Request made by Vreese to Stein reached Nityanand.

“I was very glad to receive today your letter of the 14 th and to learn from it that your health is now good again. By the same Dak, there by a curious coincidence, I got also letter from Dr. K. de. Vreese, that excellent Dutch scholar, who as you may know has brought out a thorough critical edition of the Nilamata.. He had prepared it with the help of oldest Sharada manuscript which I acquired many years ago through Pandit Sahajabhatta and which is now deposited with my other manuscripts at the Indian Institute at Oxford. Dr. de. Vreese is now engaged in preparing an annotated translation of the Nilamata. As you can realize, this is very important task and a very difficult one even for a good scholar far away from Kashmir. I am very anxious to help Dr. de. Vreese in this task but unfortunately being fully absorbed by work in quite different field can not do myself. I enclose herewith a copy of an extract from his letter asking for explanations of certain difficult passages and words. I have had his queries typed on half margin and should be very grateful for any explanations or notes you could write in Sanskrit against these queries. You may be able to secure some young Sanskrit student to write down in your place whatever explanations you can give. For this help, I should be very grateful. Dr. Vreese would be very glad also for any information which can be given to him as regards certain old Kashmiri festivals mentioned in the Nilamata. These are stated in a portion of his letter of which I enclose a copy. You will understand how difficult it must be for a European scholar to learn about these rites, also how great the risk is now-a- days of such old festivals and other ceremonies being lost for good under the sad changes that are taking place in this country. Any information which you may be able to collect for Dr. de. Vreese will be preserved through his work for posterity. It will be a Punya for yourself. I am sorry to say that I can not promise any material reward for the requested help. Dr .de. Vreese as a teacher in a high school is not too well paid and I myself have many other obligations to meet. But for the amanuensis who will write from your dictation, I shall be glad to offer a modest reward. There is one more request. In the preface to the Lahore edition of the Nilamata, it is stated that there are two manuscripts of Nilamata which were written before Pandit Sahibram prepared his text and which do not contain the blanks of the old Sharada copies. One of these manuscripts is said to be the property of Pandit Srikantha Rajanaka and the other of Pandit Ram chand Kak. Could you kindly find out whether these two manuscripts can be lent to Dr.de. Vreese. I should be prepared to guarantee that they will faithfully be returned. But I am sorry I am too busy to write myself and inquire about these manuscripts. I am sure you will be ready to render this service to Sharada Devi in the same way as you used to do when answering queries of Sir George Grierson.” - Sir Aurel Stein.

(in a letter dated August 17, 1938, by Sir Aurel Stein to Pandit Nityanand) NS Mss, Nityanand Shastri Library Collection.

It was a reminder to Stein of his own satisfaction to what Pandit Govind Kaul had done for him in his editions of Kalhana’s Rajatarangini. He now saw in Nityanand a Govind Kaul for Vreese, lending him a similar assistance in latter’s edition of the Nilamatapurana.

Pressed though with work, Aurel Stein never ever shirked in granting help and assistance to his European colleagues who engaged themselves in Kashmir studies. Help extended to Vreese was his last such act in Kashmir.