gazette Supplement, which is also held in the British Library.

After a detailed examination, I found that these books were all published in the 1870s and 1880s by early lithographic presses owned by Mappila Muslims based in Thalassery, a major port city in northern Malabar, in the South Indian state of Kerala. During this period, the important figures who established the early presses were Thalassery Mēlēkkandi KoyāʿAlī Ḥājī, Veḷippicc Kandi Kuññi Moosa, Arayālappuṟatt Kuññaḥammad, and Nīrāṭṭu Pīṭikayil Kuññi Aḥmad. The location of these presses at Thalassery, a city historically renowned for its trade and cultural interactions since the early modern times, soon made the city the major center of Arabi-Malayalam printing, until Aniyārappuṟattu Ammu established his famous Muḥkī al-Gharā’ib press in the end of the nineteenth century in Ponnāni. Thereafter, the center of Arabi-Malayalam printing shifted from Thalassery to Tirūrangādi and Ponnāni, two cities in the district of Malappuram, which were also renowned as religious centers of Malabar.

Fig. 1. Title page (left) and colophon (right) of kappappāṭṭ, a literary text printed in 1882 at KoyāʿAlī Ḥājī’s press by his son Nāyam vītil ʿAbduh: Nāyam vīṭil purayil vecc accadiccirikkunnu, ‘printed at Nāyam vītil house’. British Library (shelfmark pending)

As is evident from the colophons, these early lithographic presses didn’t have official names or offices but were established by the aforementioned figures in their private homes in Thalassery, except for Kuññi Moosa, who established his printing press in Thalassery Bazar, the then city center.

Fig.2. Title page (left) and colophon (right) of Kelavante pāṭṭ published by Veḷippicc Kandi Kuññi Moosa’s press in 1875. British Library (shelfmark pending)

Athough lithographic presses had been present in Malabar since 1821, it is not clearly recorded when the first Arabi-Malayalam lithograph was published. However, the press established by KoyāʿAlī Ḥājī in his residence, Nāyam vītil, was the first lithographic press under the Muslim ownership to print Arabi-Malayalam texts. KoyāʿAlī Ḥājī, a passionate person in spreading knowledge, sent one of his sons, Kuññaḥmed, to the Basel Mission printing press in Thalassery to work as a printer (Aabu 1970: 126). After learning the technique of lithographic printing, Kuññaḥmed came back to help his father KoyāʿAlī Ḥājī establish the press in 1867. Registered as ‘Koyali hajee, nayan veetil in pazhassi tellicherry’ the press began its operation by printing a Qurʾān.

Around this time, probably in the mid-1870s, Velippicc Kandi Kuññi Moosa also established his press in Thalassery Bazar which was recorded as ‘Valmiki rawdi coonji nissa’ in the quarterly list. During the same decade, another publisher named Nīrātti Pīṭikayil Kuññi Aḥmed, recorded in the quarterly list as Nuratti padikail kunḥammed, began appearing in the scene, as did Arayālappuṟatt Kuññaḥammad who printed books at his home in Thayyil Kandi in Tiruvangād. Interestingly, all these presses published several of the same titles during the 1870s and 1880s as is evident from the British Library collection. Despite printing the same titles, there apparently held a competition between presses on various matters.


Fig. 3. Paratextual sections in a much later text titled Karāmāt al-a’aẓam, printed in 1950, with full publication details. British Library (shelfmark pending)

In terms of the very simple structure, format and style, these books are evidently forerunners in Arabi-Malayalam printing. There is almost no decoration except for the title page, where the title is written in a small font size on the top of the page with extremely minimal floral decorations (see fig.1 and 2). O. Aabu, a historian of Arabi-Malayalam, argues that press owners did not pay attention to designs and decorations in the title page (1970: 127), and yet several floral designs and decorations can be seen in the early Qurʾān printed by KoyāʿAlī Ḥājī in 1867. I suggest that this could be for two reasons: firstly, as lithographs are basically copied from manuscripts, the scribes copied what they saw in manuscripts of the Qurʾān, which were more likely to be decorated than other manuscripts. The second possibility is that the scribes wanted to make Qurʾān unique in its design from other texts, and hence made it distinct with decorations. The former is more likely as we do see a difference compared with literary texts: in other words, the Qurʾān and other religious texts were decorated to signify their sacrality.

