Archaeology of ancient Asian texts

[Guest guest]

HinduThought, Srinivasan Kalyanaraman

<kalyan97@g...> wrote:

Bhandarkar institute gets European project

MANJIRI MADHAV DAMLE

 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, JANUARY 04, 2005 03:07:29 PM ]

 

PUNE: One year after the Sambhaji brigade vandalised the prestigious

Bhardarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) over the James Laine

controversy, repairs and restoration work of ancient manuscripts and

property is nearing completion.

 

Over 70 activists of Sambhaji brigade had vandalised BORI last year

on

January 5 alleging that BORI had helped James Laine write the

controversial book Shivaji: A Hindu king in Islamic India in which

defamatory statement about Chhatrapati Shivaji was printed.

 

Addressing a news conference to take review of the restoration work

here on Tuesday, Saroja Bhate, honorary secretary, BORI said that the

European Commission has selected the institute for a project titled

'Archaeology of Ancient Asian Texts' which will be commissioned by

the

end of this month.

 

Elaborating on the new project, Bhate said that it was a

collaborative

effort by France, Italy, India and Nepal with a French institute

Inria

acting as convenor. "Six researchers will be involved in the project

and BORI will get six computers and other research material for it",

she said. The aim of the project is to prepare a software for

compiling critical edition of ancient manuscripts, Bhate explained.

The one year project may get extended.

 

Speaking about the repairs and restoration work at BORI after the

January 5 attack, Bhate stated that over 20,000 ancient books which

were scattered have been cleaned and over 1.5 lakh index cards have

been rearranged and rewritten. 34,000 new books have been bought, and

six books were published by the institute.

 

 

"Over 6000 ancient manuscripts thrown by the vandals have been

cleaned

and restored. Index of the manuscripts is being compiled", she said

adding that repairs of 35 cupboards have been repaired and four new

computers have been installed. Rs 61 lakh have been deposited in the

BORI corpus fund and over Rs 4 lakh have been spent on repairs.

 

Bhate said that work under the National Mission for Manuscripts has

started at BORI with the help of 31 surveyors. "Our volunteers

visited

23 institutions and 32 personal collections at Pune, Nasik, Dhule and

Sangli to study 18,101 manuscripts. Required data sheets have been

compiled out of which 2000 have been entered in the computer", Bhate

said.

 

A laboratory to facilitate preventive conservation of ancient

manuscripts has been set up at BORI two months ago. "Fumigation of 50

Persian manuscripts has been completed and work for conserving 10

fragile and ancient manuscripts at Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal

has

been undertaken", Bhate revealed adding that re-inking of some

manuscripts was also undertaken.

 

BORI will organise a workshop for training volunteers in manuscript

conservation in February. An exhibition of manuscripts has been

arranged on January 29 to create awareness about the national

importance of the manuscript project.

 

When asked about the future plans, Bhate said that automation of the

BORI library, construction of a compound wall around the 13 acre

premises and renovation of guest house and heritage buildings of BORI

will be taken up.

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-980254,curpg-

2.cms

--- End forwarded message ---