Ancient Sanskrit Manuscripts at Anandashram Sanstha in Pune Being Digitized

Anandashram Sanstha at Appa Balwant Chowk in Pune was founded by late lawyer Mahadev Chitanmani Apte in 1888 to propagate Sanskrit and preserve and publish Sanskrit texts. There are more than 10,000-odd Sanskrit manuscripts at Anandashram Sanstha and majority of them dates back to the 16th and 17th century. The manuscripts are based on the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Vastushastra, Kamashastra, astrology, Ayurveda, creative arts like fine arts, music, poetry and literature and numerous other topics.

Currently, National Mission for Manuscripts, an arm of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Government of India is digitizing the Sanskrit manuscripts at Anandashram Sanstha.

Laxmi Birajdar Writes in Times of India

Each of the manuscripts are being scanned and copied on to a computer. Finally, the pictures files will be stored in a DVD format.

Besides Sanskrti, Anandashram also has 400 manuscripts in Marathi and 400-odd palm leaves in Tamil. Currently, only the Sanskrit manuscripts are being digitized by a team of experts.

Anandashram, in order to propagate the Sanskrit language, plans to offer short-term and long-term courses in the language from July 2009 onwards. Two scholarships, each of Rs 250 per month, will be given to two students who will undergo a year-long course on foundational sciences in Sanskrit.

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