The Rare Book Society of India is the first of its kind - it is a virtual space for rare book collectors and history buffs to read, discuss, rediscover and download lost books.
Okay so I found this absolute gem of a website where you can download and access rare books on Indian history, art, and culture. Also you can browse old paintings, maps, sculptures and manuscripts - it’s basically like a virtual museum
You can browse collections by themes and there are so many of them, from the Mughals to music and dance to maps of the subcontinent to the independence movement to military history to Marathas and Rajputs to overseas Hindu empires to maritime history
You can also access rare paintings, sketches, and photographs, and they come with info beside them and links of reading material on it
Oh and not to mention, you can also access original manuscripts right from ancient to modern times with translations and sources and additional links to download-able files (mostly PDFs)
It’s free and it’s been super useful for me for research and accessing material when I can’t go to the library, and also for when I want to go down research rabbit holes, and I’m losing my mind
