A German man discovered an unfamiliar Devanagari text at a flea market in Hamburg and turned to Reddit for help identifying it. He shared pictures of two yellowed pages filled with text, believed to be either Hindi or Sanskrit, and asked, “Can you tell me what it is?” on the subreddit.
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Found this on a flea market in Hamburg, Germany. Can you tell me what it is?
byu/AcceptableTea8746 inindia
Indian users quickly responded, identifying the text as part of a ‘panchang’, a Hindu calendar and astrology almanac used for determining auspicious times for rituals.
One user offered detailed insight, explaining, “This is a Hindu calendar known as a Panchang, printed by the Bhargava Press. The press was owned by Pandit Nawal Kishore Bhargava, one of the major publishers of his time. His significance is mentioned in the movie ‘Mirza Ghalib’, where he famously declined to publish for Ghalib. This calendar is at least 150 to 180 years old.”
The German man expressed his gratitude, asking if the text was rare and worth preserving. “Thanks a lot everyone! I would have never managed to find it out. One question remains, is it rare? Asking so I can preserve it accordingly, if it’s common I’ll just pin it on my wall,” he wrote. Many advised that while the text wasn’t particularly valuable, it was still a significant artifact, especially considering how it made its way across the world.