Digitisation of 40,000 Sanskrit manuscripts on at BISM

Under the National Manuscripts Mission (NMM), a collection of around 40,000 manuscripts in Sanskrit are being digitised at the Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal (BISM). A team from the NMM began work at BISM over a month ago. The work includes digitising manuscripts from private sources in the city as well.
The process of digitisation began at early August, and 550 manuscripts on Ayurveda were the first of the lot to be scanned and uploaded. “The 40,000 manuscripts run into several thousand pages, the digitisation of which is to be completed within the next two years. So far, we have digitised 2,000 manuscripts,” said historian Mandar Lawate, who is coordinating this project with the NMM.
Dating back 600 years, the Sanskrit manuscripts pertain to various topics on Ayurveda, Puranas, Vedas, philosophy and art. For instance, ‘Shivlilamrut,’ ‘Pandav Pratap’ and ‘Hari Vijay’ authored by poet Shridhar, Eknathi Bhagwat, Sant Tukaram’s ‘gathas’ and ‘Dnyaneshwari,’ are some of the manuscripts which would be digitised soon.
“The smallest manuscript, a Hindu ‘panchang,’ is the length of a human finger, while the largest one, based on the ‘Mahabharat,’ is as big as a cupboard. These manuscripts are at least 300 years old. Some of the other manuscripts are written in golden ink, vegetable dyes, and highlighted with illustrations and drawings,” Lawate said. The process of manuscript digitisation has been on at the BISM for the last two years, through various agencies and projects. “So far, the BISM hasn’t been to do any digitisation on its own, as we are short of trained manpower and infrastructure, and also due to paucity of funds,” Lawate said.
The NMM had listed the digitisation of these 40,000 Sanskrit manuscripts during the centenary year celebrations of the BISM last year. “We don’t have any government aid at the moment. Our objective, on the occasion of the organisation’s centenary year, was to collect Rs 1 crore. Last year, the Pune Municipal Corporation had promised Rs 30 lakh each for two years, but we haven’t got a single paisa yet. So far, we’ve been able to collect some Rs 30 lakh only from the well-wishers of the BISM,” added Lawate.
Last year, the PMC had also sanctioned money for the preservation of the mandal’s buildings. “That too hasn’t arrived. We are told by the PMC that the Maharashtra government is yet to approve these sanctions,” Lawate said.
Source:TNN