Manuscript

Manuscript

Ayurveda, the Ancient Science of life, immortalized in the form of elegant Sanskrit stanzas in the Samhitas describing diagnosis and therapy of diseases as well as ways to maintain positive health, Earlier to this the knowledge transfer was done through oral tradition and probably due to the decline in knowledge and memory status of human being the tradition of documentation started. The early documentation were in the form of hand written palm leaf manuscripts. Special plant products such as bark (Bhoorja patra), cloth etc. which continued till the invention of paper. In early nineteen century only few of these Ayurvedic manuscripts were brought out in printed form on paper.

India possesses more than an estimate of five million manuscripts, making the largest repository of manuscripts wealth in the world. But unfortunately this tremendous pool of knowledge is under threat and a number of the manuscripts are disappearing at an alarming rate. Further, thousands of manuscripts lying are in urgent need of conservation in a number of institutions around the country. In addition to this, all the manuscripts in their original forms are not easily accessible to everyone because of many reasons.

After independence, Govt. has tried for revival of Ayurveda. For this purpose, the need of intensive research in its lost knowledge was felt, in pursuance of which Govt. of India opened the first research center of Ayurveda at Jamnagar in 1953 named as Central Institute of Research in Indigenous System of Medicine (CIRISM). In 1956 the Post Graduate Training Center in Ayurveda (PGTCA) was opened with common aims and objectives. In 1963 the amalgamation of 3 institutes CIRISM, PGTCA and GulabKunwarba Ayurveda College was established with the name of I.A.S.R (Institute for Ayurvedic Studies and Research). IASR was taken over by Gujarat Ayurveda University in 1968. The parliament of India passed the ITRA Act 2020 and came into force on 15th October 2020. The Institute of Teaching and Research Academy in Ayurveda (ITRA) is formed by the amalgamation of 3 different institutes 1) IPGT &RA 2) GulabKunwarba Ayurveda College 3) Indian Institute of Ayurvedic Pharmaceutical Sciences (IIAPS).

The Library of ITRA has rich collection of manuscripts and many other valuable literatures relates to Ayurveda and allied sciences. Total number of manuscripts in the library is nearly about 7350, and many of them are related with Ayurvedic system of medicine. To preserve this rich knowledge resource, a project was initiated by institute for post graduate teaching & research in Ayurveda, under EMR project of Ayush, New Delhi. The project was initiated in the year 2008 and a total of 563 manuscripts have been digitalized in its first attempt. The manuscripts belong to Ayurveda, Dhatubada, Kamsutra and Tantra were subjects mainly. Total 97236 (Ninety Seven Thousand Two Hundred and Thirty Six) number of pages scanned. Under the Dr. M. S. Baghel, project head and Dr. V. K. Kori, PI & Coordinator completed the project.

Professor (Dr.) V. K. Kori
PI & Coordinator of project