A rich repository of knowledge on Malayalam language and the cultural history of Kerala will soon be available online, accessible to researchers and culture enthusiasts. In just about six months, that is!
A project kick-started by the University of Tubingen in Germany is ensuring digitisation and release online of a huge gamut of works by German missionary Herman Gundert, who made matchless contribution to Malayalam language and script. The archived collection, accidentally stumbled upon by linguist Scaria Zacharia and scholar Albrecht Frenz at Tubingen’s archives as early as 1986, comprises about 80 manuscripts, 150 printed works and a few palm leaf manuscripts — the chunk running into some 42,000 pages.
In fact, a token release of two manuscripts from the collection, Pazhamchol Mala and Orayiram Pazhamchol that are part of Gundert’s ‘Thalassery Manuscripts’, took place over a year ago in Kochi.
The university embarked on the project after Malayalam Wikipedia activists wrote to it, seeking help in sharing the rare treasure in the public domain.
Heike Moser, Koodiyattom exponent and faculty at the university, collaborated in the project and funds were sought from the German Research Foundation to carry out the work.
“In a mail sent to me a few weeks ago, Heike Moser said the scanning of the manuscripts would soon be under way. It takes about six months to complete the process,” says Shiju Alex, Bangalore-based Wiki activist who has collected, digitised and made available online under the creative commons license several ancient Malayalam texts. It was Mr. Alex who approached the university requesting it to undertake the project.
As the Gundert collection gets digitised at Tubingen, Mr. Alex has discovered some rare collections of Malayalam and Kerala-related manuscripts and texts at some Theological institutions in Bangalore. He is scanning the texts at present.
Malayalam Wiki, he says, has so far released online over 100 ancient and rare tomes related to Kerala’s cultural history.
“The idea is to release online as many volumes and manuscripts as possible.”
