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It's technology being put to use for a good cause. Waferfiche technology, NanoArk Technologies, Hyderabad, are reviving manuscripts, written on palm leaves, to protect ancient knowledge from the corrosion of time...

Starting with Acharya Madhva's Sarvamoola Grantha, written in the 1300s, NanoArk has imaged the original palm leaves and placed them on silicon chips. After processing and development, the wafer is packed and sealed in a box to prevent any damage to it.

"If this concept somehow can be combined with modern technology, then data archiving will be a simple process. NanoArk Corporation just did that through Waferfiche (TM), Dr P R Mukund, CEO, says.

Original Article

Hyderabad based data archival company, Nanoark Technologies has implemented its idea for preservation of ancient manuscripts.

It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nano Ark Corporation. The original texts of Acharya Madhva's Sarvamoola  Grantha on palm leaves, dating back to 1300s, has been saved as images on silicon wafers, according to a report in the Deccan Herald. The company uses 'waferfiche' technology to develop and process the chip, after which it is packed and sealed in a box, keeping it safe from environmental hazards.

The company will be organising a function at Poorna Prajna Vidyapeetha, Bangalore, on 8 August 2008, to launch 'Sarvamoola Grantha.'

Original Article

Bangalore, dhns: NanoArk Technologies India Pvt. Ltd, a Hyderabad-based data archival company is coming out with an innovative idea to put technology for a worthy cause. A wholly owned subsidiary of NanoArk Corporation, USA, announced that it is launching 'Sarvamoola Grantha' on August 8th, 2008, at a function to be held at Poorna Prajna Vidyapeetha, Bangalore. NanoArk's Waferfiche technology can preserve texts as images on silicon wafers. These are known to be highly resistant to any environmental hazards and data archived in this method can be stored almost permanently, claimed the company in a release.

Original Article

RIT University News:
Leaves of Gold

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Using modern imaging technologies, RIT scientists have digitally restored a 700-year-old palm-leaf manuscript containing the essense of Hindu philosophy.

Professor P.R. Mukund and alumnus Ajay Pasupuleti traveled to India in November with precious cargo: two bound copies of the digitally restored Sarvamoola Grantha, a 700-year-old sacred Hindu text inscribed on palm leaves.

The Tribune:
Sacred writings on silicon

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An Indian American scientist is leading a project to digitally restore a 700-year-old palm leaf manuscript containing the essense of Hindu philosophy by using modern imaging technologies.

P.R. Mukund and Roger Easton, professors at Rochester Institute of Technology, are working on the project to digitally preserve the original Hindu writings, known as the Sarvamoola granthas attributed to scholar Shri Madhavacharya (1238-1317).

Modern imaging technology has now come to the rescue of a 700-year-old palm leaf manuscript of "Sarvamoola Grantha" of Madhva-charya, proponent of Dvaitha philosophy.  The collection of 36 works containing commentaries in Sanskrit, which was lying in a wooden box of Udupi's Palimaru Mutt, is now being digitally stored forever.


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The manuscript is difficult to handle and to read, the result of centuries of inappropriate storage techniques, botched preservation efforts and degradation due to improper handling.  Each leaf of the manuscript measures 26 inches long and two inches wide, and is bound together with braided cord threaded through two holes.
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The project will digitally preserve 13th century scholar Madhavacharya's Sarvamoola granthas, a collection of 36 works with commentaries on his Dvaita philosophy of the meaning of life and the role of God.

Two engineering professors at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York have used advanced digital technology to restore 700-year-old scriptures written by the scholar Madhavacharya on his Dvaita philosophy.

US scientists are exploiting specialist imaging technologies to preserve a 700-year-old manuscript that contains the essence of Hindu philosophy.

Hindu writings dating back to the 13th century have been imaged and then preserved on silicon wafers by a team of researchers at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Scientists who worked on the Archimedes Palimpsest are using modern imaging technologies to digitally restore a 700-year-old palm-leaf manuscript containing the essence of Hindu philosophy.

The project led by P.R. Mukund and Roger Easton, professors at Rochester Institute of Technology, will digitally preserve the original Hindu writings known as the Sarvamoola granthas attributed to scholar Shri Madvacharya (1238-1317). The collection of 36 works contains commentaries written in Sanskrit on sacred Hindu scriptures and conveys the scholar's Dvaita philosophy of the meaning of life and the role of God.

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MSNBC:
Ancient Hindu text digitally preserved

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Hidden in a wooden chest in the heart of a monastery in Udupi, India, an ancient Hindu manuscript has been deteriorating bit by bit over the last 700 years.  Now with the help of modern imaging technologies, scientists are illuminating the seemingly invisible Sanskrit.

Scientists who worked on the Archimedes Palimpsest are using modern imaging technologies to digitally restore a 700-year-old palm-leaf manuscript containing the essence of Hindu philosophy.

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This priceless collection of 36 erudite commentaries was written in Sanskrit by Sri Madvacharya (1238-1317 AD), one of India's greatest theologians.
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