The Library develops and maintains South Asian collections on books, journal, audio-visual, electronic and multimedia items on all aspects of Asian, African and the Middle Eastern art and archaeology.

What's in the collection?

• Publications on India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan as well as the historic Indian subcontinent as a whole (including Afghanistan), on the Indian Ocean (including publications on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands,  Lakshadweep and Maldives). Classmarks J- JX
• Language material includes works in Sanskrit, Prakrits and Pali (Old and Middle Indian); Assamese, Balochi, Bengali, Divehi, Dzonghka, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Pashto, Punjabi, Sindhi, Sinhala, Siraiki, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. Classmarks K-KZ
• Certain countries that are elsewhere classified as being part of South Asia are held in other regional collections in SOAS Library:
• • Burma/Myanmar is in the South East Asia section;
• • Tibet is in the China and East Asia section;
  • Afghanistan is in the Islamic Middle East section

Please consult the location list for a full listing of classmarks and their location.

Our English language collections include publications on:

• Religion, the sociology of religion and translations of religious texts, including on Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism; Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Bahaism, Islam and Christianity in South Asia. Buddhism in India, especially the origins and history of Buddhism and the Buddha.
• Theravada/Hinayana Buddhism in Sri Lanka and on Mahayana Buddhism in the Himalayan kingdoms of Nepal and Bhutan.
• South Asian philology, linguistics, history and culture (traditionally classified as Oriental Studies).
• South Asian literature in English (including diasporic literature) and literature in translation.
• South Asian politics, sociology, anthropology, gender, caste and human rights.
• South Asian economics, development, business, finance, banking and statistics.
• South Asian agriculture, forestry, industry and resources.
• South Asian film, cinema and media studies.
• South Asian art, archaeology and architecture which forms part of the Library’s Art and Archaeology section.
• South Asian law, including religious and customary law, which forms part of the Library’s Law section. SOAS has responsibility for collecting materials on South Asian law in the University of London.

Special Collections

Notable Holdings

Slides, photographs and other visual material including (available for consultation upon request)

• Lorimer Collection: Slides mainly of Hunza in Gilgit-Baltistan/Northern Areas and Iran produced by Lt.-Col. David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer (1876-1962) in the 1920s and 1930s.  
• IVARI Research Project: Colour transparencies of the Braj region of Uttar Pradesh in India, produced by the International Association of the Varindaban Research Institute, 1976-78.
• Hunt (E H Hunt) collection: photographic collection of Indian art, archaeological and anthropological interest, produced between 1917 and 1930.
• Photographic albums (Nagas of Northeast India, 1930s). 

Special collections are held in the Archives & Special Collections.

To consult the above e-mail: special.collections@soas.ac.uk, tel: +44 (0)207898-4180

Related Links
Department of the History of Art & Archaeology
Brunei Gallery