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Dr.SeethalMC,Dr.SunithaGR1PGScholar,DepartmentofSamhitaSamskritaandSiddhanta,GovernmentAyurvedaCollege, Thiruvananthapuram,Kerala,India. 2Professor and HOD, Department of Samhita Samskrita and Siddhanta, Government Ayurveda College, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala,India.
ABSTRACT
Amanuscript is a hand written document of scientific, historical, philosophical or aesthetic value, which is at least seventy five years old.The scientific study of manuscripts is called manuscriptology It includes the steps like collection, conservation, cataloguing, transcription, translation, critical edition and publication of manuscripts.Indiahasanestimateoffivemillionmanuscripts,probablythelargestcollectionintheworld.Thesecovervarioussubjectslikeliterature,medicine, philosophy etc.The fact is that, there is a considerable amount of manuscripts still unexplored and unpublished. Manuscripts are subjected to deteriorationdue to variousfactors.Soitistheneedofthehourtoconductexploratoryresearchesonmanuscripts.Thiswillaidthepreservationoftheknowledgeunrevealedinancient manuscripts.
KEYWORDS:Manuscriptology,Manuscripts,Criticaledition,Lowercriticism.
INTRODUCTION:
Inancienttimes,theknowledgewastransmittedverballyfromgenerationtogeneration. Later the system of writing emerged and developed gradually from inscriptionstohandwrittendocuments.Thisenabledthepreservationofancient knowledgeforthefuturegeneration.Ahandwrittencompositiononpaper,palm leaf, birch bark, cloth, metal or any other material which has significant scientific,historical,philosophicaloraestheticvalueiscalledamanuscript.Thescientific study, which includes various steps like collection, conservation, cataloguing,transcription,translation,criticaleditionandpublicationofmanuscripts iscalledmanuscriptology
MATERIALSANDMETHODS:
Literaryreviewonmanuscriptologywasdonebyconsultingtextbooks,articles inauthorizedjournalsandofficialwebsiteofNationalMissionforManuscripts.
Etymologyandsynonymsoftheterm'manuscript':
The term manuscript is originated from the Latin word 'manuscriptus', where manu means hand and scriptus means to write, which means any hand written documentiscalledmanuscript.Codex,Document,Text,Script,Handwritingare 1 thesynonymsofthetermmanuscript.
Definitionofmanuscript:
Antiquities and art treasures act, 1972 consider manuscripts as antiquities. It definesmanuscriptasthatwhichisofscientific,historical,literaryoraesthetic 2 valueandwhichhasbeeninexistencefornotlessthanseventy-fiveyears.
ManuscriptwealthofIndia:
Indiapossessesanestimateoffivemillionmanuscripts,probablythelargestin 3 theworld. Thesecovervarioussubjectslikeliterature,medicine,philosophy,science,historyetc.Thefactisthat,thesemanuscriptsliescatteredacrossthecountryandbeyond,invariousinstitutionsaswellasprivatecollections,oftenunattended and undocumented. It is essential to preserve, explore and publish the valuable knowledge unrevealed in these manuscripts. National Mission for Manuscripts(NMM)isanationallevelinitiativeaimingtolocate,documentand preservethevastmanuscriptwealthofIndia.
StepsinManuscriptology:
Manuscriptologyisthebranchofscience,whichspecializesoncollection,conservationandeditingofancientmanuscripts.Itincludesvarioussteps;
TableNo1:Stepsinmanuscriptology
todyofsomefamilies.
Conservation: Theprocessofenhancingthelifeandpreventingdamageofmanuscriptsiscalled Conservation.Manuscriptsmaysubjecttodamageduetocertainfactors.These factorsofdeteriorationare;
1. Humanfactors: Ignoranceandcarelessnessofpersonnelinchargeofmanuscriptcollections orindividualswhopossessprivatecollectionofmanuscriptsmayleadtothe deteriorationofmanuscripts.
2. Naturalfactors: Manuscriptsaredamagedonexposuretonaturalfactorslike; Ÿ Fire,water,dustetc
Naturalcalamities
Environmentalpollution
Fluctuationintemperatureandrelativehumidity
Microbialattack
Insectattack-Eg:cockroaches,termites,bookworms
3. Inherentfactors: Thenatureofmaterialsusedforwriting,inkorpaintappliedcanalsobea dangertomanuscripts.
Typesofconservationofmanuscriptsare; Preventiveconservation:Anydirect/indirectactiononadamagedorundamaged manuscript or collection of manuscripts aimed at enhancing the life of manuscriptsbyreducingthefuturerisksofdeteriorationiscalledpreventiveconservation.Someofthepreventiveconservationmethodsare;
Regularinspectionoftheconditionofmanuscripts
Pestcontrol/regularDDTspray,fumigation
Airconditionedroomforkeepingthemanuscripts
Glassoraluminiumracksforstorage
Modern techniques like lamination, xeroxing, scanning, microfilming anddigitalization
Curativeconservation: Anydirectactiononadamagedmanuscriptorcollectionofmanuscriptsaimedat stoppingactivedeteriorationiscalledcurativeconservation.
