Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library

Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library in Patna grew from the private collection of Muhammad Bakhsh, who kept it as the Muhammadiyya Library. His son, Khan Bahadur Khuda Bakhsh, carried out his wish by opening it to the public in 1891, and it is counted among the oldest libraries in Asia. It holds a large body of Oriental manuscripts and around 250,000 printed books.

The collection includes manuscripts found in no other library, Mughal paintings, calligraphy and decorated books, documents on the Timurid dynasty, Arabic and Urdu works written on deer skin, and about forty Sanskrit palm-leaf manuscripts. Scholars from many countries come to study here, and the library plans to digitise its handwritten works so they can be read online.