LibGuides: South Asian Studies: Databases and Searching

Licenced Databases Specific to South Asia

Bibliography of Asian Studies This link opens in a new window
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1971-present; this online version of the Bibliography of Asian Studies (BAS) contains more than 610,000 records of materials in all subjects (especially humanities and social sciences) pertaining to East, Southeast, and South Asia.
Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism This link opens in a new window
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Brills Encyclopedia of Hinduism-presents the latest research on all the main aspects of the Hindu traditions. Its essays are original work written by the worlds foremost scholars on Hinduism. The Encyclopedia aims at a balanced and even-handed view of Hinduism, recognizing the divergent perspectives and methods in the academic study of a religion that is both an ancient historical tradition and a flourishing tradition today. The Encyclopedia embraces the greatest possible diversity, plurality, and heterogeneity, thus emphasizing that Hinduism encompasses a variety of regional traditions as well as a global world religion.
Encyclopaedia of Islam This link opens in a new window
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Currently in 3rd edition for some articles. All previous editions are also available through the Brill online link.
Foreign Office files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, 1947-1980 This link opens in a new window
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This collection of files from the Foreign Office (later the Foreign and Commonwealth Office) and Dominions Office focuses on the political and social history of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, 1947-1980 consists of the complete run of documents in the series DO 133, DO 134 and FCO 37, as well as all documents covering the Indian subcontinent in the FO 371 series. Events covered include independence and partition, the Indian annexation of Hyderabad and Goa, war between India and Pakistan, tensions and war between India and China, the consolidation of power of the Congress Party in India, military rule in Pakistan, the turbulent independence of Bangladesh and the development of nuclear weapons in the region.
Index Islamicus This link opens in a new window
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1906-present; Index Islamicus is an international bibliography of publications in European languages covering all aspects of Islam and the Muslim world, including history, beliefs, societies, cultures, languages, and literature. The database includes material published by Western orientalists, social scientists and Muslims.
India, Raj & Empire This link opens in a new window
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This collection draws upon the unique manuscript archives of the National Library of Scotland. It provides a fully searchable online resource for studying the relationship between Britain and the British Empire in India in which the Scots played a unique and central role as traders, generals, missionaries, Viceroys, Governor-Generals and East India Company officials.

This collection weaves the story of India and Empire through the writings of Governor-Generals, Commander-in-Chiefs, Indian Princes, soldiers, traders, missionaries, explorers, historians and authors of literary works, indigo farmers and tea and coffee planters. It is composed of original manuscript material, comprising diaries and journals, official and private papers, letters, sketches, paintings and original Indian documents containing histories and literary works.

Especially strong for the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries this collection will be of particular interest to historians studying:

The British Indian Empire; government, administration and politics.
The relationship between Britain and the British Indian Empire.
The relationship between the British Indian Empire and Indian Princely States.
The Mysore and Maratha wars and other conflicts.
The role of the Scots in India.
The Indian Uprising.
Trade and Agriculture.
East India Company This link opens in a new window
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A primary source collection of material from the India Office Records, 1599 -1947
1595-1947; East India Company offers access to a collection of India Office Records from the British Library, London. Containing royal charters, correspondence, trading diaries, minutes of council meetings and reports of expeditions, among other document types, this resource charts the history of British trade and rule in the Indian subcontinent and beyond.
IndiaStat This link opens in a new window
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Current, historical coverage varies; provides national and state-level socio-economic statistics about India culled from various secondary level authentic sources. Includes statistics on population, health, higher education, economy, agricultural and industrial production. Also provides data on sectors like banking and financial institutions, companies, co-operatives, crime and law, environment, foreign trade, labour and workforce, housing, media, energy and power, transport, urban-rural settlements, telecommunications, tourism, and other areas. Data and statistics can easily be downloaded in MS-Excel/Word/ and HTML formats.
To access, click on the "IP login" tab.
South Asia Archive This link opens in a new window
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1800 - mid 20th century; South Asia Archive is as a specialist digital platform delivering global electronic access to culturally and historically significant literary material produced from within, and about, the Indian subcontinent. Subject specialist editors from India have selected and catalogued the documents specifically for this archive. The content originates mainly from the Bengal area of India, consisting of unique and rare documents from primary and secondary sources. A significant proportion of the collection is in English, but thirty percent of the documents are written in various vernacular languages of the period/region(s). Serial collections are (where possible) complete, consisting of all available editions/volumes. To simplify locating a collection, content has been broken down into a number of top-level document types such as maps, reports, and journals.
World Newspaper Archive: South Asian Newspapers This link opens in a new window
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1864-1922; features titles published in India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Languages include English, Bengali, Gujarati, and others. Titles include such key publications as: Amrita Bazar Patrika (Calcutta), Bankura Darpana (Bankura, India), Madras Mail (Madras), Tribune (Lahore, Pakistan) and the Ceylon Observer (Sri Lanka).

