CCRAS-NIIMH Signs MoU with SEMIRI to Digitise Rare Kerala Medical Manuscripts

A specialised team from CCRAS-NIIMH has started on-site digitisation under the institute’s Collection, Digitization and Cataloguing of AYUSH Manuscripts and Rare Books project.

Thousands of pages carrying generations of Indian medical knowledge are set to receive a digital safeguard as two institutions join forces to preserve and catalogue rare manuscripts held in Kerala.

The National Institute of Indian Medical Heritage (NIIMH), Hyderabad, which operates under the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) and the Ministry of Ayush, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Sevadhi Museum & Indological Research Institute (SEMIRI) in Kumaranalloor, Kottayam.

SEMIRI, managed by the Kumaranalloor Ooranma Devaswom, looks after a collection of more than 30,000 manuscripts, including temple records and historically important works connected with Ayurveda and other branches of traditional knowledge. The partnership will focus on hundreds of medical manuscripts, creating digital copies while recording detailed information about each work.

Fragile manuscripts get a digital safeguard

A specialised team from CCRAS-NIIMH has started on-site digitisation under the institute's Collection, Digitization and Cataloguing of AYUSH Manuscripts and Rare Books project.

High-quality digital copies will help protect original manuscripts from the damage that can come with repeated physical handling, an important consideration for materials that may already be fragile because of their age and condition.

The collection offers more than a record of old medical treatments. Its works could help researchers trace the development of Ayurvedic medical thought, diagnostic practices, therapeutic methods, materia medica and the scholarly traditions through which knowledge was passed between generations.

CCRAS Director General Prof Vaidya Rabinarayan Acharya said preserving medical manuscripts should not be viewed simply as an archival exercise, since these materials form part of India's wider intellectual heritage. Careful digitisation and documentation, he said, can keep rare sources accessible to future generations while supporting critical and evidence-based research into classical texts.

Detailed catalogue will help researchers find material

Digitisation forms only one part of the project, with specialists also preparing a descriptive catalogue designed to make the collection easier for researchers to understand and navigate.

Where information is available, catalogue records will include details such as the manuscript's title, author, subject, language, script, material, dimensions, number of folios, physical condition and provenance. The information will be documented using the format of the Ayush Manuscripts Advanced Repository.

Such records can make a substantial difference for scholars who may know that a manuscript collection exists but have little information about individual works held within it. A structured catalogue allows researchers to identify potentially useful primary sources before undertaking deeper textual study.

The resulting resources are expected to support historians of medicine, Ayurveda researchers, academics and scholars working across Indian Knowledge Systems, while also creating material for future critical editions and scholarly publications.

Kerala collection joins wider preservation effort

The project comes within the wider context of the Gyan Bharatam Mission and government efforts to preserve, digitise and make India's manuscript heritage more accessible.

SEMIRI President Dr C.S. Unni said the partnership could help bring greater attention to Kerala's heritage, particularly material connected with Kumaranalloor and the wider Kottayam region. NIIMH head Dr Goli Penchala Prasad also addressed the challenges facing manuscriptology and its future role in Ayurvedic research.

The collaboration extends beyond scanning and cataloguing, creating closer institutional ties in manuscriptology, digital preservation, textual studies and Ayurvedic literary research.

For SEMIRI, whose collection documents aspects of the cultural, social and administrative history of Central Travancore, the project offers a way to protect vulnerable material while opening new paths for academic study. For NIIMH and CCRAS, it adds another collection to ongoing efforts to document traditional medical knowledge in a form that modern researchers can locate, study and preserve for generations to come.