Tamil Nadu - Tuticorin   

74,262 manuscripts found in Tuticorin

Staff Reporter

They carry valuable notes pertaining to traditional medicine, astrology, literature and history

Tuticorin : The National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM) under the Union Ministry of Culture located 74,262 manuscripts in the district during the five-day-long survey that concluded on February 5.

The manuscripts, which were in possession of 1,136 repositories, were traced by a team of surveyors appointed by the NMM to carry out the survey.

Speaking to The Hindu, D. Ganesh Moorthy, District Library Officer and co-ordinator of the survey, said the entire manuscripts were found to have been written in Tamil and they carried valuable notes pertaining to traditional medicine, astrology, literature and history.

"All the manuscripts, with the exception of two, were written on palm leaves, and Puvulingam, a resident of Mudukalankulam near Kovilpatti, was having the largest number of collections among the 1,136 repositories," he said.

The only two manuscripts, which were not written on palm leaves, were possessed by G. Krishnasamy, a retired Indian Air Force Officer residing on Kamakshi Amman Koil Street in the heart of Tuticorin town.

The 16th century manuscripts written on copper plates contained documents relating to handing over of revenue land by the Pandyan rulers to the forefathers of Mr. Krishnasamy.

"The land mentioned in the document is situated at Chekkarakudi and five nearby villages," Mr. Krishnasamy said.

Mr. Ganesh Moorthy said the survey helped to locate all the manuscripts and document the repositories.

"Since the sole aim of the mission was to list the manuscripts and their base, no documents listed in the survey would be `forcibly' taken away from the respective owners," he added.

However, S. Veerakanun Asan of Muthusamypuram, who possesses manuscripts on astrology and medicine, decided to donate his collections to the NMM.

"The collections thus handed over to us voluntarily will be sent to the Government Museum Manuscript Conservation Centre in Chennai," Mr Ganesh Moorthy added.

He said a committee headed by the Collector, V Chnadrasekaran, and comprising revenue divisional officers, district library officer and district archeology and museum curator, would compile the data collected in the recent survey and sent a comprehensive report to the NMM through the director of public libraries, before the month-end.

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