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Manuscript Open Day
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The French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP) and the French School of Asian Studies (EFEO), are organising a “Manuscript Open Day” on Friday July 13, 2007. The Chief Guest for this event, will be His Excellency Lt. Governor of Puducherry, Shri. MUKUT MITHI (to be confirmed), in the presence of the Director of the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM), Governement of India, Dr. Sudha Gopalakrishnan.
On that occasion, the public will be invited to an Exhibition in the IFP to discover the unique collection of Shaiva Manuscripts preserved in the two French research institutes in Pondicherry.
These manuscripts were collected from the Tamil-speaking South of India from the 1950s. They transmit texts of every branch of pre-modern Indian learning. Nearly half of the material relates to one of the major theistic traditions of India, which concerned with the worship of Lord Shiva. It is the largest collection in the world of manuscripts of texts of the Shaiva Siddhanta, the religious tradition that in the 10th century CE was spread right across the Indian subcontinent and beyond, as far as Cambodia in the East. This tradition long represented the mainstream of tantric doctrine and worship and appears to have influenced every Indian theistic tradition. Its surviving texts, the majority of them unpublished, range from the 6th century CE to the colonial period.
In recognition of their importance, THE SHAIVA MANUSCRIPTS IN PONDICHERRY were in 2005 deemed a UNESCO “Memory of the World” Collection, in response to an application jointly submitted by the IFP, the EFEO and the National Manuscripts Mission (NMM), an initiative of the Indian Government.
The IFP has been selected as one of the NMM’s “Manuscript Resource Centres”. This means that the IFP not only catalogues its own manuscripts, but is also engaged in listing the holdings of lesser known, uncatalogued collections in the Pondicherry area.
On the occasion of this Manuscript Open Day, the IFP and EFEO shall be launching a revolutionary new on-line catalogue, integrated with a complete digital image record, of their transcripts, paper manuscripts in Devanagari script. This integrated catalogue has been jointly prepared with the Muktabodha Indological Research Institute (MIRI).
Tentative Programme
| 09.00-17.30 | Exhibition of manuscripts at the IFP. Specialists of the IFP and EFEO will be present to answer questions from the public. Demonstration, in the afternoon, of traditional methods of manuscript preparation by Tiru Kannaiyan, Mayilam. At the same time, cleaning techniques and conservation of manuscripts will be presented. Schools will be invited to bring students in the afternoon. |
| 11.00 | Introductory speech by Dr. Jean-Pierre Muller, Director of the IFP and Dr. Dominic Goodall, Head of the Pondicherry Centre of the EFEO. |
| 11.15 | Chief Guest address by His Excellency Lt. Governor of Puducherry, Shri. Mukut Mithi. |
| 11.30 | Address by Srimati Sudha Gopalakrishnan, Director of the National Mission for Manuscripts, New Delhi. |
| 11.45 | Presentation of the new on-line catalogue of the paper manuscripts that will henceforth be downloadable from anywhere in the world. |
Organised by
- French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP)
- French School of Asian Studies (EFEO)
Funding
National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM)
Venue
French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP)
Date and Time
Friday July 13, 2007
Exhibition of Manuscripts : 9:00 am to 11:00 am and 2:00 pm to 5:30 pm
Function to release revolutionary Web catalogue : 11:00 am to 12:30 pm
Dernier ajout : 20 juin 2008.