Art and Science of writing have played a vital role in development of intellectual traditions in human history. It was indeed for a big leap forward from scripts to manuscripts that we come to possess till date treasures of ancient wisdom in record. Like other old nations, India can rightly boast of many of its past achievements in various knowledge domains and that too because of her ability in preserving ancient records of Sastras for millennia against all odds. Manuscripts, and for that matter, manuscript studies indeed have had a very long history in India. It is simply fascinating to learn that several crores of mss. on different disciplines of learning are still preserved in the Indian subcontinent. The Asiatic Society, Kolkata takes pride in possessing the treasure of more than 46000 odd manuscripts in different languages viz. Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan, Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Ceylonese, Armenian, Burmese, Siamese, Javanese, English, Bengali etc. in various scripts. Sanskrit mss., for example, are written in Nagari, Bengali, Newari, Sarada, Oriya, Grantha, Gupta Brahmi etc., Arabic ones in Kufi, Naskh, Taliq, Nastaliq etc. Persian ones in Naskh, Sikasta, Shafe etc. and so on. All these have been accumulated through serious efforts of some two hundred years. Preservation, cataloguing and text-critical studies have naturally developed here under the guidance of and active enterprises by such stalwarts as Rajendralala Mitra, Haraprasad Shastri, Chintaharan Chakraborti and so on. A peep into the Bibliotheca Indica Series of the Asiatic Society will reveal how manuscripts can help in making out the history of our intellectual traditions.
While scholars of name and fame have dedicated themselves to unearthing such treasures, we thought it prudent to attract young scholars to this fascinating arena of Asiatic research. Workshops on Manuscriptology over the past few years were designed here to train up budding researchers. Overwhelming response from the younger generations to our call has made us resolve that such training programmes as workshops on Manuscriptology, Navya- Nyaya etc., colloquium on grammars and the like be organised every year as regular academic events of the Asiatic Society. We have also planned to prepare primers and handbooks on these disciplines for general benefit of the scholars.
The present volume entitled Aspects of Manuscriptology contains twelve articles, some of which were prepared, read out and submitted at a workshop on Manuscriptology held earlier while others are from the pens of our illustrious predecessors. As the title suggests, the book tends to cover very many aspects of manuscript studies in India and abroad. I congratulate the editors of this volume and thank all who lent their hands in bringing it out. Hope, it will be useful for those who take interest in manuscripts.
A manuscript speaks of the past, reveals history, unfolds perspectives and reflects the socio-cultural, even socio-political scenes of its time. Its contents are significant literarily, scientifically, historically; its form fascinating palaeographically, calligraphically, and technically.
Thus manuscripts are concrete examples of the humanistic and artistic activities of the past. This cultural source is supposed to serve as a source of inspiration and information to the present generation. But many of these great stores of our national heritage, even though extremely rare and valuable, are usually preserved under lock and key in libraries, museums etc., and remain there mostly unattended and uncared for. As an exception to this scenario, particularly prevalent in India, these manuscripts are sometimes exposed to a handful of fortunate specialists who study these works of art from their individual professional interest and viewpoints; and some of them endeavour to draw attention of the society in general with the aim of enhancing the historical and socio-cultural knowledge of the members of the society at large. Because it is true that the content and form of a manuscript are like soul and body of the ancient book produced by hand as available with us. One without the other cannot exist. Thus, careful study, analysis and evaluation along with subsequent handling in accordance with different scopes and purposes as well are to be included in any policy or programme of manuscripts with proper vision and mission.
It may be mentioned that the formal aspect of a manuscript deals with structural analysis of elements related to the visual and aesthetic qualities. Thus the appearance, volume of the units in hand, the type, quality, material of writing and its size, number of folios of the manuscript under study, the illustrations if any therein etc., need to be well documented for each piece of the valuable holding of manuscripts in the possession of any institute or person. Palaeographic and graphological study of the manuscripts lay the foundation of the step of deciphering the textual content of it.
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