Mr B K Ranganath, a reputed Kannada publisher, is coordinating the task of codifying manuscripts of heritage value held in private collections of people in Mysore and Chamarajanagar districts. The exercise is part of a nationwide effort by the government sponsored National Manuscripts Mission. The idea is to compile data on scattered bits and neglected pieces of manuscripts, in paper and palm-leaf, in private possession. The owners do not have to part with their manuscripts. They only need to enlist them with the manuscripts mission. In return, they can get help and guidance in preservation and documentation of their manuscripts.
Mr Ranganath, along with a team of volunteers, will visit people’s houses (Nov.21-25) to evaluate and enlist manuscripts. However people can report finds of manuscripts even after this date to the district coordinator. Mr Ranganath will be happy to hear from anyone in possession of documents/manuscripts that are at least 75 years old, relating to events that pertain to arts, culture, philosophy, history and science. He can be reached at: 1195 Balakrishna Rao Rd., Chamarajapuram, Mysore 570005. Ph. 0821 2331055 or 93421-87542.
The idea of a nationwide survey is to create a manuscripts map and piece together India’s till-now undiscovered, inaccessible and fragmented intellectual heritage, according to the director of the National Mission for Manuscripts, Sudha Gopalakrishnan. The mission, set up two years ago, carried out in Dec.2004 a pilot survey that resulted in the registration of 2.9 lakh manuscripts in Orissa, 1.5 lakh documents from 10 districts in Bihar, and two lakh documents from 12 U P districts. Varanasi alone accounted for 1.8 lakh manuscripts.
Notable among the discoveries made so far are Mahabaratha writings weighing one quintal from Unnao, U P; a 400-year old Arabic text on ancient Islamic healing procedures; and a 500-year old Vadiraya Tirtha’s text on Mahabaratha discovered by scholars in Karnataka. An edited version of the text has since been released.