Fig. 4a. Title page of Muḥyudhīn malā published by Arayālappuṟatt Kuññaḥammad’s press in 1875. British Library (shelfmark pending)

Fig. 4b. Colophon of Muḥyudhīn malā published by Arayālappuṟatt Kuññaḥammad’s press in 1875. British Library (shelfmark pending)

Although all these texts had colophons, they only provided the information about the printing press, its owner, the scribe of the lithograph and the date of copying. Other important information such as the identity of the author and copyright information were not found. The highlighting of publisher details suggests that the presses deemed this information as more relevant than others.

Fig. 5a. Title page of Niskārattinte duāʿyum mattum published by Nīrāṭṭu Pīṭikayil Kuññi Aḥmad in 1875. British Library (shelfmark pending)

Fig. 5b. Colophon page of Niskārattinte duāʿyum mattum (1875) published by Nīrāṭṭu Pīṭikayil Kuññi Aḥmad in 1875. British Library (shelfmark pending)

Further, it can be noticed that the early concept of copyright in Arabi-Malayalam imprints was both fluid and contested. For instance, Muḥyudhīn malā, one of the most well-renowned liturgies in Malabar written by Qāḍī Muḥammed (d. 1616), on the life of a Baghdadi ṣūfī, ʿAbdul Qādir al-Jīlanī (d. 1116), was published by almost all these publishers without any copyright statements. The British Library holds at least three early copies of the text, one aprinted by Nīrāṭṭu Pīṭikayil Kuññi Aḥmad in 1873, a second by Arayālappuṟatt Kuññaḥammad in 1875 and another by KoyāʿAlī Ḥājī in 1876. Concomitantly, there were assertions of the right to publish the text as well, in terms which are slightly different from contemporary copyright laws. The copy of Muḥyudhīn malā published by KoyāʿAlī Ḥājī mentions that their lithograph is a direct copy of the original manuscript of the text that was preserved by the family of Qāḍī Muḥammed, which is a clear statement claiming that KoyāʿAlī Ḥājī had more authority to publish the text than his counterparts.

Fig.6. Title page (left) and colophon (right) of an early copy of Cārdarveś published by Arayālappuṟatt Kuññaḥammad’s press in 1875, although a few accounts state that Cārdarveś was first published in 1883 (See Moulavi and Kareem, 1978). British Library (shelfmark pending)

The early lithographic presses also competed with each other on printing popular literary titles. The earliest literary text in the collection is from 1871, printed by the press of Kuññi Moosa, and was followed by a significant number of texts in the next year. During the same year, the press of Arayālappuṟatt Kuññaḥammad also marked its entry by printing the novel Cārdarveś, resulting in an apparent competition between the press of Kuññi Moosa and that of Arayālappuṟatt Kuññaḥammad. The British Library collection reveals that 1875 saw the peak of competition between the two presses in publishing literary texts containing panegyrics, hagiographies and different types of songs related to Islamic history. Surprisingly, KoyāʿAlī Ḥājī’s press only joined the trend of publishing literary texts in the early 1880s, after focusing earlier on core religious subjects such as jurisprudence and theology, with titles such as Manāsik al-ḥajj (1875), Īmān: Islām tarjama (1875), Wājibāt al-mukallafīn (1881) and so on. Muḥuyudhīn māla, printed in 1875, was the only exception to this.

By 1881, KoyāʿAlī Ḥājī’s press began printing literary texts containing panegyrics, song traditions such as Qiṣṣappāttu and Malappāttu, and other cultural forms of Persian tales, reaching a peak in 1883. Some of the common titles printed by all these publishers are Jinn pada paatt, Kavi pattukalum padangalum, Kappappatt, Yusuf qiṣṣa ppāttu, Valiya kaccodappātt, Tashrif oppana, and so on. However, both the British Library collection and the quarterly lists indicate an absence of publications from these presses in the 1890s, suggesting that by this date these presses might have closed, or changed their names.

Muhammed Khaleel

Muhammed Khaleel is a graduate (2025) of the  dual degree in MA Islamic studies and Muslim Cultures at Columbia university, New York and Aga Khan University, London. His research interests include history of occult sciences, manuscript cultures, history of science, book history and history of Arabi-Malayalam. E-mail: [email protected]

Further Reading
Aabu, O. (1970) Arabi Malayala sahitya caritram. Kottayam: sahitya pravrthaka co-operative society. 
Moulavi, C.A. and Kareem, K.A. (1978) Mahattāya mappila pārambaryam. Calicut: Paraspara sahayi co-operative press.

The previous blog post in this series on the provenance of the Colebrooke Collection examined the story behind the Sanskrit legal manuscripts which form part of the Colebrooke Collection. The role of Indian ‘pandits’ in gathering these manuscripts is a vital part of this story, and this blog will delve deeper into the identities and stories of some of these figures. 

