Manuscripts as old at sixth century find safe haven

Over the last 31 years, the Nepalese German manuscripts cataloguing project (NGMCP), has been involved in the process of microfilming and cataloguing thousands of priceless handwritten manuscripts.

According to Albrecht Hanisch, director of Nepal Research Centre and member of NGMCP, the idea took shape in 1967 when it came to light that the people of Nepal were selling old manuscripts, written on palm leaves, as souvenirs to foreign tourists. He was speaking at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute on the occasion of the Acharya Dharmanand Kosambi (Sanskrit and Pali scholar) lecture series last week.

Hanisch, while speaking about the project, admitted that although the microfilming was over, it would take a generation to complete the cataloguing.

“Microfilming of the available manuscripts took 31 years and now the cataloguing will probably take generations to be completed. However, the NGMCP is focusing on completing the three series A, B & C by 2012,” said Hanisch. The NGMCP has as old as 6th century manuscripts in their possession.

Since 1970, the NGMCP has been collecting and microfilming the palm leaf manuscripts right from the Sushruta Acharsanhita. NGMCP also has a website, which is based on the Wiki format where people can access picture of old and catalogued manuscripts.

Hanisch also praised the digital photography, which helped them save a lot of time during microfilming. He said, “The photography product is better and clearer.” People can contact the NGMCP and get photographs of old manuscripts that have been catalogued till date.