CHENNAI: The State Government has taken up with the Union Government publication of Tamil inscriptions in the possession of the Mysore office of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), according to M. Rajendran, Director of Tamil Development.
Several scholars, including Noboru Karashima of the University of Tokyo, have been demanding that the inscriptions be published in text form, as it will be useful for research.
Dr. Rajendran, who declared open a workshop on the conservation of manuscripts at the International Institute of Tamil Studies on Friday, told The Hindu that the State Government impressed upon the Centre the need for strengthening the ASI's unit in Chennai to facilitate the publication work. Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi had written a letter in this regard to the Centre about 10 days ago.
Noting that the publishing of the inscriptions stopped several years ago, Mr. Rajendran said the ASI was instead bringing out summaries of the inscriptions. This would not be sufficient for researchers keen on making an in-depth study.
Digital technology
He suggested that digital technology be used for the publication. The inscriptions or palm-leaf manuscripts, whether available in Mysore or in different parts of Tamil Nadu, could be digitised and published on the websites of the Central and State Governments.
V. Jeyaraj, coordinator of the Government Museum Manuscript Conservation Centre, said the National Mission for Manuscripts, in its survey in Tamil Nadu, had identified six lakh manuscripts.
The Centre was assisting several libraries in safeguarding manuscripts under the latter's collections.