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Introduction

All the Samhitas now available in Ayurveda were in manuscript form only. Manuscripts after collation properly edited and made available to the readers for easy understanding of the contents of the Manuscripts copies. It requires a thorough knowledge in the topic delt in the manuscript and the language, script used for writing the content.so that for critical edition the scholar must have command on different sastras including vyakarana, bhasha and the topic on which the Pandulipi have written like tantra, jyotisha, veda, vyakarana, Vaidya etc. moreover it requires combined effort of scholars having proficiency in these firms. The fundamental research in Ayurveda caters demands of the society and the medical fraternity; the modern scientific research has been initiated in Ayurveda in the field of basic principles. The aim of basic research in Ayurveda is to explore the scientific innovations and opportunities in fundamental concepts of Ayurveda. The fundamental research includes replacement of faith and suppositions with the scientific reasoning complimented with the facts and figures.1 Manuscriptology studies helps to strengthen the literary evidences and comprehension of language for re-establishing the authenticity of the authoritative texts related to the science of Ayurveda.2 Hand written document by a person is called as Manuscript. The Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972 lays down the legal framework for custody of manuscripts. Antiquities, defined under the Act include “Any manuscript, record or other document which is of scientific, historical, literary or aesthetic value and which has been in existence for not less than seventy-five years.”3

Manuscriptology is the scientific study of manuscripts, including their preparation, development, and preservation.

It covers a wide range of specializations, including:

• Preparation of raw materials like paper, birch bark, palm leaf, inks, and stylus
• Study of the development of scripts and alphabets
• Methodologies of higher and lower criticisms
• Translation, interpretation, and reconstruction of texts
• Preservation, conservation, and storage of manuscripts
• Designing museums and archives for manuscript storage
• Linguistics
• Knowledge of scribal traditions
• Critically editing texts
• Cataloguing4

Significance of literary research in Ayurveda:

The literary research involves-the revival and publication of ancient classical literature; collection, compilation and documentation of subject-wise references relating to drugs and diseases from ancient classical literature, lexicographic works, contemporary literature and allied modern sciences.5 These are the few aspects of literary research work in Ayurveda which will certainly enrich Ayurveda, bringing out the latent potentialities that are lying dormant and unexplored in its vast literature.

Principles of literary Research parallel to Manuscriptology:

• literary Research is to find out all possible information about a particular text or literature in published or unpublished matter in various forms such as shilalekh, tala patra, manuscript, book etc6 A manuscript is a handwritten composition on paper, bark, cloth, metal, palm leaf and any other material dating back atleast seventy-five years that has significant scientific, historic or aesthetic value. manuscripts are found in different languages and scripts. Often, one language is written in different scripts. for example, Sanskrit is written in Oriya script, Grantha script, Devanagari scripts and many other scripts, in this way decoding the information in manuscripts on Ayurveda directly contribute to literary richness to the science.
• To preserve the information related to basic principles according to their forms with modern techniques, manuscripts critical edition leads to most possible nearer texts that of the author, there after digitization of the edited manuscript further preserve the knowledge.
• To analyze the Ayurvedic literature with the help of various study branches revision and editing the information to draw a concrete conclusion in accordance with present and future. Abundant number of unpublished Ayurvedic Manuscripts on different subject specialization in Ayurveda itself indicates the fact that very few of manuscripts are being edited, by the Manuscriptology researches part of literary research will become an asset to scholars of Ayurveda in present and in upcoming days.

Need of literary research on manuscripts.

1.Large number of Unpublished Manuscripts: India possess more than 5 million manuscripts making her the largest repository of manuscripts wealth in the world.An estimated 100000 manuscripts have been produced from 1500 BC-1900 AD, out of which only 1/10 th are traced. Among the total Ayurveda literature only 2% of manuscripts are published.7

2. Add on to literary treasure: To preserve ancient knowledge and revive the past. Contribute to the literary richness of the science and for the better understanding of Ayurveda principles.

3.Possibility in clinical research: It’s the era of evidence-based medicine strongly moving hand in hand with fundamental principles. Manucsriptology studies can contribute clinical trials based on the findings from manuscripts studies.

Basic steps in Manuscriptology -

Primary steps

• Survey
• Preservation
• Documentation
• Digitization

Secondary steps

• Transcription
• Translation
• Critical edition

A critical edition is a text that is as close as possible to what the author wrote. It is created using all available evidence, including collation of different manuscript witnesses. The process of creating the text is documented, and a "critical apparatus" of footnotes shows where there might be uncertainty.