The collected works of Mahatma Gandhi
The Brown University Library has made a licensed version of the PDF ebook The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi available on the web. It is a downloadable ZIP file, approximately 80MB.

Indian Army and Colonial Warfare on the Frontiers of India, 1914-1920 This link opens in a new window
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This collection is an addition to the new-flourishing literature on the military history of South Asia and the growing field of serious study of the British military experience in India.
India From Crown Rule To Republic/1945-1949: Records Of The US State Department This link opens in a new window
This collection identifies the key issues, individuals, and events in the history of the Subcontinent between 1945 and 1949, and places them in the context of the complex and dynamic regional strategic, political, and economic processes that have fashioned India in the postwar period.
India-Pakistan Conflict: Records of the US State Department February 1963-1966 This link opens in a new window
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Over 16,000 pages of State Department Central Files on India and Pakistan from 1963 through 1966 make this collection a standard documentary resource for the study of the political relations between India and Pakistan during a crucial period in the Cold War and the shifting alliances and alignments in South Asia.
Pakistan from Crown Rule to Republic: Records of the U.S. Department of State, 1945-1949 This link opens in a new window
A companion archive to India from Crown Rule to Republic, 1945-1949, this collection traces the end of British India and the emergence of modern Pakistan.

South Asian Digital Collection
The South Asian Digital Collection features selected books, serials, and manuscripts related to the present-day countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. All items in this digital collection are freely accessible online. This digital collection includes items in South Asian languages (e.g., Bengali, Hindi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Urdu) as well as items relevant to South Asia in English, French, German, and other languages. Researchers will find materials about colonialism in South Asia; vernacular literature; religion and philosophy; grammar and linguistics; the rebellion of 1857; American and European accounts of travel in colonial India; and many other subjects in the broad field of South Asian studies.
The Digital South Asia Library
The Digital South Asia Library provides digital materials for reference and research on South Asia to scholars, public officials, business leaders, and other users. This program builds upon a two-year pilot project funded by the Association of Research Libraries' Global Resources Program with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Participants in the Digital South Asia Library include leading U.S. universities, the Center for Research Libraries, the South Asia Microform Project, the Committee on South Asian Libraries and Documentation, the Association for Asian Studies, the Library of Congress, the Asia Society, the British Library, the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, MOZHI in India, the Sundarayya Vignana Kendram in India, Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya in Nepal, and other institutions in South Asia.

Open-Access Databases for South Asia

South Asia Open Archives (SAOA)
Welcome to SAOA. South Asia Open Archives is a free open-access resource for research and teaching - a rich and growing curated collection of key historical and contemporary sources in arts, humanities and social sciences, from and about South Asia, in English and other languages of the region. SAOA's collection currently contains hundreds of thousands of pages of books, journals, newspapers, census data, magazines, and documents, with particular focus on social & economic history, literature, women & gender, and caste & social structure.
Digital Colonial Documetns of India
Intended to promote study of the rare seminal documents which were influential in the formation of the notions of nation, state and culture during the colonial period. The project makes available rare colonial documents as searchable internet documents.
Digital Dictionaries of South Asia
Guide to the Indexing of South Asian Studies Periodicals
The Guide to the Indexing of South Asian Studies Periodicals serves two main purposes for researchers worldwide:
1 It identifies and lists South Asian periodical titles and
2 It identifies if a particular title has been indexed and if so, to what extent.
Maps from the Imperial Gazetteer of India
Official Publications of India
Housed at the University of Chicago with searchable database.
These are government documents related to colonial South Asia and Burma. The University's holdings include more than 20,000 volumes of the complete set on deposit from the British Library. The University of Chicago maintains a searchable database of the Official Publications of India.
The Sanskrit Library
The Sanskrit Library is a digital library dedicated to facilitating education and research in Sanskrit by providing access to digitized primary texts in Sanskrit and computerized research and study tools to analyze and maximize the utility of digitized Sanskrit text. Scholars and students of Sanskrit are invited to use this web site.
South Asian Statistical Data
Statistical information (including census data) from the colonial period through the present, available in a variety of formats.
South Asia Union Catalogue
The South Asia Union Catalogue is an historical bibliography describing books and periodicals published in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, colonial Burma, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka from 1556 through the present and a union catalogue of holdings.
Vidyanidhi
Digital library initiative to facilitate the creation, archiving and accessing of doctoral theses. Vidyanidhi is an information infrastructure, a digital library, a portal of resources, tools and facilities for doctoral research in India. Vidyanidhi is envisioned to evolve as a national repository and a consortium for e-theses through participation and partnership with universities, academic institutions and other stake holders. Vidyanidhi enhances access to Indian theses and enlarges the reach and audience for Indian doctoral research works

