The National Institute of Indian Medical Heritage (NIIMH), operating under the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) within the Ministry of Ayush, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Sevadhi Museum and Indological Research Institute (SEMIRI) in Kumaranalloor, Kottayam, to jointly digitise and catalogue the institute’s extensive collection of medical manuscripts.
SEMIRI, administered by the Kumaranalloor Ooranma Devaswom, holds more than 30,000 manuscripts and temple records that document Kerala’s medical and scholarly traditions. Under the arrangement, CCRAS-NIIMH will provide technical expertise to convert hundreds of these fragile texts into high-resolution digital copies, while compiling a detailed catalogue recording each work’s title, authorship, script, material and physical condition, following the format of the Ayush Manuscripts Advanced Repository.
Officials linked the project to the wider Gyan Bharatam Mission, a national effort to preserve and share India’s manuscript wealth with scholars and medical historians. CCRAS Director General Prof.Vaidya Rabinarayan Acharya described manuscript preservation as central to protecting the country’s intellectual legacy, adding that digitisation would broaden scholarly access to classical Ayurvedictexts while reducing wear on the originals. SEMIRI President Dr. C. S. Unni welcomed the partnership as a way to spotlight the heritage of the Kumaranalloor and wider Kottayam region, and CCRAS-NIIMH head Dr. Goli Penchala Prasad spoke on the practical challenges of cataloguing Ayurvedic manuscripts.
A specialist NIIMH team has already begun on-site digitisation at SEMIRI, part of the institute’s ongoing project to collect, digitise and catalogue Ayush manuscripts and rare books. The partnership is expected to produce a structured, accessible knowledge base supporting future research, critical editions and continued study of India’s traditional medical systems.
Written By: Sayan Das
Graphics by: Pramit Hazra