Fumigationofamanuscriptcollectionthathasliveinsectsinit
Collection:
Collection of manuscripts from various sources is the first step in manuscriptolgy Somanymanuscriptsarefoundinacademicinstitutions,museums,trusts,religiousinstitutions,researchinstitutions,librariesandprivatecus-
Repairingofmanuscriptsbyusingtissuepaperandglue
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Cataloguing:
Cataloguingistheprocessofclassifyingandarrangingthemanuscriptsinaparticular order It helps to locate the available manuscripts easily in a short time period.Manytypesofcataloguesareavailablebasedondifferencesinphysical formandextentofinformationenclosed.Typicallycataloguescanbeprepared in;
Ÿ Cardform
Ÿ Bookform
Ÿ Sheafform
Thetwotypesofcataloguesarenormalcataloguesanddescriptivecatalogues.
1. Normalcatalogue:
In normal catalogue, serial number, date, accession number, title, author's name, condition of the manuscript are included. Manuscripts are arranged andstoredaccordingtoitsnature,sizeetc.
2. Descriptivecatalogue:
Adescriptive catalogue consists of two parts. The first part gives general information such as title, author and condition of the manuscript. Second partcontainsthesummaryofthecontentsofmanuscript.Afewlinesfrom beginningandendingareincluded.
SomeoftheimportantcataloguesofIndianmanuscriptsare;
New Catalogus Catalogorum (NCC): NCC is an alphabetical register of Sanskritand alliedworks,publishedbyuniversityofmadras.42volumes of NCC are published till now But one of the major drawbacks of NCC is thattheinformationisnotwidelyaccessible.
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Ÿ BharatiyaKritiSampada:Itisthenationaldatabaseofmanuscriptswhich contains information of various Indian manuscript titles, themes, authors, commentaries,scripts,languagesetc.ItwasestablishedbyNationalMission forManuscripts,anautonomousorganizationundertheMinistryofTourism andCulture,GovernmentofIndia.
Ÿ Online library catalogue of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA)
Ÿ OnlinedigitallibrarycatalogueofMuktabodhaIndologicalResearchInstitute
ACatalogueofSouthIndianManuscriptsbyRoyalAsiaticSocietyofGreat BritainandIreland,librarycollection
Ÿ Sanskrit Medical Manuscripts in India: It is a book compiled by B Rama Rao, published for Central Council for Research in Ayurveda & Siddha, DepartmentofAyush,MinistryofHealthandFamilyWelfare,Government ofIndiacomesunderthegenreofcatalogues.
Ÿ AHistory of Indian Medical Literature: It is a work by G Jan Meulenbeld, publishedundertheauspicesoftheJGondaFoundation,RoyalNetherlands Academy forArts and Sciences. In five volumes, titles of various Sanskrit medicaltextsandtheirauthorsareenlisted.
Inadditiontothesecatalogues,variousmanuscriptlibrarieshavetheirowncataloguecontainingdetailsofthemanuscriptspreserved.
Transcription:
Itistheprocessofwritingthetextasitisintoaplainpaper Asthedirectreading ofmanuscriptisdifficult,transcriptionwillhelptoreaditinabetterway
Translation:
Theprocessofconvertinglanguageofthetextintoanotheriscalledtranslation. Manuscripts are available in different languages and by translation, a person fromanotherplaceandculturecaneasilyunderstandthecontentsofthetext.
Criticaledition:
Reconstructionofthetextbyclosereadinganddetailedanalysisofthecontents is called critical edition. It requires collation of different versions of the same text.Themosttrustworthyversionisconsideredasbasemanuscript.Theprocess ofcriticaleditioniscarriedoutbyselectingtheoriginalreadingortheonewhich isclosertoauthor'sintentionfromtheavailabledifferentreadings.Thisrequires detailedstudyofthesources,literaryandhistoricalaspectsofthetext.Thetwo stepsinvolvedincriticaleditionare;LowercriticismandHighercriticism.
