Digitisation, Cataloguing and Preservation of Palm-leaf Manuscripts in the Tamil University (EAP1217)

Aims and objectives

Palm leaves were mostly used for writing in South India, because palm leaves were the cheapest and most easily available material for writing.  It has a reasonably long life and high durability.  Normally we can preserve Palm leaf manuscripts for 400 to 500 years in an ordinary condition.  Since India is in a tropical region, the hot and humid climate conditions had an adverse effect on palm leaves.  In ancient days damaged manuscripts were immediately rewritten.  To avoid frequent handing for copying the manuscripts, modern digitisation helps to prepare copying the manuscripts for preservation and made available for large number of readers and research scholars.  This project will help to preserve endangered manuscripts for maximum utility.

Outcomes