The Project Manuscripts: Digitizing the Treasure-Trove of Knowledge by Neldria Crasto

 Crouched on my couch, editing each picture one after the other I remember my phone gallery filled with images of  illustrated manuscripts that evening. Now, these pictures were sent from the Central State Library of Solan to the Research Wing members from various locations. The digitization project had also occurred digitally. Some of these ancient documents were infested with mite, some had damaged folios and some were very intact and aesthetic to look at. But they were all emblazoned  with Solan’s royal ancestry.

Illustrated paper manuscripts from Solan’s Central State Library

Having said that, let me walk you through the project’s journey.

On August 29, 2022, as I was getting ready for college with zero enthusiasm because it was Monday, I heard a notification, ting. Shriya ma’am had left a voice message for the Research Wing which made my Monday morning surprisingly exciting. Finding manuscripts in our area that might be in our family’s forgotten possessions or in public libraries was our task for the day.  The very next moment of finishing my classes, I was asking around in two-three public libraries in Mysore if they had any collection of ancient manuscripts. Neither did they have any nor did my ancestors leave any written documents, much to my dismay.  However, perhaps it was beginner’s luck that I came across a small illustrated palm manuscript. It featured etchings of Vishnu’s Dashavataras and I got the permission to digitize it. Considering that ancient materials are more susceptible to damaging agents, a small amount of conservation work needs to be done before digitization. We were also instructed to take certain precautions when handling the manuscripts. Various tools and programmes that should be utilised to digitise them were also introduced to us. 

Hold on if you were thinking this was the point at which the project began, this was only the story of how I became involved it. Forgive me for the lengthy narration.

Devyani Doshi working on a paper manuscript.

The Project actually began during the glorious period of Covid in 2020. This is something I recently learned. Devyani Doshi, one of my seniors, happened to obtain an old manuscript from her family’s private temple. This was the first manuscript to be digitally preserved. A illustrated manuscript of Akbar’s album, Sirral Maktum, had been found at the same time by another senior, Ira Bhatnagar, at the Raza Library in Uttar Pradesh.  Here are the pictures of that manuscript.

They are beautiful, aren't it? Well, apparently the manuscript is presently in a very bad condition.

Our Director, Shriya Gautam, thus, had the idea of starting a digitization project alongside her work in Solan on digitising manuscripts such as Rajataringini of Kalhana back in those days.

Before I talk and get into who were involved in this Project and what problems we encountered, let me explain why we were doing it and what the goal of this Project was.

Since the aim of our organisation is to make heritage accessible to anybody who is interested in it, this adheres to this Project as well. The phrase “Forgotten history is forgotten culture” that stands as our motto is directly related to the Project’s purpose. Our ancient manuscripts are a national treasure and our only primary sources, losing them would be a major loss for our cultural legacy.  To conserve these historical artefacts, which are susceptible to deterioration with the passage of time, is the primary objective of recording them digitally. Digitising these ancient texts also increases accessibility, creating more means to present it to the wider audience. Other than that, the digital records of these manuscripts would also save  the physical copies of these  manuscripts from being exposed to the agents of damage while being used for study purpose.

Let us return to August 2022, when the Project was officially held with all of these objectives at the Central State Library of Solan in Himachal Pradesh. The library’s collection, which was inherited from the private holdings of the erstwhile royal family of Solan, consisted of approximately 29 manuscripts that were ready for digitization. We had been fortunate enough to receive authorization from the library officials to digitise them.

Who were the individuals working on the Project?

Shriya Ma’am and her parents, I believe, did the most important job of recording them. There were three people and 29 manuscripts in the most adverse conditions to document in such a way that the folios are like some critical patients in the ICU and you are doing the surgery. I’m sorry about that absurd condition, but when I say folios in a critical stage, it means that they are so fragile that a rough human touch would tear them. Additionally, to describe the problems they had to face, imagine you are given a bag and there’s a huge bundle of papers stuck together and jumbled, it would take us forever to carefully separate them, right? Similarly, they had to go through these hustles as well. Also, when we are dealing with something ancient, they are always covered with dust and these manuscripts were also  infested  with certain pests like termites, fungus, silverfish and I don’t know what other microbes were not there.

I recollect Navita Ma’am exclaiming in the whatsapp group, “How on EARTH is this 24 pages? My feet are dead!!!”, after finishing documenting a manuscript that had 205 folios. And I can totally understand how exasperating it is to stand for hours and document 100-300 dust-covered folios in one take.

When it comes to Shriya Ma’am’s parents’ dedication it is truly commendable that they went to such lengths despite their age. And I can’t possibly list all of the difficulties they encountered while documenting them. 

There were other people who contributed immensely in understanding the condition assessment of the manuscripts as well like Miss Amaleena.  Also, the contributions of Mayank Singh were duly noted by all of us involved in the project. He really made us understand the scientific approach in conserving and handling these manuscripts while digitising them. Under his guidance, the manuscripts were stored properly and it was ensured that they do not get damaged in the future. 

Other than that, there were six of us who did the editing work and created pdfs of the digitised documents. I believe that each member of the Research Wing received a set of manuscripts to edit on the second day of the project, which were documented in Solan.

The Project in the library lasted up to seven days. There were sets of manuscripts that were received one after the other and I really enjoyed doing the task. I can still feel the gusto that I had while digitising them reading some beautifully illustrated specimens in Devanagari script. As I have mentioned earlier that there were 29 manuscripts in total out of which the highest sets were digitized by Aditya Rao, and the longest manuscript, which had 419 folios, was digitised by Sanskriti, who are both my fellow Research Wing members.

What were the important manuscripts that were digitised?

The collection included Devi Mahatmya of the Markandeya Purana, critical commentaries on Ayurveda, a handwritten copy of Ramcharitamanas (which was really huge), Pradeep, and also Amarkosha Tilak, which is a commentary.  There were also illustrated manuscripts like Vishnu Purana and Matsya Purana. 

  

This Project is still ongoing and actively seeking manuscripts that should be digitally preserved. I recall reading about this Project in several news articles just a few days ago and how happy I am about it! I really look forward to these tasks in future where manuscripts are recorded, conserved and digitised for the public. On a parting note, I would say it was a really fun experience where I could see the entire team of Speaking Archaeologically working together at the same time despite living in various places across the country.