MYSORE, INDIA, May 21, 2007: At least 800,000 books and manuscripts, including India’s first political treaties the “Arthasastra” written in the 4th century BC by Kautilya, that are lying in Mysore University in Karnataka, will be digitized by Google, the world’s leading internet search engine. “Written in both papers and palm leaves, there are around 100,000 manuscripts in our library, some dating back to the eighth century. The effort is to restore and preserve this cultural heritage for effective dissemination of knowledge,” said J Shashidhara Prasad, vice chancellor of the university. “Many manuscripts on Ayurveda, mathematics, medicine, science, astrology and economy including Arthasastra and several paper manuscripts of the Wodeyar dynasty of Mysore will be digitized first,” Prasad said. Written either in Sanskrit or Kannada, these resources of knowledge would be patented (we think they mean copyrighted) and printed after the digitization work is over, Prasad said. “Depending upon the exclusivity of the materials, we will patent them before making them available on public domain,” he said, adding that Google has offered them free service. “Google has offered to digitize these manuscripts as well as 700,000 other books free of cost. Google India chief, Eric Schmidt had already interacted with us and is ready to provide us expertise, software and even manpower,” Prasad said, adding that they have also received some financial assistance from the University Grants Commission (UGC) for the digitization work.
A daily summary of world news for Hindus and non-Hindus alike