I. Lowercriticism:
It is the process of identification of different copies of a manuscript and selectionofareadingwhichistheoriginalormoreappropriatetothecontext.Thisisdoneinthreesteps;
1.Heuristics 2.Recension 3. Emendation
1. Heuristics:
Methodologicalcollection,analysisandstudyofalltheevidenceswith respect to the manuscript is termed as heuristics. Further, it is done in threestages;
a) Assignmentofsiglum: Siglumisaspecialidentificationmarkgiventothemanuscriptfor easyunderstandingofaparticularcopyofit,inwhichthereading belongsto.Siglumcouldbebasedonthescript,sourceofthemanuscript,ageofthecopyorcombinationofanyofthese.Eg:K13indicateamanuscriptfromKashmir,belongsto13thcentury
b) Collation: Collationistheprocessofcollectingalltheinformationregarding the manuscript in one document. It is done with a specially preparedcollationsheet.Nowadays,excelspreadsheetisusedforthis purpose. Collation sheets are prepared by drawing horizontal and verticallinessoastogetsmallgridswideenoughtowritesingleletters.Inthiswayeachlettersoftheavailablecopiesarecompared. Induecoursetherelationshipbetweendifferentcopiesofthemanuscriptandtheirgenealogycanbeappreciated.
c) Explorationofsecondarysourcesofevidence: Secondary sources of evidence are the works which are directly and closely related to the manuscript, but not the source manuscript. These can be any commentaries, translations, anthologies, orparallelversionsofthesourcemanuscript.Theseevidenceswill provide additional information regarding variants of readings, authorshipetcandwillbehelpfulincriticaledition.
2. Recension: Recensionistheprocessofchoosingamongthevariantsofareading, whichistheoriginalormoreclosetoauthor'sintention.
3. Emendation:
Itistheprocessofmakingrevisionorcorrectionoftexts.Sometimes, editorofthetextmaynotbesatisfiedwiththeavailableevidencesorthe variantofreadingmaynotbegrammaticallyandmetricallyfitintothe context.Inthesecases,editormaysuggestanemendation.Itisfarfrom beingjustaneducatedguess,itrequiresaclosestudyofthetextinitsculturalandhistoricalcontextandmustbeprecededbyathoroughanalysis ofallversionsofthereadingthattobeedited.
II. Highercriticism:
While lower criticism involves identification, comparison, collation and other processes that go towards the selection of readings, higher criticism involvesanassessmentofauthor'swork.Highercriticismprobesthefollowing;style,language,literaryaspects,sourcesofthework,lifeoftheauthor, circumstancesmadetheauthortocomposethework,influenceofotherwritersinthefield,Influenceoftheauthoronotherwritersinthefield,reasons for the popularity of the work and its role in society.5 This process needs goodcommandonsubjectaswellaslanguage.
Publication:
Itisthefinalstepinmanuscriptology Criticallyeditedmanuscriptsarepublished withtheassistanceofprintmediaorinternet.Theverydisappointingfactisthat only 2% of the available materials from medical manuscripts are in printed form.6Henceitisessentialtopublishtheexploredmanuscripts,soastomakeit availableforresearchcommunity Thiswillpavewaytofurtherstudiesandwill adduptotheexistingknowledge.
CONCLUSION:
Manuscriptsaretheevidencesofourdocumentaryheritage.Soastoexplorethe knowledge unrevealed in these ancient manuscripts a systematic approach is needed.Manuscriptologyincludesthescientificmethodsofcollection,conservation, cataloguing and editing of manuscripts. Exploratory researches in the fieldofmanuscriptologyisessentialforthepreservationofancientknowledge. Proper training of the personnel involved in the research in specific areas of manuscriptologyandincorporationofadvancedtechnologieswillbebeneficial forimprovingthequalityofresearch.
REFERENCES:
I. BilalAhmadWani,ShaheenAhmadMir (2019).BasicsofResearchMethodologyand Medical Statistics for Ayurvedic Scholars, Ayurved Sanskrit Hindi Pustak Bhandar, Jaipur
II. Antiquities an Art Treasures Act, 1972 available on https://legislative.gov.in/sites/ default/files/A1972-52.pdf
III. NationalMissionforManuscripts,availableonhttps://www.namami.gov.in
IV NationalMissionforManuscripts,availableonhttps://www.namami.gov.in
V DarshanShankar,BhushanPatwardhan,GGGangadharan.(2010).HandbookofMedicalManuscriptology,InstituteofAyurveda&IntegrativeMedicine,Bangalore.
VI. AnushaBaburaj,ResmiB.(2021).ScopeofManuscriptologyinAyurveda.Journalof AyurvedaandIntegratedMedicalSciences,2021;1:284-289.