KOCHI: A round 200-year-old records have been missing from state archives for the past 14 years. And, nobody seems to have a clue where they may be!
According to former archivists and researchers, certain palm-leaf manuscripts, including 15 ‘churunas,’ and several single-leaf pamphlets that had been moved to the Chalakudy Heritage Centre from the Regional Archives in Ernakulam in 2010 were first recorded as missing in 2021. These were allegedly shifted from the Chalakudy centre in 2010 itself. The ‘missing’ palm-leaf manuscripts contain administrative and revenue documents of Thrissur and nearby regions dating back 120 to 200 years.
A ‘churuna’ is a compilation of 500-1,000 palm leaves, tightly folded and bound. The records were transferred to the Chalakudy centre when it was opened in 2010. They were reportedly acquired by certain officials of the Central Archives in Thiruvananthapuram without notifying the Ernakulam office, to whom they belong.
“I had apprised higher authorities of the matter several times and even sent three letters to the directorate of state archives. A search was ordered by the department in 2023, but we still do not know the whereabouts of many of the records,” said Abdul Nasar A A, former archivist with the Ernakulam regional office.
A report submitted by Abdul Nasar to the director of archives on October 2024 said that parts of the missing documents were found in powdered, dilapidated condition between records sent back from the central archives following digitalisation. These included eight of the 10 ‘missing’ single-leaf pamphlets.
“There is certainly some foul play involved in these documents going missing. Although the records sent for digitalisation from Ernakulam archives were listed, they were not part of the returned documents,” Abdul Nasar pointed out. “Additionally, why did they have to search manually between the already digitised documents when digital data was available,” he added.
Archivist Mini Paul of the Ernakulam office says that they are still searching for the remaining missing documents among the churunas in possession of her office. This is a tedious process, she stressed.
Officials with the Thiruvanathapuram central office have dismissed claims of the ‘missing’ documents. “Certain documents were brought here for digitalisation from Ernakulam office and they included the said documents from the Chalakudy centre. These were digitised and sent back to Ernakulam. The rest of the documents termed ‘missing’ would be found within these for sure,” said Ashok Kumar, archivist at Thiruvananthapuram office.
