The Oriental Research Institute & Manuscripts Library (ORI & MSS), in the University of Kerala, is one of the leading centres of Indological Studies

Indology

Indology is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent , and as such is a subset of Asian studies....

 in India. This world recognised institute, situated in Thiruvananthapuram

Thiruvananthapuram

Thiruvananthapuram , formerly known as Trivandrum, is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala and the headquarters of the Thiruvananthapuram District. It is located on the west coast of India near the extreme south of the mainland...

 (Trivandrum), does research

Research

Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...

 in fields connected with manuscript

Manuscript

A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...

s. The department is microfilming the manuscripts of certain technical subjects.

History

The genesis of this library is to be traced to the orders of Ayilyam Thirunal

Ayilyam Thirunal

Maharajah Ayilyam Thirunal Rama Varma was the ruler of the princely state of Travancore in India from 1860 to 1880. His reign was highly successful with Travancore gaining the appellation of "model state of India"...

, Maharaja of Travancore

Maharaja of Travancore

Maharaja of Travancore was the principal title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Travancore in India.-Venad Kulasekhara Dynasty:#Anizham Tirunal Marthanda Varma 1729–1758#Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma 1758–1798#Balarama Varma 1798–1810...

 to collect all manuscripts in the state so as to be kept in the safe custody of the Palace Library. Considering the overwhelming enthusiasm from the Orientalists all over the world, during early nineteen hundred Swathi Thirunal Maharaja (the then King of Travancore) published many of the manuscripts in the Palace Library and the manuscripts collection of ancient families.

ORI & MSS is a treasure trove of Indian culture. The library has over 65,000 works in 30,000 copies mainly of palm leaf manuscripts. In addition, some paper manuscript

Manuscript

A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...

s, a few copper plates, writings on Bhurjapatra (birch bark

Birch bark

Birch bark or birchbark is the bark of several Eurasian and North American birch trees of the genus Betula.The strong and water-resistant cardboard-like bark can be easily cut, bent, and sewn, which made it a valuable building, crafting, and writing material, since pre-historic times...

), Agarutvak (the bark of Aquilaria malaccensis

Aquilaria malaccensis

Aquilaria malaccensis is a species of plant in the Thymelaeaceae family. It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Iran, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. It is threatened by habitat loss.-Economics:...

) and textiles are also found in the collection. The manuscript collection also includes those belonging to other different India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n states and nations such as Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

 etc. Another interesting fact is that about eighty per cent of the collections are in Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

. The manuscript collection of this department is an invaluable source for the study of ancient scripts as Grantha

Grantha

Grantha script is an ancient script that was widely used between the 6th century and the 19th century CE to write classical Sanskrit and Manipravalam by Tamil speakers in Southern India, particularly in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and is still in restricted use in traditional vedic schools...

, Vattezhuttu, Sarada, Nandinagari, Grantha Tamil

Tamil script

The Tamil script is a script that is used to write the Tamil language as well as other minority languages such as Badaga, Irulas, and Paniya...

 etc. The initial moulds of scripts of modern Indian languages like Bengali

Bengali language

Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...

, Marathi

Marathi language

Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...

, Gujarati

Gujarati language

Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...

, Kannada, Telugu

Telugu language

Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...

, Oriya

Oriya language

Oriya , officially Odia from November, 2011, is an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is mainly spoken in the Indian states of Orissa and West Bengal...

, Assamese

Assamese language

Assamese is the easternmost Indo-Aryan language. It is used mainly in the state of Assam in North-East India. It is also the official language of Assam. It is also spoken in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeast Indian states. Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language is widely used in...

 and Burmese

Burmese language

The Burmese language is the official language of Burma. Although the constitution officially recognizes it as the Myanmar language, most English speakers continue to refer to the language as Burmese. Burmese is the native language of the Bamar and related sub-ethnic groups of the Bamar, as well as...

 are also found.

External links

• The Oriental Research Institute & Manuscripts Library, website
• The Oriental Manuscript Library, University of Kerala at Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma
  Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma
  Sri Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma was the Maharaja of the state of Travancore , in India. He reigned under the regency of his mother Maharani Gowri Lakshmi Bayi from 1813 till 1815 and henceforth under the regency of his aunt Maharani Gowri Parvati Bayi from 1815 till 1829...
  
  website