Palm-Leaf Manuscript Museum to be inaugurated in Kerela

About Palm-Leaf Manuscript Museum:

• It was set up by the Department of Archives, Kerala Government.
• The ₹3-crore museum has eight theme-based galleries where select manuscripts from one of the biggest palm-leaf collections in the country will be displayed.
• As many as 187 old and rare manuscripts stored at Central Archives and the department’s regional offices in Ernakulam and Kozhikode will be housed in the museum.
• The manuscripts in ancient scripts such as Vattezhuthu, Kolezhuthu, Malayanma, and ancient Tamil and Malayalam are present in the museum.
• The manuscripts which delve into aspects as diverse as tax, administration, and trade to education, prisons, and festivals in the erstwhile Travancore, Kochi, and Malabar provide a fascinating glimpse of history that is rarely accessible to the common man.
• Besides palm-leaf manuscripts, scrolls, bamboo splints, and copper plates are included in the collection.

Galleries:

• The first gallery ‘History of Writing’ is an introduction to the evolution of writing, particularly in Kerala, and introduces visitors to the Marayur cave paintings and engravings and the stamps and seals used in Harappa, through their replicas.
• The other galleries are ‘Land and people’, ‘Administration’, ‘War and peace’, ‘Education and health’, ‘Economy’, ‘Art and culture’, amid the Mathilakom records (a collection of 3,000 cadjan manuscript rolls possessed by Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple).

Q1) What is Palaeography?

Palaeography is the study of pre-modern manuscripts: hand-written books, rolls, scrolls and single-sheet documents.

Source: Palm-leaf manuscript museum opens window to little-known history

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