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| KE Govindan. Photo : K.V.Poornachandra Kumar |
It is common knowledge that India has a vast repository of knowledge hidden in manuscripts composed in varied scripts (
lipi
s).
When an expert finds a rare manuscript on his preferred subject, but written in a different
lipi
, he is forced to take the help of a script expert. Here is a suggestion
to avoid such hassles from a scholar. As ‘Devanagari’ is the
most-followed script in India, all the manuscripts available in
different scripts could be translated to this script by making it the
common platform, says Kaniyampakkam Elayavalli Govindan, a professor of
Nyaya at the Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha here.
An
expert on manuscriptology, he strongly believes that the essence of
manuscripts must be deciphered and shared for the benefit of people for
which a ‘common base’ is essential. As the head of the varsity’s
manuscripts project for over a decade, he was instrumental in adding
around 2,000 invaluable manuscripts on subjects such as
Vyakarana, Mimamsa, Nyaya, Dharmashastra, Visishtadvaita Vedanta, Pancharatra Agama
and
Alankara Shastra
to the varsity’s library, 80 per cent of which were on palm leaves.
Prof.
Govindan received the President’s award from Pratibha Devisingh Patil,
at New Delhi, recently, in recognition of his services rendered to
Sanskrit.
Born in Madhurantakam near Chennai, he
completed his B.Ed (Siksha Shastri) in the same varsity in 1969 and
completed his Ph.D. (Vidyavaridhi) at the Sampoornanand Sanskrit
University, Varanasi. A disciple of Prof. N.S. Ramanuja Tatacharya, the
varsity’s first Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Govindan attributes his
accomplishments to his mentor and to the Vidyapeetha as well.
Unassuming scholar
The
professor was actively involved in collating and publication of rare
Tamil, Grantha, Telugu, Devanagari and Nandinagari scripts.
In
fact, the 200 palm leaf manuscripts collected by him during 1972-78
when he was a Sanskrit pandit are preserved even today as the ‘KEG
Collection’!
The unassuming scholar finds the
President’s award as having added more responsibility on his shoulders,
for he is keen on unearthing the still elusive palm leaves, believed to
be possessed by reputed scholars who are not willing to part with their
treasure trove of knowledge.
President’s award winner and Sanskrit scholar favours ‘Devanagari’ as common script in the country
Courtesy : The Hindu
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