Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate a palm-leaf manuscript museum with modern audio-visual technology at the renovated Central Archives, Fort, here on Thursday.
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Set up by the Archives Department, the ₹3-crore museum has eight theme-based galleries where select manuscripts from one of the biggest palm-leaf collections in the country will be displayed.
As many as 187 old and rare manuscripts stored at Central Archives and the department’s regional offices in Ernakulam and Kozhikode will be housed in the 6,000-sq ft museum, arranged by the State government’s nodal agency for museums Keralam–Museum of History and Heritage, in the over 300-year-old heritage structure in the heart of the city.
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The manuscripts in ancient scripts such as Vattezhuthu, Kolezhuthu, Malayanma, and ancient Tamil and Malayalam take visitors through the social, political, cultural, and economic history of Kerala.
The manuscripts which delve into aspects as diverse as tax, administration, and trade to education, prisons, and festivals in the erstwhile Travancore, Kochi, and Malabar provide a fascinating glimpse of history that is rarely accessible to the common man. Besides palm-leaf manuscripts, scrolls, bamboo splints, and copper plates are included in the collection.
The first gallery ‘History of Writing’ is an introduction to the evolution of writing, particularly in Kerala, and introduces visitors to the Marayur cave paintings and engravings and the stamps and seals used in Harappa, through their replicas.
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However, the evolution of writing is far from continuous. After a long gap evolves the Brahmi script, seen as rock inscription during the reign of Ashoka. Then it moves on to copper plates, brass splints, and finally palm-leaf, leaves, and bark. The derivation of the Malayalam alphabet from the Brahmi script helps trace the evolution of letters. Information can also be held on the types of palm leaves suitable for writing and the writing system used. These beautiful displays with accompanying information in English and Malayalam throw light on the epigraphic legacy of Malayalam.
The other galleries are ‘Land and people’, ‘Administration’, ‘War and peace’, ‘Education and health’, ‘Economy’, ‘Art and culture’, amid the Mathilakom records (a collection of 3,000 cadjan manuscript rolls possessed by Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple).
The palm-leaf manuscripts on display at the museum include one in Malayalam that documents how Hyder Ali, father of Tipu Sultan, reports to Paliathachan that an amount of 30,000 Periya varahan currency (that prevailed in the 18th century) had been deposited in the ‘toshekhana’ (treasury). Another related to penalty imposed on officials for late attendance. Officials drawing salary above ₹5 had to pat ₹1 as penalty, while those with Salary of ₹5 or below had to pay a quarter rupee as fine if they failed to attend office even after 11 a.m. Another mentions assistance sent during the Bengal famine, another restricts travel between Kerala and Tamil Nadu during small pox.
Minister for Archives and Museums Ahammad Devarkovil, at a press meet on Wednesday, said the museum would help kindle the new generation’s interest in history. Entry to the museum would be free for the first month in connection with Christmas and New Year.