Upvote:3
Update: I located an article listing a few more documents which were burned.
Some rare documents were: (i) Miniature editions of the Ramayana epic, (ii) The only existing copy of the Yalpanam Vaipavama, a history of Jaffna, (iii) Records of the Morning Star, a periodical publication of the missionaries in the early 20th century, (iv) Microfilms of important materials, and (v) Antique collection of Newspapers of Tamil language.
The Morning Star is extant on microfilm.
A 2014 article in Himāl magazine names two publications which are said to include some kind of details, but I am skeptical.
In June 2001, N Selvarajah brought out a collection of articles and writings on the burning of the JPL titled Jaffna Public Library: a historical compilation. Later, in 2008, Someetharan released Burning Memories, a documentary recounting what was lost and the emotions of people in Jaffna.
Burning Memories is available online, here and here, but I could not find any description in this film of the missing books. (It does have some interesting photos of how the books were stacked.) Jaffna Public Library: a historical compilation is written in Tamil language, so I cannot read it even if I had a copy; the original title is யாழ்ப்பாணாப் பொது நூலகம் Yāḻppāṇap potu nūlakam: oru varalāṟṟut tokuppu. It is only 127 pages so I feel doubtful that it includes a full catalogue.
A 2006 article written by Sachi Sri Kantha states to the contrary that we do not really know what was lost.
In the features written about the 1981 torching of the Jaffna Public Library, “97,000” has become a statistic to lament on the number of books and manuscripts which went up in ashes. But, do we have an assembled catalogue of the lost treasures in hand now? Not that I know of. If such a catalogue has been assembled (even a partial list!) by Tamil librarians or bibliophiles who were associated with the library, it needs to be made public, even in an electronic medium.
He then quotes two local newspaper stories which mention some specifics:
"Among the destroyed were scrolls of historical value and the works and manuscripts of the universally acclaimed philospher, artist and author Ananda Kumaraswamy and prominent intellectual Prof. Issac Thambaiya. The destroyed articles included memoirs and works of writers and dramatists who made a significant contribution toward the sustenance of the Tamil culture and those of locally reputed medical physicians and politicians.” [Jayantha Seneviratne, ‘The reconstruction of the Jaffna library’, Colombo Daily News, Jan.20, 2002].
“There were newspapers and journals published hundred years ago in Jaffna. There were about 10,000 hand-written documents, Roman Catholic books published in 1586 (some in Spanish). There was a copy of ‘History of Ceylon’ written by Robert Knox when he was in the Kandy prison in 1660, as well as ‘Ceylon during the Dutch Rule’ by Philips Baldeus, written in 1672. Amongst some of the collections housed in the library were 700 books on the famous art critic and Sri Lankan Tamil savant Dr. Ananda Coomarasamy donated by Mr.Thurairajasinham of Malaysia; 850 books donated by Rev. Isaac Thambiah; 100 books donated by Kathiravel Pillai. There were a number of encyclopedias from various countries and publishers, dictionaries, atlases and maps, books on astrology and astronomy. The children’s section had miniature editions of Ramayana epics.” [V.S.Thurairajah, ‘Jaffna Library rises from its ruins’, Colombo Daily News, Dec.12, 2002].
I can tackle these in order:
In conclusion:
I cannot find any full record of the 97,000 lost items. Most of the titles given in these two newspapers do not seem to be unique items that were lost forever. We do learn that the lost books include the personal libraries of two local Tamil writers, but it seems we have lost the specifics on what these libraries included. I am inclined to believe the account of "10,000 hand-written documents" -- not because I know and trust the person making the claim, but because tens of thousands of irreplaceable medieval manuscripts are rotting away as we speak in unfunded libraries throughout South Asia, so it does not at all surprise me that the librarians were unable to save such manuscripts in Sri Lanka. However, I find no evidence that these thousands of manuscripts were ever catalogued. Possibly they were taken from local [edit]Hindu temples, etc. to the library in great bundles, then were destroyed by the mob without ever being looked at.