Reflections on Manuscriptology: Forays into Indian Paradigms of Knowledge Management

Summary

This article is a written version of a keynote address delivered by Dipti Tripathi at the World Sanskrit Conference in Vancouver. Tripathi reflects on India’s long manuscript tradition and its significance for understanding the country’s intellectual heritage. She outlines the history of Indian manuscriptology, noting that Indian scholars developed sophisticated systems for cataloguing, preserving and transmitting texts long before the advent of modern libraries. The paper discusses indigenous concepts of knowledge management embodied in texts like the Vedas, the Agamas and treatises on librarianship. Tripathi highlights how palm‑leaf and birch bark manuscripts were created, maintained and copied by trained scribes, and how families and monastic institutions developed networks to share and update texts. She also surveys royal and private manuscript collections and the role of bhāṇḍāras (repositories) attached to temples and monasteries. Particular attention is given to catalogues like the Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts of the Oriental Research Institute and government efforts to support manuscript preservation. Tripathi emphasises the rich diversity of scripts and languages in the corpus, including Sanskrit, Prakrit, Pali and regional languages. The article then addresses contemporary challenges: many manuscripts remain uncatalogued or suffer from decay, and there is a pressing need for training conservators and digitising materials. She calls for collaboration between institutions, scholars and technology experts to create digital databases and online access, arguing that such efforts will democratise knowledge and spark new research. Tripathi concludes that understanding traditional manuscriptology provides valuable insights for modern knowledge management, demonstrating how ancient Indian practices balanced access, preservation and intellectual property long before these became global concerns.