palm leafs in Tamil and other languages

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Dear List Members,

 

Let me introduce myself. For the last 15 years I have been collecting all

sorts of Tamil palm leaf manuscripts from all over Tamil Nadu rural areas,

preserving them, editing and publishing them. I have already collected 1000

bundles and turned many over to the some of the institutions in Chennai

(Institute of Asian Studies, International Institute of Tamil Studies, Govt.

Oriental Manuscripts Library, and a few individuals abroad). There are as of

yet many manuscripts that have not yet been collected; it will come around

one lakh of manuscripts. These manuscripts are uncared for and are decaying

in the hands of rural folks who don't know their value. The support from

the government is less. There may be many more unpublished and precious

manuscripts in grammar, literature, epics, stala puranas, puranas, nigandus,

minor literatures, folk ballads, astrology, siddha medicine, sorcery, etc.

If these manuscripts are collected it will be a great service to Tamil

studies in the future.

 

Besides Tamil, palm leaf manuscripts are also available in Telugu, Malayalam

and Kanada. Perhaps we will find copies of Thirukural, Tholkappiam and

Sangam literature in Telugu, Malayalam and Grantha scripts. Thus far this

is an unknown territory, because of the disproportionate focus on

manuscripts in the Tamil script and language to the exclusion of others.

 

Also, most of the Jain maunscripts in Thondaimandalam are found in Grantha

script. Palm leafs also exist in Maithili, in Bengali, and in Kashmiri

languages.

 

If we survey all over the country, we can collect more than a lakh of

palmleafs with individuls which are uncared. I hope the people interested

in palm leaf studies can organize and raise a fund to procure all these

uncared for palm leafs from individuals and establish a museum or library as

a mansucript center for the benefit of scholars and preservation through

digitalization.

 

Hence I request anyone who is interested in this or related subjects to

please contact me by regular post or by telephone. We can then organize

seminars, discussions, and plan pertinent action.

 

Thank you,

 

A. Thasarathan

 

-------------------------

Dr. A. Thasarathan, M.A., Ph.D., Dip. in Ling.

Centre for Preservation of Tamil Palm-Leaf Manuscripts

1/89, T.V. Amman Koil Street, East Coast Road

Kottivakkam, Chennai -600 041

INDIA

phone: 044 - 442 5514

 

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