General Licenced Databases with South Asian Content

17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers This link opens in a new window
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Searchable full-text access to the British Library's collection of 17th-18th century newspapers, pamphlets, and books gathered by Reverend Charles Burney (1757-1817). Titles are from London, the British Isles, and the colonies. It is the largest and most comprehensive collection of early English news media. More than twelve hundred titles and almost one million pages are included.
Newspapers, newsbooks, Acts of Parliament, addresses, broadsides, pamphlets, proclamations.
19th Century British Library Newspapers This link opens in a new window
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Searchable full text of full runs of newspapers specially selected by the British Library to best represent nineteenth-century Britain. This collection includes national and regional newspapers, as well as newspapers from: established country or university towns; the new industrial powerhouses of the manufacturing Midlands; and Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Special attention was paid to include newspapers that helped lead particular political or social movements such as Reform, Chartism, and Home Rule. Penny papers aimed at the working and clerical classes are also included.
Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
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Current; scholarly, multidisciplinary full text database, designed for the academic community with more than 8,500 full text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals.
Access World News This link opens in a new window
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Access World News Research Collection is a full text news resource consisting over 7,000+ local, regional, national and international sources. Updated daily, it offers researchers and students primary source information on todays issues and events from newspapers, newswires, transcripts, video clips, web only, and blogs. Provides comprehensive news and information on different perspectives on a wide variety of topics, including economics, business, political science, environmental issues, health and welfare topics, social problems, consumer affairs, education, local government, international affairs and defense, laws, sports and much more. Offering a variety of perspectives from all over the world, the important news sources in this collection are ideal for comparing and contrasting views on both local and global issues. New home of the Providence Journal.
Asian Film Online This link opens in a new window
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Asian Film Online is an online streaming video collection of nearly 600 narrative feature films, documentaries, and shorts. With Asian voices addressing Asian issues, and through works selected by Asian film experts, the collection offers highly relevant perspectives and insights. Its themes - such as modernity, globalization, national identity, female agency, inequalities in opportunity amid social and political unrest, and cultural and sexual identity - are central to any meaningful discussion of Asian culture.
ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials This link opens in a new window
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1949-present; the ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials is the premier index to journal articles, book reviews, and collections of essays in all fields of religion. Links are provided to 100,000 full text articles in ATLASerials, from more than fifty journals selected by religion scholars in the United States. Full text resources from the Religion and Philosophy Collection are also linked within this database.
Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO) This link opens in a new window
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1991-present; designed to be the most comprehensive source for theory and research in international affairs. Includes working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, books, journals, policy briefs, and proceedings from conferences.
Global Commodities: Trade, Exploration, and Cultural Exchange This link opens in a new window
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Brings together manuscript, printed, and visual primary source materials for the study of global commodities in world history, 1500-present.
Global Commodities: Trade, Exploration and Cultural Exchange provides a vast range of visual, manuscript and printed materials sourced from over twenty key libraries and more than a dozen companies and trade organisations around the world. These original sources will help scholars to explore the history of fifteen major commodities and to examine the ways that these have changed the world.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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Provides image and full text online access to back issues of selected scholarly journals in history, economics, political science, demography, mathematics and other fields of the humanities and social sciences. Consult the online tables of contents for holdings, as coverage varies for each title.

If you are experiencing printing problems from JSTOR while using a Macintosh computer, please download the most recent version of Adobe Reader. http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.
If you need assistance, please contact the CIS Help Desk or eresources@brown.edu.
Kanopy This link opens in a new window
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Current; Kanopy is a video streaming collection of films from a large group of film producers including the Criterion Collection, PBS, Kino Lorber Edu, Documentary Educational Resources Collection, BBC Active Collection, and many others.
ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global This link opens in a new window
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1637-present; ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global is the world's most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses. PQDT Global includes more than 2.5 million dissertation and theses citations from around the world from 1861 (with a few older) to the-present day together with over one million full text dissertations that are available for download in PDF format. The database offers full text for most of the dissertations added since 1997 and strong retrospective full text coverage for older graduate works. Each dissertation published since July 1980 includes a 350 word abstract written by the author. Master's theses published since 1988 include 150 word abstracts. Bibliographic citations are available for dissertations dating from 1637. Where available, PQDT Global provides 24-page previews of dissertations and theses. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Full Text also offers researchers unlimited access to digital copies from their own institutions as well as affordable copies from others.