PROJECT and Activities:

Digitization of medical Manuscripts available in Karnataka:

The Indian medical heritage has been extremely productive. India has one of the largest collections of medical manuscripts of any civilization in the world.             
While there is no precise enumeration of the number of manuscripts, estimates vary widely, putting it in the region of 20000 to 100,000 manuscripts.
Several of these manuscripts are now in institutions such as – Oriental Manuscripts Libraries, Indological Research Institutions, Universities, Mutts and
Archives and many are still in private collections.

The processes involved in this project are:

• Approaching the individuals, mutts, institutes and repositories that have the manuscripts and request them to provide them for digitization.
• After obtaining the permit we collect and revive those manuscripts.

Reviving the manuscripts include:

 Separating the leaves of the manuscripts that are adhered to each other.
 Dusting of the leaves with a brush.
 Removing of the insects manually if any.
 Oiling the manuscripts to keep their texture intact.
 Drying the manuscripts.
 Inking the manuscripts for a better visibility.
 Once completely dry it is taken for digitization.)

• The revived manuscripts are digitized using the scanner meant for it.
• The images are gathered and numbered.
• The manuscript data is noted in the prescribed format.
• The manuscripts are bundled and handed over to their respective owners along with ta copy of the digitized version.
• The collected images are again cleaned using the software and finally uploaded into the software along with the relevant data for each manuscript.