ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MANUSCRIPTS DIVISION @ SCSVMV
SPECIAL FOCUS – PRESERVING OUR HERITAGE – MANUSCRIPTS DIVISION @SCSVMV

The Manuscripts division of SCSVMV University has a rare treasure – a collection of more than 5000 manuscripts.

The manuscripts were collected from different parts of the country during the yatras of Their Holiness of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam across the country and were in the custody of the Sri Sankara Matam at Kumbhakonam and later shifted to Sri Sankara Matam at Kanchipuram.

With the establishment of Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Viswa Maha Vidyalaya, a Deemed University with unique objectives in Enathur, a well equipped international library was set up and the manuscripts already procured and protected in the Sankara Matam were transferred to the University Library. More than 3500 manuscripts from the collection have been catalogued since then by Brahmashri. Vydya S.V.Radhakrishna Sastri and Brahmashri. Ramamurthy Sharma. The Manuscript Section of our Mahavidyalaya was officially inaugurated by the then Prime Minister of India, Shri.P.V.Narasimha Rao in the year 2000. The National Mission for Manuscripts of the Government of India has recognized the centre as one of the Manuscript Resource Centers.

Key aims of the Manuscripts section:

• Surveying and collecting manuscripts
• Conservation of manuscripts in their original form
• Digitization of manuscripts
• Editing and publishing books and periodicals
• Conducting outreach programmes and awareness camps

NATURE OF THE MANUSCRIPTS

The treasure trove of manuscripts has content on a wide-ranging array of subjects including Sahitya, Vyakarana, Vedanta, Vaidya, Agama, Tantra, Nyaya and Mantra Sastra. Most of the manuscripts are in Sanskrit language and the scripts are Grantha, Telugu, Tamil, Nandinagari, Devanagari, Malayalam and Kannadam. Some of the texts in the manuscripts are with commentaries while a few are without commentaries. A sizable percentage of manuscripts are considered to be rare and unpublished. Among the 5000 manuscripts, 3000 are palm leaf manuscripts and 2000 paper manuscripts. Copies of Ramayana and Mahabharata are available on palm leaf.

SOME RARE MANUSCRIPTS PRESERVED IN SCSVMV

1. Gita Govindham
Special feature : Illustrated Manuscript (Radha & Krishna)
A rare type of illustration. Palm leaves have been stitched together and the picture
has been drawn continuously in the leaves.

2. Vaidhyam
Size: 14cms X 1.5cms
Lang: Tamil
Script: Tamil
Special feature: (breath wise) Smallest Manuscript of our library

3. Vedhanta Paribhasha
Author: Dharmaraja Adhwari
Size: 53cms X 6cms
Lang: Sanskrit
Script: Grantha
Special feature: Longest Manuscript of our collection

4. Adyatma Ramayanam – (Uma Meheshwara Samvadha)
Size: 8.5cms X 6cms
Lang: Sanskrit
Special feature: Script: Sharadha (Script of Kashmir)

5. Saptarishi Puja
No of leaves: 17
Size: 8.5cms X 6cms
Lang: Sanskrit
Script: Grantha
Special feature: Smallest complete book of our collection

6. Srimad Ramayanam
Author: Valmiki
No of pages: 617 pages
Lang: Sanskrit
Script: Grantha
Special feature: Complete book in one volume. The Largest volume of our collection.

7. Shivagita
Paper Manuscript
Lang: Sanskrit
Special feature: Nandinagari (Script Karnataka & Gujarat, a rare script in Tamilnadu.)

8. Deva Devi Samvadha
Size: 12cms X 2cms
Lang: Sans / Script: Grantha
Special feature: (length wise) Smallest Manuscript of our library

APPEAL

Do you have manuscripts at home? Would you like them to be conserved and digitized? Write to us to donate them and make it a part of this treasure trove of manuscripts @ SCSVMV.Send your mail to contact@kanchiuniv.ac.in for more information.

PROJECTS

1. Microfilming project was commenced with funding from Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts during 1994. Around 2850 manuscripts have been micro-filmed so far.

2. The preservation process was started by applying special oil designed and developed in-house by the Library under the direction of Vaidya Sri S.V.Radhakrishna Sastrigal.

3. National Institute for Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bangalore, had sponsored a project on digitizing the manuscripts in the section from April 2000. About 459 manuscripts were digitized under this project.

4. At present, digitization is being performed since July,09 and more than 50,000 pages( 400 bundles) have been digitized since then

5. A software interface has been developed to search and access the catalogue of manuscripts along with the digitized images of the relevant manuscript pages.

6.Under the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM), set up by the Department of Culture, Government of India, an MOU was signed between SCSVMV and NMM in November 2004 for surveying and cataloguing the manuscripts available throughout Tamilnadu. The Vice-chancellor of the Mahavidyalaya is the Director of the Project and Dr. G. Srinivasu, Head of the Department (i/c), Department of Sanskrit & Indian Culture is the project Co-ordinator.

PUBLICATIONS

Apart from preservation, propagation of valuable information available in rare manuscripts is also an equally important task. Towards this, the preserved manuscripts are being converted into reading materials. 10 rare manuscripts have already been identified and edited for publication. A publication wing attached to the manuscript section was recently constituted with an Editorial Committee. The following manuscripts have been edited and published under a series named “Grandhadipika”.

Grandhadipika series -1
1. Sri Mallari Sahasranamam
2. Sri Cidakasa Cidambara Rahasyam
3. Srimad Appyya Dikshita Caritra Navaratna Malika
4. Sri Kaveri Stuti
Grandhadipika series-II
Tatataka Parinaya Champu