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The transliterated versions of five rare and previously unpublished Ayurvedic manuscripts are available for advanced research, thanks to the 15-day Transliteration Capacity Building Workshop on Ayurvedic Manuscripts held on Central Sanskrit University (CSU) Puranattukara (Guruvayoor) Campus in Thrissur, Kerala, from January 12 to 25.  The workshop was conducted as a step towards preserving and advancing India’s classical medical heritage by the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), Ministry of Ayush, Government of India, in collaboration with the Central Sanskrit University (CSU), New Delhi.

The five works are Dhanwanthari (Vaidya) Chinthamani, comprising 146 palm-leaf pages and transliterated from Grantha into Sanskrit; Dravyashuddhi, a 110-page Grantha manuscript transliterated into Sanskrit; Vaidyam, a 59-page Medieval Malayalam manuscript transliterated into Malayalam; Roga Nirnaya, Part I, consisting of 75 pages transliterated from Medieval Malayalam into Malayalam; and Vividharogangal, a 78 palm-leaf manuscript in Vattezhuthu transliterated into both Malayalam and Sanskrit.

The two-week residential programme brought together 33 scholars, including 18 from Ayurveda and 15 from Sanskrit, fostering an interdisciplinary approach to manuscript studies.

Organised under the Memorandum of Understanding between CCRAS and CSU, the workshop was part of CCRAS’s national initiative to document, digitise, and research-based utilise classical Ayurvedic manuscripts. 

The training programme covered key areas such as manuscriptology, palaeography, technical Ayurvedic terminology and script orientation, with specialised Lipi Parichaya sessions on Grantha and Vattezhuthu scripts. A strong emphasis was placed on hands-on transliteration training in Grantha, Medieval Malayalam, and Vattezhuthu, enabling participants to work directly on original palm-leaf manuscripts and to generate verifiable scholarly outputs within a short time.

Addressing the valedictory function of the workshop, Prof. Vaidya Rabinarayan Acharya, Director General, CCRAS, stated that the workshop was the second collaborative programme with the Central Sanskrit University under the Ayurveda Manuscript Research Initiative of CCRAS. He noted that during the first such workshop conducted at the CSU Puri Campus in Odisha, 14 Ayurvedic manuscripts were transliterated, reflecting the continuity and expansion of this national effort.

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