The Oriental Research Institute (ORI) here has taken steps for digitisation of its collection of nearly 70,000 palm leaf and paper manuscripts in Sanskrit and Kannada, and the first phase of the long-pending project is now under way.
The ORI is a repository of 40,000 palm leaf manuscripts and nearly 30,000 titles of paper manuscripts, and enshrines the ancient Indian knowledge system spanning different disciplines, some of which are yet to be studied.
These collections are part of India’s heritage, and throws light on various aspects of art, culture, literature besides adding to the understanding of history.
The ORI, which was established in 1891, is under the University of Mysore and preserves the oldest extant copy of Kautilya’s Arthashastra which was discovered by scholar R. Shama Sastri, who published it in 1909. It brought to the public domain, for the first time, the ancient Indian treatise of polity, economy, and military.
S. Shivarajappa, Director, ORI, told The Hindu that digitisation would enable Indologists and scholars in different parts of the world to access the data base [for a fee] and would give a fillip to research and understanding of Indian history, art, culture, and heritage.
“Hitherto, they had to personally visit the institute or enter into correspondence to ferret out a manuscript, all of which was time consuming. But with the completion of the digitisation exercise, it would be less time consuming,” he added.
Dr. Shivarajappa said the first phase of digitisation entailed making entry of the existing collection complete with the title, author, date of first publication, contents, subject, and the gist of the work.
“The first phase will take about six months to be completed, after which the actual process of scanning the material and digitising the manuscripts will commence,” he said.
The ORI has sought an additional eight staff for the purpose, and once sanctioned a separate wing will be established within its ORI precincts to take forward the digitisation project.
“The additional eight staff that we have sought, will be assisted by the existing scholars and researchers of the ORI and it may take about two to three years for the entire collection to be digitised,” he added.
A key factor driving the digitisation exercise was that the palm leaf manuscripts and paper manuscripts were susceptible to deterioration and degradation over the years. In course of time they might become extinct and be lost for posterity for ever if not properly preserved. Besides, frequent handling of the manuscripts by scholars and exposure to light and heat were the other factors that contributed to their deterioration and hence the imperatives of digitisation, said Dr. Shivarajappa.
Over the years, the manuscripts could also suffer discolouration or get affected by fungus, termites etc. while the danger of fire could not be ruled out which could result in the knowledge database being lost for ever, he added. The ORI used to preserve the manuscripts by coping the rare palm leaf and paper manuscripts by applying Citronella oil. It started microfilming the important texts and nearly 4,000 manuscripts were microfilmed. Now, it had embarked on digitisation of the entire collection, Dr. Shivarajappa said.
