KAUAI, HAWAII, March 14, 2007: Under the Hindu kings, palm leaf manuscripts upon which are recorded Hinduism’s scriptures were recopied every 100 years or so to preserve them. Since British times, this process has ceased and existing manuscripts, even in the best-preserved collections, are deteriorating, some already to the point of uselessness. Microfilm is relatively expensive and requires bulky equipment. The resulting product, film, needs a separate process of digitization to distribute by the Internet.
In consultation with scholars in Tamil Nadu, Kauai Aadheenam, home of Hinduism Today and HPI, has investigated the used of digital cameras for the purpose of rapid photography and hence preservation of the leaves. The system is much simpler, cheaper and less technical than microfilm. The results are easily posted to the Internet.
At URL above is a detailed explanation including samples of photographs from actual palm leaves recorded by this process.