The title ‘pandit’ has its origins in the Sanskrit term ‘paṇḍita’, meaning a learned person. Specifically, this learning was rooted in the knowledge of Sanskrit, the ancient language of India, and the vast literature, going back millennia, composed in that language. Hindu religious texts were at the heart of this, but it also encompassed a wide range of disciplines across the sciences and humanities. The job of a pandit was to preserve and expound on this learning. He did this through memorising and reciting scriptures, producing copies of texts, writing commentaries, and by passing on his knowledge to his students. 

A number of East India Company employees, curious to learn more about Indian culture, had spent time studying Sanskrit with pandits. A few years following his arrival in India, Colebrooke began to do the same.

Citrapati and family
From 1789-94, Colebrooke was posted to Purnia, in north-eastern Bihar. Here, he encountered a pandit named Citrapati, who became one of his first teachers. Citrapati is named as the copyist of a manuscript in the Colebrooke Collection, produced in 1790, which is a copy of a twelfth-century text on algebra:  

The final page from the Bījagaṇita, the chapter on algebra in Bhāskara’s Siddhāntaśiromaṇi, which contains a colophon stating that the text was copied, ‘by order of Colebrooke Sahib, by Mahopādhyāya Citrapati’. ‘Mahopādhyāya’ is a title meaning ‘learned teacher’. British Library, IO San 871b

Colebrooke’s initial interest in learning Sanskrit, therefore, stemmed from a desire to learn about Indian mathematics. It’s an interest he later returned to, and in 1817 he would publish a translation of the above text, as a part of a larger work: Algebra, with Arithmetic and Mensuration, from the Sanscrit of Brahmegupta and Bhàscara.

In a letter to his father, in 1797, Colebrooke recalled that ‘the means of acquiring the Sanskrit language were by translating a grammar and several dictionaries of it, with the help of a Brahmin [the priestly caste, of which pandits were members]’ (T. E. Colebrooke 1873, p. 89). Indeed, many of the manuscripts in the Colebrooke Collection dating from these years are grammatical works, including this one: 

A page from a copy of the Dhātupradīpa. British Library, IO San 434a 

This is the final page of a copy of the Dhātupradīpa, a twelfth-century work on Sanskrit grammar by Maitreya Rakṣita. The text ends with a colophon, identifying the copyist as ‘Vrajanandana Śarman, sister's son (bhāgineyaḥ) of Citrapati Śarman of Dhamdaha’. Vrajanandana, is named as the copyist for several manuscripts in the Colebrooke Collection, and this reflects how the profession of a pandit was something associated with entire families, often through many generations. Another text, produced about the same time, provides a window into Colebrooke’s study of Sanskrit under Citrapati and Vrajanandana: 

A page from the Amarakoṣa. British Library, IO San 3162

The text contained in the box in the centre of the page is from the Amarakoṣa, an early Sanskrit dictionary, copied in Bengali script by Vrajanandana. In the margins, in Colebrooke’s hand, are extracts from commentaries, written in Devanagari script, as well as English translations of certain phrases.

Bābūrāma
In 1795, Colebrooke received a new posting in Mirzapur, and here he met other pandits who would go on to produce manuscripts for him. The following image is from a copy of the Mahābhārata in the Colebrooke Collection. A colophon (in red ink) states the copyist to be ‘Bābūrāma, a Brahman of Mirzapur.’

A colophon in a copy of the Mahābhārata. British Library, IO San 1771

Like Citrapati, Bābūrāma first worked for Colebrooke as a copyist. But they would both accompany Colebrooke as he moved to different postings over the course of his career, and would continue to be employed either directly by him, or in roles connected to Colebrooke’s official duties with the East India Company.

In 1795, Colebrooke was appointed judge and magistrate for Mirzapur, and he appointed Citrapati to his official staff, in the role of pandit to the district court of Mirzapur. In this capacity, Citrapati provided advice to ensure that decisions taken in the court were consistent with Hindu law. 

Citrapati also produced manuscripts to assist with Colebrooke’s judicial duties. In 1797, Colebrooke had submitted a proposal to compile and translate a supplementary digest of Hindu law for use in the courts under EIC jurisdiction. For this work he was granted funds ‘to entertain the establishment of Pundits required by him’ (IOR/F/4/39/974). Citrapati was one of those employed, and for this he produced the Vyavahārasiddhāntapīyūṣā, a compilation of Hindu law codes with an accompanying commentary.

