An epic finds its place online

Thanks to the efforts of high school students, Ramachandra Vilasam has been digitised , making it accessible to all.

August 30, 2011 07:28 pm | Updated 07:29 pm IST

At work: Digitisation under way. Photo: Special Arrangement

At work: Digitisation under way. Photo: Special Arrangement

How do you go about being creative in using the various software that is used to study geometry and image programming? High school students from Chavara sure know to have a little fun with such software that is usually used for learning mathematics.

Digitalisation

Ramachandra Vilasam , the first Malayalam epic poem that confines to all rules of composition, will be produced by the high schools students in digitalised version, from the poet's native place — Chavara, Kollam, under the aegis of IT @School and Vidhyarangam Kala Sahitya Vedi. The digitalisation of the complete book, which is free of copyright regulations, is expected to be completed shortly.

The project will be digitalised using open free software that include OfficeWriter, GIMP (Graphical image manipulation programme), and Geogibra.

The students have become competent enough to use the GeoGibra software for drawing ‘chitrasargam' which is used in teaching and learning geometry in mathematics

Ramachandra Vilasam , considered to be one of the first poetry that strictly adheres to all the rules of composition, has 21 sargas ,1832 slokas and chitrasargam — a must for epic poetry that depicts verses under the sargas in the form of pictures.

The theme of the poem is based on Ramayana, except the part called “Utharakandam”, which has been omitted in the epic poetry. The first book composed by Azhakath Padmanabha Kurup was published in 1907.

The project is being developed by the student members of the IT club and Vidyarangam Kala Sahitya Vedi members of 15 schools (Government and aided) in the sub-district of Chavara.

“I make sure I find free time during school hours to involve myself in this work. Since I am proficient in typing in Malayalam, the work is much easier and fun too,” says Emilin P. Rapheal, a Std X student of St.Agnes High School who is involved in the digitalisation process.

Easy access

Currently all the copyright-free text, except the Chitrasargam , is made available in the Malayalam free content wiki library, “wikigrandha shala”.

IT @ School project master trainer and Vidyarangam Sahitya Vedi secretary V.M.Rajamohan is coordinating the project.

The text is available at: www.ml.wikisource.org/wiki/Ramachandravilasam.ITclub.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.