09-22-2006, 01:05 AM
<b>Indian American scientist restoring 700-year-old sacred Hindu text</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->By Arun Kumar, Washington, Sep 21: An Indian American scientist is leading a project to digitally restore a 700-year-old palm leaf manuscript containing the essence of Hindu philosophy by using modern imaging technologies.
P.R. Mukund and Roger Easton, professors at Rochester Institute of Technology, are working on the project to digitally preserve the original Hindu writings, known as the Sarvamoola granthas attributed to scholar Shri Madvacharya (1238-1317).
The collection of 36 works contains commentaries written in Sanskrit on sacred Hindu scriptures and conveys the scholar's Dvaita philosophy of the meaning of life and the role of God.
The document is difficult to handle and to read, the result of centuries of inappropriate storage techniques, botched preservation efforts and degradation due to improper handling.
<b>Each leaf of the manuscript measures 26 inches long and two inches wide, and is bound together with braided cord threaded through two holes. Heavy wooden covers sandwich the 340 palm leaves, cracked and chipped at the edges. Time and a misguided application of oil have aged the palm leaves dark brown, obscuring the Sanskrit writings</b>.
"It is literally crumbling to dust," says Mukund, the Gleason Professor of Electrical Engineering at RIT................<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
P.R. Mukund and Roger Easton, professors at Rochester Institute of Technology, are working on the project to digitally preserve the original Hindu writings, known as the Sarvamoola granthas attributed to scholar Shri Madvacharya (1238-1317).
The collection of 36 works contains commentaries written in Sanskrit on sacred Hindu scriptures and conveys the scholar's Dvaita philosophy of the meaning of life and the role of God.
The document is difficult to handle and to read, the result of centuries of inappropriate storage techniques, botched preservation efforts and degradation due to improper handling.
<b>Each leaf of the manuscript measures 26 inches long and two inches wide, and is bound together with braided cord threaded through two holes. Heavy wooden covers sandwich the 340 palm leaves, cracked and chipped at the edges. Time and a misguided application of oil have aged the palm leaves dark brown, obscuring the Sanskrit writings</b>.
"It is literally crumbling to dust," says Mukund, the Gleason Professor of Electrical Engineering at RIT................<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->