A part of the Mahabharata, the Bhagwat Purana, chronicles the life of Lord Krishna. The entire manuscript is written in red and black ink with a paintbrush. However, it is the intricately done coloured pictures that distinguish the manuscript.

A personal possession of the Suri family, it has been with them for the past 50 years. Says Dharmendra Suri, the present owner of the book,``This manuscript was discovered by my grandfather in a village in Pinjore district. I am not aware of the exact details, but as far as I know it was found during excavations. It was in a fairly good condition, since it was locked up in a trunk. However, around 15 years back, I got it bound as the pages were coming loose.''

The manuscript, which is in Devnagari script, narrates the story of Krishna's life starting from his birth. The book describes all the important events of Krishna's life starting from his birth and then going on to his education, his various exploits, his wedding, his friend Sudama's visit among others. The narration of all these important events is accompanied by pictures.

Though Suri is not sure about the age of the manuscript, he says, ``We had taken it to the National Museum in December last year for getting it valued. The experts there told us that the book was written in the 18th century. They said they used the style of painting to date the book.''

The idea of selling the manuscript occurred to Suri's wife, Neelam, who on a visit to a museum felt that it definitely constituted an antique. It was then that Suri decided to approach the National Museum. ``We met Dr Naseem Akhtar, who is the museum keeper there. He told us that the book was invaluable and asked us to approach them in February, because that was the time when the purchase committee met to decide what they wanted to buy.

However, since they did not have a meeting this year, we decided to advertise it in the newspaper. They told us to get it registered and told us that it could not be sold to a foreigner,'' said Suri.

So far they have had four to five serious inquiries, but since they are being offered not more than Rs 40,000, they have decided not to sell it for the time being. Later Dr Akhtar said, ``This book is around 200 years old. It is one of the chapters of the ancient Indian scripture, the Mahabharata.

The Mahabharata comprises of 18 such chapters. The manuscript is in Devnagari script and the style of painting indicates that it is from the Rajasthan school.''

Dr Akhtar, however pointed out that the manuscript was not complete. ``Some folios have water stains and some are torn and damaged. The book needs to be immediately restored,'' he said.