Now there exists more awareness on the importance of manuscripts both in the Government level and also among the general public. Steps are being taken by the Central and State Governments for the Collection, Conservation and Publication of manuscripts. Some of the Indian Universities have realised the importance of manuscripts long back and hence started separate Manuscript Libraries for the study and research on ancient manuscripts. Recently some more Universities have come to the field. A few Universities are offering Manuscriptology as an elective paper for Post-Graduate Courses in Languages, History, Archaeology etc., and also M.Phil programme in Manuscriptology. There are books and articles on different aspects of Manuscript studies. A few scholars like Shivaganesha Murthy have discussed the major branches of Manuscriptology in a detailed way. But such books are only a few. There is a dearth of text books intended for the beginners in this field to get an overall understanding of the subject. Thus there exists a need for simple text books, catering to the requirements of students. This book is a humble attempt towards that goal.
However it is to be admitted that the author has close acquaintance with only one of the Manuscript Libraries of India and hence illustrations and examples given are based mainly on a single institution. Hope this drawback can be remedied by collecting details from other major institutions, in case a future edition is brought out.
I am very much indebted to Dr. S. D. Laddu, Former Professor of Sanskrit, Pune University and Curator and Ex-Director of Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute for going through the draft of this book quite minutely and giving me valuable suggestions. I am also grateful to him for his illuminating Foreword to this work. My thanks are also due to Prof. V.I. Subramoniam and to other Office bearers of the DLA for accepting this book as a DLA publication. I am indebted to my husband Dr. G.K. Panikkar for the constant cooperation and help rendered to me during the preparation of this work. I acknowledge the services done to me by Smt. T.R Sushama, Madhurima Soitek, Kazhakuttom for taking the computer printout. My thanks are also due to S.B. Press, Thiruvananthapuram for undertaking the printing of this book.
Connoisseurs of different areas of learning are apt to hold their particular area higher above all else, as the 'Science of Sciences'. Not vying with a similar commonality of viewing, but out of attention to the factual base of all scholarship, it can be however be pointed out that all literature known to a scholar or to a common man is known through texts which are either handwritten or printed, and owes its value to the manuscripts at their base and to their authenticity and careful transmission; thus, so far as learning is concerned, we are forced to grant a top place of honour to the Science of Manuscriptology that takes care of this, as the 'Science of Sciences'.
For, critically edited texts of works from any language are the sine qua non of any serious study and appreciation relating to those works. Such critical editions, and their periodic revisions in the light of new discoveries and / or fresh thinking, have all along been the soundest foundations of the structure of research around these texts.
The marvel of accuracy with which the vast Vedic literature (sruti) has been handed down (or transmitted) to us orally, from generation to generation in India, has no parallel in the entire history of the world. However, our common experience in informal or oral transmission is quite different. One has only to recollect the game of a message being carried from person to person through mouth and ear, and with what distortion at the end point!
The picture is somewhat similar to the transmission of written texts. All early literature that we now have in a printed form was originally hand-written i.e., was in the 'manuscript' form (manus = 'by hand'). Can this transmission be always be smooth or faithful? In most cases not? Why? We have to know the Science of Manuscriptology to know the answers to that.
Dr. P. Visalakshy has a lot to say on this through her present book on the subject.
After presenting a clear picture of the field of Manuscriptology (with relevance to higher learning and research), she points out the immense potential it possesses in various areas like History, Geography, Sociology, etc (Ch. 1). She explains how a Language differs from a Script (Ch. IV), and the various types of Writing Materials (Ch. II), the Writing Conventions and the Qualifications of a good Scribe (Ch. III). She touches the various practical experiences encountered in the fieldwork during the collection of manuscripts and bemoans some of those. She has grateful acknowledgement to works done in this regard by earlier scholars like Bühler, Keilhorn, Burnell, R.L. Mitra, R.G. Bhandarkar, H.P. Shastri, Ganapati Shastri, Sambasiva Shastri and others (Ch. VI). Cataloguing of the manuscripts collected is going to render useful service to scholars, and she gives valuable guidance in the matter (Ch. VII).
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