CHENNAI, INDIA, June 18, 2007: (HPI readers have asked to know more about the Kuppuswami Institute and its manuscript collection and preservation project.) The Kuppuswami Institute was founded in March 1944 to perpetuate the memory of the great savant Prof. Sastri. The objectives of the institute are fourfold: promote and organise Sanskrit and Oriental learning and research on ancient and modern lines; arrange periodical meeting and conferences of scholars and conduct seminars; maintain a library of books, journals and manuscripts; and publish a journal and other books/monographs pertaining to Sanskrit, Oriental and Indological subjects.
The dream and main objectives of its founders were to conduct and continue high-class Sanskritic and Indological research as initiated by Prof. Kuppuswami Sastri and ably followed and enlarged by Dr. V. Raghavan, within the Institute premises. This could be actually realized only from mid-1982, when the Institute was recognized as Adarsha Sodh Samstha (Ideal Research Institute) by the Government of India. Simultaneously the Institute was officially affiliated with the University of Madras and the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, New Delhi, for carrying out post-graduate and post-siromani research by scholars in India and abroad. The Institute has opted out of government financial aid, raising funds to maintain its ever expanding activities and the necessary infrastructural facilities.
The prestigious collection of the Institute includes many rare books that proclaim the wisdom of our ancient in all branches of learning. Some of them rich in content and elegant in print are very old and deserve adequate care in preserving them for posterity. The uniqueness of the Institute’s library is that it preserves the precious personal collections of great savants such as Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Prof. Hiriyanna, Dr. V. Raghavan and others which are hardly available elsewhere.
The Library is comprised of nearly 60,000 books authored by great and popular writers on variety of Sanskrit and Indological subjects like anthropology, epigraphy, ethics, law, language and literature, philosophy and ayurveda. These books are in varied languages such as Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, English, German and French. Besides books, the library has journals and back volumes. The collection has received and continues to receive generous donations of books.
Similarly, the Institute also has a large collection of noteworthy palm-leaf Manuscripts written in Grantha, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil and Nandinagari scripts. These manuscripts contain material related to Vedas, Epics, Srauta, Dharmasutras, Philosophy, Literature etc. At present the various academic and other extension activities are carried out through donations. For information how you can help support the institute’s work, contact the director at ksri@satyam.net.in.