Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Private archival records to be preserved

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government has launched a State-wide survey aimed at documentation and preservation of private archival records. Minister for Education and Cultural Affairs M.A. Baby inaugurated the survey at a function organised by the Kerala State Archives Department here on Saturday.

Addressing the gathering, Mr. Baby invited individuals who have in their possession documents, records and scriptures of archival value to contribute them to the Archives Department for proper maintenance and study.

“Those who wish to keep the originals can contribute the photocopies of their records. These contributions will be of great value for future generations and researchers in this field,” he said.

The Minister said the archiving of scriptures and historical documents would also help in developing a historical temperament in the younger generation, adding that there was a growing interest for matters of archaeological relevance these days.

As part of the inauguration of the programme, Indira Ramakrishna Pillai, grand-daughter of freedom fighter Barrister G.P. Pillai, handed over 650 archival documents to the Archives Department, including 19th century publications, dictionaries and textbooks. Ms. Pillai also handed over microfilms of her grandfather’s recorded documents, including letters from freedom fighters such as Gandhi, and microfilm records of the English daily ‘Madras Standard’ established by Barrister G.P. Pillai.

“We have a lot of historical documents on the Gandhian era of our freedom struggle. But documents dating to the pre-Gandhian era are very rare. As my grandfather G.P. Pillai was one of the earliest freedom-fighters in the country, these records will be of much value for those researching the pre-Gandhian period of the Independence struggle,” said Ms. Pillai. She said the original copies of these records were being maintained by the Delhi Nehru Museum.

A collection of ancient scriptures and historical records from the Central Archives was displayed at an exhibition conducted as part of the programme. These included 300-year-old scriptures like Ezuthachan Ramayanam, ‘Devimahatmyam’ and other works in the ancient ‘Vattezuthu’ script, ‘Mathilakam’ records of the erstwhile Travancore kingdom written on Churana leaves, 19th century ‘neetu’ orders, bamboo split records of 1665 AD, palm leaf records of 1817 AD and proclamations, including the one issued in 1855 abolishing slavery in Travancore. Rare photographs of ancient landmarks of Thiruvananthapuram were also featured.

A workshop on historical records survey was held as part of the programme. V. Sivankutty, MLA; Archives Department director J. Rejikumar; Vyloppili Samskriti Bhavan vice-chairperson T. Radhamani; and Kerala Language Institute research officer A.G. Oleena; were also present at the function.

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