20,000 manuscripts at Oriental Research Institute to be digitised
Oriental Research Institute has more than 20,000 manuscripts and has completed digitising 35 per cent of them. It has set a target to complete the digitisation of all manuscripts within a year.
Published: 14th February 2022 11:03 AM | Last Updated: 14th February 2022 11:03 AM | A+A A-
Surendra Reddy, director at Oriental Research Institute; Manuscripts stored in the archive of the Institute in Tirupati | Madhav K
TIRUPATI: The department of Oriental Research Institute (ORI) at Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati has been digitising manuscripts to make them available online for the public.
The department has collected manuscripts from various sources including the AP State Central Library as well as from various villages and other places for preserving them. They then edit these manuscripts and publish them as books.
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams established the Institute in November 1956 and was earlier affiliated to it. ORI has more than 20,000 manuscripts and has completed digitising 35 per cent of them. It has set a target to complete the digitisation of all manuscripts within a year. So far, ORI has published 36 Telugu books from manuscripts after professors at the Institute edited them.
The manuscripts written by popular authors such as Sri Krishnadevaraya (Amuktamalyada), M Subbaraya (Krishnabhyudayamu), Venkatadri (Subadhra Vivahamu), Bhavanarayana (Vishnupuranam), Sri Doma Venkateswamy Gupta (Sri Bhrameswarapuranam), Vemuri Jagannadha Sarma (Asthavadanapuranam), M Subbaraya (Pradhyuma Charitramu), Tallapaka Peda Tirumalacharya (Sri Bhagavad Gita), Chilakapati Venkata Ramanuja Sarma (Brahma Vaivarta Mahapuranam Vol-I ,Vol - II), Tarigonda Vengamamba (Jalakreeda Vilasamu) have been published as books after being edited.
The Oriental Research Institute, which has two professors, two research assistants and eight non-teaching staff, has also published 21 books in Hindi and five books in English. The Institute has also been reprinting popular books that were written by popular authors in Telugu and vedic language Gandha.
“Based on the manuscript, it takes about 3-6 months for editing, composing and publishing it as a book. The department has awarded over 100 PhD’s to students at the Institute, who have done their research on subjects such as the manuscripts, old literary works and others.
Eight literary works written by Tikkana, Nannayya, Magha Mahakavi, Bharavi, Vedavyasa, Kalidasa, Valmiki, Yerrapragada have been published as Janapriya Sahithi Mala,” said T Surendra Reddy, director at ORI. As many as 400 copies of each book are published and they are kept at the library in Sri Venkateswara University. Those who are interested in getting the books can approach the Library.
