Monday, May 23, 2016

‘With thousands of manuscripts left to be rewritten, it is a race against time’



‘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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