From the Vyavahārasiddhāntapīyūṣā.  The colophon, highlighted in red, identifies Citrapati Śarman as the compiler of the text and author of the accompanying commentary. It also states that the manuscript was composed for tāmasa-henṛks-kolabruka-sāhebājñayā, i.e. Henry Thomas Colebrooke.  British Library, IO San 3143

In 1802, Colebrooke was appointed a judge of the superior court in Calcutta [Kolkata]. Citrapati accompanied him to Calcutta, and then in 1806 was himself appointed to the superior court, as one of the two pandits employed to give decisions on Hindu law as it related to cases being tried in this court. 

Bābūrāma also accompanied Colebrooke to Calcutta, but his career went in a different direction. In a letter in June 1806, Colebrooke informed his father that ‘a printing press has been recently established by natives to print Sanskrit books on their own account. The types have been considerably improved for the purpose, under my directions; for, as you may easily suppose, the press has been established on encouragement from me’ (quoted in T. E. Colebrooke 1873, p. 227). It was Bābūrāma who took charge of this enterprise, and from 1807 to 1815 his Sanskrit Press produced editions of sixteen separate works of Sanskrit literature.

The Government of Bengal were subscribers to most of Bābūrāma’s publications, usually at the recommendation of Fort William College, which had been founded in Calcutta in 1800 to provide training for new EIC recruits. In this way, Bābūrāma’s proposal to print an edition of the epic poem Kiratarjuniya with the commentary called Ghaṇṭāpatha was supported by the Sanskrit professor at the College, who commented that, ‘They are both classical works, and will be useful in the College as class books’ (IOR/P/8/36). The Government agreed to subscribe for a hundred copies, to be distributed among the EIC colleges in Calcutta, Madras [Chennai], and Hertfordshire.

Similarly, the Government of Bengal ordered multiple copies of four legal texts produced by Bābūrāma’s Sanskrit Press, which they distributed not only to the different EIC colleges, but also to all of their law courts. Two of these texts, the Mitākṣarā and Dāyabhāga, had been translated by Colebrooke for his Two Treatises on the Hindu Law of Inheritance, and it was largely due to Colebrooke’s opinion of the significance of these works that Bābūrāma’s editions received this support.

The careers of Citrapati and Bābūrāma were therefore closely entwined with that of Colebrooke. At a time when the EIC was seeking to establish a judicial framework for governing its subjects in South Asia, Colebrooke made himself indispensable with his in-depth knowledge of Hindu law. Citrapati and Bābūrāma, having guided Colebrooke in his Sanskrit studies, now also benefited from their patron’s rise. However, as the next blog post will show, although there were opportunities for pandits in the new India, their position was always a precarious one.

This is the third in a series of blog posts on the provenance of the Colebrooke collection of Sanskrit manuscripts in the British Library. The first post introduced the Colebrooke family and the East India Company, and the second post focused on Colebrooke's manuscripts on Hindu law.

Works consulted
Bābūrāma (ed.), Mitākṣarā (Calcutta: Sanskrit Press, 1812).
Bābūrāma (ed.), Dāyabhāga, with the commentary of Śrīkṛṣṇatarkālaṃkāra (Calcutta: Sanskrit Press, 1813).
Bābūrāma (ed.), Kiratarjuniya, with the commentary of Mallinātha called Ghaṇṭāpatha (Calcutta: Sanskrit Press, 1814).
Colebrooke, Henry Thomas, (trans.), Two Treatises on the Hindu Law of Inheritance (Calcutta: Hindoostanee Press, 1810).
Colebrooke, Henry Thomas, Algebra, with Arithmetic and Mensuration, from the Sanscrit of Brahmegupta and Bhàscara (London: John Murray, 1817).
Colebrooke, Thomas Edward, The Life of H. T. Colebrooke (London: Trübner, 1873).
Rocher, Rosanne and Rocher, Ludo, The Making of Western Indology: Henry Thomas Colebrooke and the East India Company (London: Routledge, 2012).

Letter from the Government of Bengal to the Court of Directors of the East India Company, 31 Jan 1798. British Library, IOR/F/4/39/974.
Letter from William Carey to Fort William College Council, 4 May 1814 (Government of Bengal Proceedings 19 Jul 1814, No. 34). British Library, IOR/P/8/36.
Amarakoṣa. British Library, IO San 3162.
Bījagaṇita (chapter on algebra from Bhāskara’s Siddhāntaśiromaṇi). British Library, IOL San 871b.
Dhātupradīpa. British Library, IO San 434a. 
Mahābhārata. British Library, IO San 1771.
Vyavahārasiddhāntapīyūṣā. British Library, IO San 3143.

