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About the South Asia collection in the SOAS Library

  • The South Asia collection includes publications on the individual countries of South Asia – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan as well as South Asia as a whole, and on the Indian Ocean (including publications on the Maldives, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands).
  • Non-European language material includes works in Sanskrit and Pali, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Punjabi, Sinhala, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.
  • Certain countries that are elsewhere classified as being part of South Asia are held in other regional collections in SOAS Library


The English language collections include publications on:

  • Religion, the sociology of religion and translations of religious texts, including on Hinduism; Jainism; Sikhism; and on Zoroastrianism, Islam and Christianity in South Asia. Buddhism in India, especially on the history of Buddhism and the Buddha.
  • Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka and on Mahayana Buddhism in the Himalayan kingdoms of Nepal and Bhutan.
  • South Asian history and culture.
  • English language South Asian literature (including South Asia diasporic literature) and literature in translation.
  • South Asian politics, 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 Asia law, including religious and customary law, which forms part of the Library’s Law section.

Key journals

  • BASAS Bulletin. (British Association for South Asian Studies) Per 15L / 530345
  • Contemporary South Asia Per 15 / 650637
  • South Asia: A Journal of South Asian Studies Per. 15 / 269300
  • South Asia Research Per 15 / 452162
  • Religions of South Asia Per 15 / 999998

Bibliographies & Indexes/ Key reference material

  • Aufrecht, S. T. Catalogus catalogorum. An alphabetical register of Sanskrit works and authors. 2 vols. Wiesbaden, 1962.
  • Encyclopaedia of Indian literature. 4 vols. 1987-1991.
  • An encyclopaedic dictionary of Sanskrit on historical principles. Poona, 1976- . Vol.1- .
  • Guide to Indian periodical literature. Gurgaon, 1964- .
  • The Imperial Gazetteer of India [with] Atlas and Index. 26 vols. Oxford, 1908.
  • India: a reference annual. New Delhi, from 1953- .
  • Pakistan year book Karachi, 1969-
  • Pearson, J. D. A guide to manuscripts and documents in the British Isles relating to South and South-East Asia. 2 vols. London, 1989. .
  • Schwartzberg, J. E. A historical atlas of South Asia. New York, 1992.

South Asia Section Library staff and contact information

Mrs Farzana Whitfield (Assistant Librarian for South Asia)
E-mail: fq@soas.ac.uk
Tel: 020 7898 4153

Special collections

SOAS has responsibility for South Asian law in the University of London.

Relevant Departments/Centres

Centre of South Asian Studies
Department of Languages and Cultures of South Asia