Redditor Seeks Online Help To Decode Mysterious Devanagari Text He Found At German Flea Market

A man recently took to Reddit, seeking help identifying an unknown Devanagari text he found at a flea market in Germany. The user, who goes by AcceptableTea8746 on Reddit, shared pictures of two yellowed pages filled with text, which appear to be either Hindi or Sanskrit. He asked users for assistance in determining the origin and meaning of the pages. "Found this on a flea market in Hamburg, Germany. Can you tell me what it is?" the man wrote in his post on the subreddit r/india. 

Take a look below: 

Found this on a flea market in Hamburg, Germany. Can you tell me what it is?
byu/AcceptableTea8746 inindia

Social media users were quick to react to the post. Many of them identified the text as belonging to a 'panchang' printed in Varanasi. A 'panchang' is a Hindu calendar and astrology almanac that is used to determine auspicious times and plan religious rituals. 

"It's a very old panchang printed in Banaras city (currently called Varanasi) in the Uttar Pradesh state of India. A panchang is a Hindu calendar and almanac," wrote one user. 

"This is a Hindu calendar known as a Panchang, printed by the Bhargava Press. The press was owned and managed by Pandit Nawal Kishore Bhargava, who was one of the biggest publishers of his time. His significance is even mentioned in the movie "Mirza Ghalib," where he famously declined to publish for Ghalib. This calendar is at least 150 to 180 years old, if I'm not mistaken. I know this because he was our ancestor, our relative from about five generations back. His descendants still live in Lucknow, but they no longer operate the press," explained another. 

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"This is punchag .. mostly used for refering planetry positions for every day..it's mostly used by Purohits who perform Pooja at people's homes," commented a third. 

"You should preserve it. Looking at pages it looks pretty old. Irrespective this is going to be rarer to find with this detailing in next 10 yrs. Can be valuable in a decade," said a fourth user. 

"Not an appraiser professionally but I have handled such items. This panchang/panjika/almanac is old for sure, but looking at the paper condition it's not 150 yrs old as claimed by few. It won't fetch a high price, sadly. Only collectible things are certain pages, such as cover arts, illustrations and few such pages. The other contents - I mean the panchang itself is of little value...However, if the panchang contains any notable year/day, it might attract some people," explained one user. 

Since being shared, the post has garnered more than 2,000 upvotes and over 180 comments.