David Woodbridge, Provenance Researcher Sanskrit Collections (REAP pilot project 2023-2025)

Across Southeast Asia, textiles were used to adorn, protect and to add merit and value to written works. These textiles are works of art in themselves, featuring intricate patterns and in some cases inscriptions that provide contextual information about manuscripts. Often, they were custom-made from valuable hand-woven silk brocades, dyed or painted cotton, as well as fabrics with complex designs made in the ikat technique. The use of imported materials like chintz, silk damask, felt, or printed fabrics reflects the trade and exchange relations within Southeast Asia and beyond.

A new display highlights the British Library’s collaboration with external experts and graduate students. Chevening Fellow Noon Methaporn Singhanan researched and catalogued manuscript textiles during a 12-month project in 2022-23 and Khin Kyi Phyu Thant described and translated Burmese Sazigyo (manuscript binding ribbons) during a five-week internship organised through the Southeast Asian Art Academic Programme of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, in 2022.

Tube-skirt wrapper for palm leaf manuscripts. Northern Laos, mid-20th century, purchased in 2012. British Library, Or 16886

This protective wrapper was made from a re-purposed luxury tube-skirt to wrap around several bundles of palm leaf manuscripts. It originates from a Tai Moei ethnic community in northern Laos. The main section of this woman’s tube-skirt has an ikat pattern, where the yarn has been dyed before weaving. It is also intertwined with metal foil threads imported from Europe. The lower section, or 'foot', is a colourful woven textile made from silk and cotton yarns. Valuable textiles or clothes like this example were often re-purposed as wrappers for Buddhist scriptures in Laos and neighbouring regions. Donating clothes of deceased loved ones to re-use as manuscript wrappers was regarded as an act of merit in the Lao Buddhist tradition, and they reflected the faith and wealth of the deceased and the donors.

Burmese wrapping mat for a kammavaca manuscript. Myanmar (Burma), 18th century, purchased in 1838 from J. Polson Esq. British Library, Egerton MS 735

This vibrant mat was used to wrap a beautifully decorated, lacquered kammavaca manuscript which contains a ritual text in Pali language, used in monastic ordination ceremonies. The colourful zig-zag patterns were made locally by intertwining cotton yarn and bamboo slats. This type of manuscript cover was widely used in Myanmar, but also in Northern Thailand and Laos. The combination of bamboo slats and yarn made it very strong and therefore it protected the manuscript well against insects and the elements.

Burmese sazigyo with inscription. Myanmar (Burma), dated 1894, donated by Jill Morley Smith in 2011. British Library Or 16817

Sazigyo (binding ribbons) were made by women weavers in Myanmar to wrap around Buddhist palm leaf manuscripts. This multicoloured example of exceptional quality is nearly five metres long and contains text in round Burmese script, auspicious symbols and figures. It was made in the tablet weaving technique on a portable loom worn strapped around the back of the weaver. This method uses small tablets (or cards) with holes through which the threads of the warp are strung. Inscriptions and patterns are created by turning the tablets. Generally, the texts on sazigyo record merits or prayers, names of donors, and sometimes location and date of the donation.

Malay cloth envelope. Sumatra, Indonesia, 1824, Raffles Family Collection. British Library MSS EUR D.742/1/61

Malay letters to and from rulers were often sent in yellow silk or cotton envelopes. The name and address of the recipient was written on a piece of paper which was wrapped around the fabric pouch and fastened on the reverse by entwining the two intricately cut-out paper ends. Shown here are envelopes from two Royal Malay letters sent to Thomas Stamford Raffles, then Governor of Bengkulu on the island of Sumatra, in 1824. The yellow envelope (above) is made of imported patterned damask silk and was from the Adipati or senior minister of the city of Palembang, Sumatra. The plain cotton envelope (below) was from the Temenggung, the ruler of Johor on the Malay peninsula.

Malay cloth envelope. Johor, Malaysia, 1824, Raffles Family Collection, British Library MSS EUR D.742/1/149 & 180.

Curators of the Southeast Asia Section, with contributions by Noon Methaporn Singhanan and Khin Kyi Phyu Thant

Further reading
Burmese manuscript conservation success. Royal Asiatic Society (accessed 20 November 2024) 
Chan, Vanessa, Sarsikyo. Woven Buddhist ribbons of Myanmar. Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre Working Paper No. 29 (Dec 2018) 
Igunma, Jana and Noon Methaporn Singhanan, Drawn from across the globe: manuscript textiles in the Southeast Asian collections. British Library Asian African Studies blog (2 October 2023)