MUYA goes to Mumbai. Part 1: M.F. Cama Athornan
It’s November and the MUYA project has entered an exciting new phase as team members arrived in Mumbai, India for a month of fieldwork.
First on our itinerary was the M.F.Cama Athornan Institute. Our work there, which lasted from the 2nd - 14th November, involved cataloguing and digitising its little-known collection of some 50 Zoroastrian manuscripts written in Avestan, Pahlavi, Pazand, New Persian and Gujarati. The crown jewel of this collection, which includes codices from both India and Iran, is without doubt the Pahlavi codex DH (after Dastur Hoshang) containing the text of the Iranian Bundahišn, the Zand ī Wahman Yasn and sections of the Dēnkard. The collection also comprises numerous manuscripts of the Yasna, Vīsperad, Vīdēvdād and the Khorde Avesta.
The fruits of our often dusty and laborious efforts are more than 13,000 photographs of manuscript folios together with a comprehensive catalogue of the collection. Consultations regarding the future care, restoration and storage of the manuscripts have also been initiated so that these rare and precious works may be preserved for many more years to come.
Special thanks go to Khushrow Panthaky and Camaji Cama for providing us with an environment so conducive to work.
