‘With
thousands of manuscripts left to be rewritten, it is a race against time’
‘Shrutganga’, the centre of rewriting
Jain manuscripts, nestles on the third floor of Shrut Ganga Mandir, situated
amidst the hustle and bustle of the commercial hub of Kalbadevi.
Time
itself seems to slow down as a dozen men, seated in an organised sequence on
the floor, work themselves into oblivion. These are no ordinary men, and their
work, perhaps, is worth a million dollars, for these skilled artists, in this
age of ‘one-touch’ and ‘single clicks’, are rewriting ancient manuscripts using
the methodology of a long-established religious faith.
‘Shrutganga’,
the centre of rewriting Jain manuscripts, nestles on the third floor of Shrut
Ganga Mandir, situated amidst the hustle and bustle of the commercial hub of
Kalbadevi. Thousands of manuscripts, are brought here from the libraries of the
old town of Patan in Gujarat.
Interestingly,
these men, wearing traditional white robes and colourful turbans are either
Maharashtrian or North Indian Brahmins, and not Jains.
Almost 12 years ago, main trustee M P
Shah had decided to preserve religious manuscripts by reproducing them in an
eco-friendly manner.
At
their antique wooden desks with a giant wallpaper of Jain art in the
background, these men stoop down, and with sheer concentration, reproduce each
letter, intricately arranged in the manuscripts, on sheets made out of jute
paper, in admirable calligraphy. The recreation of each letter has a touch of
artistic excellence, requiring great precision and patience.
Among
them is Hemang Mistry, who has been working at this centre ever since its
inception. With focused a gaze, he goes about codifying the manuscripts,
arranging them neatly in carved cupboards made of teak wood.
The
ink, he says, is eco-friendly – following the path of Ahimsa, or harmlessness,
in Jainism. “Sesame oil when burnt produces deep soot. It is mixed with natural
colours to give black ink. The paper used is handmade and of jute. Naturally
occurring ingredients are deliberately used,” says Mistry, as he pushes forward
a plastic box with black ink for a closer look. The religious texts are mostly
in Sanskrit, Prakrit and Magadhi languages and written in Devanagari script, he
adds.
A
few feet away from Mistry, 73-year-old writer Kashiram Ganpat Bhojane dips a
twig with sharpened end in to the ink to trace an ancient script. Not much has
changed in over a decade of Bhojane’s customary work pattern. He hops on to an
Ambernath local at 7 am to reach the centre and starts rewriting at around 9.30
am. “It isn’t too taxing now. It is as if rewriting is ingrained in me. I
pretty much like it here,” he says, carefully manoeuvring through intricate
calligraphy. Bhojane boasts of rewriting three sheets, 11.5 cm cross 5.5 cm,
everyday.
“I
was good at calligraphy in school. Perhaps that is why I am here. What we are
writing today will last for at least 500 years. The machine-printed books, on
the other hand, won’t even last 50 years,” he says.
The
centre uses two types of ink — black ink procured from burnt sesame and golden
ink made of natural colors and gold dust. Depending on the colour of the ink,
either white or black sheet of paper is chosen. And a natural red marks the
margins. The paper is pressed against strings attached on the surface of a
rectangular piece of wood to create impression of rules. The traditional
practice of writing or rewriting manuscripts requires the writers to sit on the
floor for long hours to rewrite, proofread and correct. Of the 15 men at work,
two Sanskrit scholars from Benares have assumed the mantle of proofreading.
There is seamless coordination between Diwakar Pandey’s head movement and his
saccades.
“The
work requires us to concentrate for long hours and therefore taking a breather
is essential,” says Pandey, who completed his Masters in Sanskrit from Benares
University, before moving to Mumbai 12 years ago.
Around
10 feet away from where Pandey has anchored himself, sits Pandurang Parab — the
corrector. Before the manuscripts are codified and wrapped in jute cloth, it is
Parab who rectifies spelling errors and other inconsistencies.
Administrator
Mahendra Gehlani explains the idea of streamlining the colossal task of
scriptwriting. “With most of the Jain manuscripts getting destroyed over a
period of time, the community felt the need to preserve its ancient tradition.
Ever since its inception, 6,500 manuscripts have been rewritten,” he says. The
proposed library for housing Jain manuscripts and religious texts is set to
come up at Ahmedabad. Another similar, but bigger team is rewriting manuscripts
in UP. “All these (manuscripts) will go there (library). Thousands of
manuscripts are left to be rewritten, and especially when there is a dearth of
skilled writers, it is a race against time. There is a saying that the religion
will survive only till the manuscripts last. These will last for at least 500
to 600 years,” he says.
Regards
Pralhad
Jadhav
Senior Manager @ Library
Khaitan & Co
Best
Paper Award | Received the Best
Paper Award at TIFR-BOSLA National Conference on Future Librarianship:
Innovation for Excellence (NCFL 2016) on April 23, 2016. The title of the
paper is “Removing
Barriers to Literacy: Marrakesh VIP Treaty”
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