Munshiram Manoharlal


Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. is a leading publishing house located in New Delhi, India. Established in 1952 by Manohar Lal Jain, it is one of the oldest publishing houses in India. It publishes books on Social Sciences and Humanities and has published over 3000 academic and scholarly publications in subjects such as Indian Art, Art History, Architecture, Archaeology, History, Culture, Politics, Numismatics, Geography, Travels, Voyages, Indian Law, Indian Medicine, Language, Literature, Linguistics, Dictionaries, Glossaries, Handbooks, Indices, Music, Dance, Theatre, Religion, Philosophy, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Sufism, Sikhism, Tantra, Mysticism, Yoga, Sanskrit Literature, Sociology, Anthropology, and related subjects.
MRML also co-publishes scholarly titles with governmental institutions and bodies such as the Indian Council of Philosophical Research ; Centre for Studies in Civilizations which is world-renowned for the series of scholarly publications called the Project of History of Science, Philosophy and Culture ; Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts ; and Indian Council of Historical Research. In addition to this, MRML publishes and reprints books in collaboration with university presses, independent publishers, scholars, and institutions around the world.

History

Munshiram Manoharlal belongs to a family of publishers who were the pioneers in Indological publishing in India. The origins of the family business can be traced back to 1870 in Lahore where books were published under the name of the ancestral company which was founded by Mehar Chand Jain. He named it Meharchand Lachhmandas. Mehar Chand Jain, a widely respected literary figure, had translated the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs, into English. The British decorated him for his ground-breaking work. The company slowly expanded and its publications were being sold at premier bookstores all over the country.
Meharchand Lachhmandas became the first to publish several classic, essential, and perennial texts in the field of Indology and became the premier Indological publisher with a long list of published titles. It had a vast collection of manuscripts and publications from around the world at its bookshops. Lahore was the centre of education at that time and the company's bookshops specialized in Indology. It flourished for three subsequent generations, i.e., Lachhman Das Jain, Munshi Ram Jain, and Manohar Lal Jain.
In 1947, just before the partition of India, the offices, press, bookstore, and residence were burned down by Muslim activists. Fortunately, the women and children of the family had been evacuated earlier to Amritsar. Soon afterwards, Manohar Lal Jain was forced to flee to Amritsar to take refuge, and was helped by kind Muslim neighbours, who helped him escape safely across the border. The family was once again united, but with no business or assets.
After the partition of India, there was a split in the family business. Manohar Lal Jain separated from the parent company Meharchand Lachhmandas to set up his own bookselling and publishing company. In 1948, he sold the jewelry his wife had brought with her from Lahore, and with that money, steps were taken to re-establish the business. Since Manohar Lal Jain was a well-known publisher with an excellent reputation, it was not difficult for him to restart the business. His services to the literary world were recognized and the business flourished once again.
In 1952, Munshiram Manoharlal was founded as a bookselling and publishing company at Nai Sarak in Delhi. It soon gained popularity and respect and became a leading Indological publisher, bookseller, and library-supplier from India. Munshiram Manoharlal's publications, along with other publications from the Indian subcontinent, were now being marketed aggressively in the South Asian market and exported to countries all over the world.
Manohar Lal Jain died in 1988 due to cardiac arrest. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. is now run by his son and his grandson, namely Ashok Jain and Vikram Jain respectively.

Bookstores

MRML's head-office, principal bookstore, and distribution centre is located at 54 Rani Jhansi Road, New Delhi 110 055. Additionally, it also has a city showroom called Sanctum Books at 68 Medical Association Road, Darya Ganj, New Delhi 110 002.

Publications

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MRML Group of Companies

The MRML group consists of the following three companies: