Sao Garng Hsor Library

Sao Garng Hsor Library (SGSL) History

Introduction
“Sao Garng Hsor Library” has been setup as the information and research center for the Tai / Shan Sangha studying in Sri Lanka. The name is based on a well-known and learned Tai scholar called “Sao Garng Hsor” and it will be worth here to mention a brief account of this scholar and how our library has come into being.

Sao Garng Hsor
Sao Garng Hsor is well-known Tai writer known as “Sare Sao Garng Hsor”. His name was given so after a small town “Garng Hsor”, because he stayed in that small town and compiled so many Dhamma books. Weing Garng Hsor (small town east of Salween) is the place where he made his residence until he is 65 years of age.

Sao Garng Hsor is dead, but his works on Tai Buddhist Literature still uplift and give benefits to the Tai people. He was one of the most prolific of all the Shan writers and has nearly two hundred books to his credit so that he is more famous than any other Tai writers. Therefore, the word “Sao Garng Hsor” had become the name prefixed to our present Library that we suppose to recognize as the most prolific of all the Tai writers up to the coming era.  

Sao Garng Hsor Library
The first library for the Tai Sangha, Sao Garng Hsor Library, was established at Makutarama temple in Sri Lanka in 1998. It was founded by Venerable Dr. Khammai Dhammasami. The SGSL was setup with the aim of helping the Tai Sangha in research and academic studies while studying in Sri Lanka. This is not only useful for present generation but also essential for future generation to accumulate their studies and knowledge.

The Sao Garng Hsor Library has provided research and reference information such as Pali, history, philosophy, religion, literature and other information, especially in the Buddhist studies. There are five sections;

1. English Section,
2. Tai Section,
3. Tai Moung Section,
4. Thai Section, and
5. Burmese (Myanmar) Section in the Sao Garng Hsor Library.

Currently there are 1779 books in English, 589 in Tai, 15 in Tai Murng, 189 in Thai and 376 in Burmese, that counts 2948 books in total in our library.

Sao Garng Hsor Library will continue to provide invaluable information and sources of research in Buddhist and religious academic studies to benefit Tai society as well as the world community at large.