Up the spectacular steps of the grand and imposing Town Hall at Mumbai's Horniman Circle lies the Asiatic Society of Bombay's library with its treasures of books and periodicals, ancient manuscripts, painted folios, coins, artefacts, maps and prints. The much talked about original Italian manuscript of Dante's Divine Comedy is only one of the lustrous gems in a magical cave full of rare jewels. There is the 16th century Sanskrit manuscript Aranyaka Parvan of the Mahabharata, with its rich illustrations rated as a crucial discovery for the study of pre-Mughal miniature painting. The Sopara relics, in the Society's possession, contain among other artefacts, what are believed to be fragments from the Buddha's begging bowl. Bharat Ratna Mahamahopadhyay Dr.P.V.Kane's labours for fifty long years in the Society's Library resulted in his monumental, much acclaimed, multi volume History of Dharmasastra.