A critical edition:

• Requires collation of different manuscript witnesses
• Constructs a reading text from the results of that collation
• Includes an editor's extensive annotations
• Comments on variations between different versions of the text
• Provides an understanding of the text based on other sources
• Takes into account all the different known versions of the same text
• Shows the differences between any two distinct versions(online)8

Challenges for Ayurvedic Manuscript Critical Edition as part of Literary Research:

• No data on published manuscript list: There is no centralized registration for PG and Ph.D level works on manuscript edition. That will create confusion among scholars that whether the work being edited is published or not.
• Accessibility: manuscripts are found in different kind of repositories -ranging from museums, instittutions of learning to private homes and houses of worship, big and small so that the scholar has to go through stiff formalities.
• Lack of expertise on script: Manuscripts are found in a vast number of languages and scripts many of which can no longer be read. India different languages and different scripts even the native people are unable to read and write their own scripts.
• The condition of the manuscript being edited: Manuscripts are often found to have been neglected for decades in very poor physical state – insect ridden, fungus infected brittle, fading and fragile.9
• Lack of expertise in critical edition: As it is not a syllabus point in any level of Ayurvedic education nobody is expert in edition of manuscript.

REMEDIES FOR CRITICAL EDITION OF AYURVEDA MANUSCRIPTS:

• A centralized registration on Published manuscripts: so that the scholar can go through it to omit the published the works.And the new synopsis should also be registered in this centralized registry

• Coordinated activity of experts in different field: Starting from the collection of manuscripts the Librarian from the manuscript library, while doing transcription language expert, script expert or the paleographer, to analyze the subject matter delt in the manuscript subject expert, for edition expert in handling different soft wares, for publication and digitization experts in that field also required.
• Training on Manuscriptology: Training on various aspects of manuscript studies like scripts, critical edition and cataloguing of texts also conservation of manuscripts is necessary for proer literary research in Manuscriptology.

• Training on Sanskrit language: as most of the manuscripts have been written different laguages like Sanskrit Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati etc there is a huge collection of manuscript available on Sanskrit language with different scripts. That again demand command on Sanskrit.
• Manuscript unit: Establishing manuscript unit at institutions to preserve rare Scripts, Samhitas, Classical References on Ayurveda which are available with erudite scholars of Ayurveda. By improving general and intellectual status of research scholar gives impetus towards the totality of Ayurvedic wisdom with adept knowledge in Samhitas. It also helps to develop excellent skill in research methodology.
• UG level orientation: on Collection, conservation, critical study of the traditional knowledge materials like (Palm leaves, papers, maps, pictures, files etc.) related to health care system and their cultural and clinical importance
• Paleography lab establishment: To study different scripts ancient and medieval handwriting, including pre-modern manuscripts, such as hand-written books, rolls, scrolls, and single-sheet documents.
• Funding Proper budget in PG and PhD Studies: each step-in manuscript edition requires a bulk amount, for collection manuscript copying charges even from government manuscript libraries is huge, travelling cost for offline collection etc demands reasonable budget.

Discussion

The knowledge gained by ancient seers of Ayurveda was passed down through the manuscripts. The preserved manuscripts are the invaluable treasure of knowledge which can be utilized for the well-being of the present generation as well as to pass on to the next generation.10 The importance of manuscriptology in Ayurveda is recognized by the AYUSH department, under the government of India. They consider the different steps in manuscriptology, such as collection, conservation, cataloguing, translation, critical edition, and publication of manuscripts, as important aspects of literary research in Ayurveda.11 Inspite of attempts at Manuscriptology studies, no fruitful initiatives have taken so far been for addressing the challenges like lack of data on published and critically edited Ayurveda manuscript, lack of expertise on script, lack of expertise in critical edition etc.

Ongoing researches and upcoming studies on manuscriptology can made effective by the proper impliments of remedies like UG level orientation on critical edition, Training and workshops on Manuscriptology and paleography etc.

Conclusion

As there are huge number of unexplored Ayurveda manuscripts are documented in different repositories all over the world, these manuscripts should be edited and made available for Ayurveda fraternity for further clinical studies and equally for the public sake.

It requires a collaborative effort from different specialities and expertise related to Manuscriptology and Ayurveda.