Manuscripts
in India: Hard to decipher, harder to preserve
New Delhi, Dec 12, (PTI):
Scholars who scrutinise Indian manuscripts for research
fear that the lack of access to many of them and the shoddy upkeep
of some will wipe out details etched in these ancient palimpsests.
"The quality of preservation in several libraries (in India)
varies. However, none, as far as I know, follows international
standards of temperature and humidity control... not to speak
of insects," Dr Patrick Olivelle, an expert on Asian studies
in the University of Texas, said about the state of affairs in
numerous manuscript repositories in India.
Manuscripts, inscriptions, and epigraphs are available on myriad
surfaces ranging from steel and rock to perishable materials like
palm leaf, bark and papyrus.
A leading scanner of these texts for the past 35 years, Olivelle
said he was yet to come upon "a single place where manuscripts
are kept in a climate controlled environment".
Olivelle and others of his fraternity in India, which is home
to over 40 lakh manuscripts on subjects ranging from vedas, religion,
architecture, science, astronomy, medicine, have common fears.
Renowned scholar Kapila Vatsyayan said that preservation of manuscripts
was a matter of concern, especially those lying with some libraries,
religious bodies and individuals.
Considered a pioneer of the 20-year-old movement to bring out
Indian manuscripts from different dusty corners of the country
and translate, microfilm and digitise them, Vatsyayan explained
the state of affairs as "some are kept well, some not",
without bluntly naming the institutions that do not maintain them
well.
Her brainchild, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA),
is the mother body for the microfilming and digitisation process
nationwide. This two-decade effort has led to over 2.5 lakh rare
manuscripts being microfilmed and digitalised for study.
"It is a fact that the manuscripts that are on microfilm
and in digital format are safe for the next 500 years. But the
same cannot be said for the extremely valuable collection in possession
of some of the libraries in the country," IGNCA director
Ramesh Gaur said.
Another scholar said some libraries in West Bengal and Kerala
have bluntly refused permission to handover manuscripts to experts
from IGNCA and National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM) for conservation
and insist that the process be done in their presence.
"There have been certain issues with some of these private
holders. We are trying to convince them into joining us in the
process of conservation as they would only ensure longevity of
the manuscripts. It's an ongoing process," said Deepti Tripati,
Director of New Delhi-based NMM, which is busy publishing never-before
published manuscripts.
Looking into these concerns, a national consultative committee
on manuscripts and its conservation recently held a meeting at
NMM and recommended to the Central government to set up a National
Manuscripts Library (NML).
Among the suggestions given by the experts includes facilitating
access in the proposed NML to these ancient texts available in
different repositories to scholar and researches.
The preservation of manuscripts follows traditional as well as
modern methods, which are scientific and preserve documents for
further use. In traditional system of preservation, herbals and
in case of modern methods suitable chemicals are used.
The NMM's task is not only detecting, preserving and popularising
manuscripts but also running courses in paleography and manuscriptology,
given that there is a dearth of scholars in the country and that
too to understand texts written in ancient languages and dialects.
Ruing the lack of scholars in manuscriptology, Vatsyayan said,
"We have about just over 50 scholars who can read inscription
and epigraphy. We are not getting a younger generation in this
subject. We have more people from abroad who have done work on
Indian inscriptions than Indians."
To bridge this gap, the NMM and IGNCA have been conducting nationwide
workshops so as to find fresh talent to decode the ancient writings.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/120076/manuscripts-india-hard-decipher-harder.html