The collection, digitised here in its entirey, comprises all manuscripts kept on the premises of the Vadakke Madham Brahmaswam (Vedic Research Centre), a monastic institution as well as traditional Vedic school situated in Thrissur, in Central Kerala. It is the result of the accretion, at various periods of time, of the historical collections of palm-leaf manuscripts belonging to the four Śaṅkaran (Hindu) monasteries of the city of Thrissur, one of the most important religious and intellectual centres of pre-modern and early modern Kerala. The collection of 748 palm-leaf manuscripts, written in Malayalam or Grantha script, is now kept in the newly founded Kerala Manuscript Preservation Centre (KMPC), jointly administered by the Vedic Research Centre and the École française d’Extrême-Orient and situated in the annex building (locally known as the “Auditorium”) of the Vadakke Madham. The manuscripts, which have all been cleaned, dusted, sometimes newly inked and treated with lemongrass oil (a natural insect repellent widely in use for palm-leaf manuscripts in the Indian sub-continent), are now kept in large metal or wooden cupboards under strict climate control. The new archive has been so designed as to host the complete collection of manuscripts in possession of the Vadakke Madham Brahmaswam, as well as to allow some space for other endangered collections of palm-leaf manuscripts from Central Kerala, to be dealt with in the future by our joint team of local scholars and technicians.
Extent: 748 palm-leaf manuscripts.
Custodial history: The manuscripts originally belonged to four monasteries (Skt. maṭha; Mal. madham) situated side by side South of the famous Vadakkumnathan (Siva) Temple in Thrissur: the Tekke (Southern) Madham, Vadakke (Northern) Madham, Naduvil and Idayil Madhams (both meaning “middle” between the former two). The largest collections, known through handlists used to compile the “New Catalogus Catalogorum”, were those of the Naduvil and Tekke Madham, followed by the Vadakke Madham. During the last century, all collections were shifted to Vadakke Madham, whose trustees are now responsible for the physical preservation of the artefacts. Older custodial history (individual owners, scribes, borrowings, etc.) can sometimes be determined with the help of manuscript colophons and other clues (inscrptions on wooden covers, marginalia, etc.). See the description of individual manuscript as well as our detailed survey.
Arrangement: The manuscripts have been attributed a new shelfmark starting with B- (from B-0001 to B-0748). Shelves no. 1 and 2 each keep 100 bundles (shelf no. 1: B-0001-0100; shelf no. 2: B-0101-0200), as a result of previous cataloguing and preservation work (EAP 1039). The rest of the bundles (B-0201-0748) are kept, according to their sizes, in three newly purchased wooden cupboards (here designated as “shelf no. 3”) situated in the same archive room.
Alternative calendar and date: 1019 Kollam, Rṣabha 26; 1096 Kollam; 1019 Kollam, Mīna; 1069, Eṭavam 28; 1112, Eṭavam 15; 1144, Kaṇṇi 24; 1142, Karkaṭakam 14; 1047, Meṭam 31, bhāṇuvāran; 1042, Eṭavam 25, śukravaram; 1047, Ciṅgam; 1091, Dhanu 24; 1014, Ciṅṅam 15; 1112, Ciṅṅam 13; 1024 Kollam; 1041, Kaṇṇi 3; 1041, Dhānumāsam 20; 1027 Kollam, Mithuna 29; 1080 Kollam, Ciṅṅam 23; 1080 Kollam, Mithunam 26; 1026, Tulam 18; 1079, Mithunam 8; 1097 Kollam, Vṛśukam 31; 1018 Kollam, Mīnamāsam 29; 1019 Kollam, Meṭamāsa 17, Somavara; 1079 Kollam, Kuṃbham 25; 1031 Kollam, 6 nu; 1050 Kollam, Tulāmāsam; 1026 Kollam, Karkiṭakam; 1043
Original institution reference: EAP 1304.
