CHANDIGARH, INDIA, November 20, 2006: At the Lal Chand Research Library, DAV College, Chandigarh, over 8,360 ancient manuscripts and 9,000 rare books are being given a new lease on life. Literally smuggled out from Lahore’s DAV College in 1947, the rare documents were divide into two lots: a warehouse in Amritsar and an ashram in Hoshiapur before being brought back to Chandigarh. Today these manuscripts are being rescued in another way, and preserved for posterity. This includes categorization and cataloguing of all the scripts in the collection, which has taken the library staff six months. Thirty DVDs which describe the contents of the library are now ready. The actual manuscripts are coated with lemon grass oil and coal dust every two years to keep the engravings visible while the paper scripts are laminated. This astonishing collection spans 45 subjects, including the Vedas, Brahamanas, Dharamshastras, literature, philosophy, art, astronomy, architecture, ethics and linguistics. Detailed records of drawings and measurements of monuments such as the Taj Mahal and the Golden Temple can also be found here.
The Devanagari transcription of 40 percent of the 6,462 scripts is also in the process via a software called Leap. Over 700,000 leaflets have been chemically treated, scanned, digitalized and stored in 300 CDs. About 1,000 books can now be viewed in their original form on computers. The library has already spent US$58,375 on conservation equipment. What it needs most now is recognition and popularity. However, with plans underway to develop a website on these ancient scripts, these treasures will soon be just a click away.