BENGALURU: It is part of history that Gangas, Chalukyas and Hoysalas, coming from areas within the present Karnataka state, had waged wars against kingdoms of Tamil Nadu, like Cholas and Pandyas. But a conflict between the two states over scripts and documents concerning these dynasties and also other historical aspects came to a head on Monday in Mysuru, specifically at the Oriental Research Institute.
While the Tamil Nadu unit of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had been seeking priceless, original scripts written in Tamil and planning to move them from Mysuru to Chennai, the local office had been putting up stiff resistance. The tiff escalated to the highest level at ASI, and the Mysuru branch wrote stacks of letters to stall the move, but without much success, as it was proved on Monday.
A group of officials and specialised handlers and movers from New Delhi landed at the Mysuru office to ensure these prized imprints, which are also called estampages, are carried to Chennai. Sources from Mysuru ASI said, “They could have taken the copies if they needed anything. Why move the originals? All these historical documents can be digitised and shared with all the ASI units across the country,” they lamented.
Now that the originals that delve into the history of the region are with the Tamil Nadu unit, it can take only selective portions and ignore parts that may not be of interest to them. “This would not be doing full justice to history. This is a matter concerning national heritage documents that belong to future generations and our agency is a mere custodian. Seeking documents pertaining to the language of the region sets a bad precedent as this would trigger a regional divide within the department,” they said.