ORI gets $50,000 US aid towards restoration

Funds will be utilised to preserve manuscripts

Government of the United States of America has made a contribution of $ 50,000 to the Oriental Research Institute, which was established in 1891 by Chamaraja Wodeyar.

The cheque was handed over to University of Mysore Vice Chancellor Prof V G Talawar and Director of ORI Vidwan Shivakumaraswamy. The US Consul General Jennifer McIntyre and others from the US Consulate General, Chennai, represented their government, here on Tuesday.

Addressing the audience on the occasion, Jennifer McIntyre said the funds are to be utilised for the renovation and restoration of the Oriental Research Institute building, which houses 70,000 rare manuscripts and about 40,000 books, some of which are many centuries old. 

Rare treasures

Referring to the treasure of Kautilya’s Arthashastra which is in the possession of ORI, Jennifer said: “I was told that the ORI collection includes the 4th century Arthasashtra written by Kautilya, an ancient Indian treatise on statecraft and military strategy which was in use for several centuries before the manuscripts disappeared,” and paid respects to scholar Dr R  Shamashastry who was  former librarian at the ORI, who rediscovered the Arthasashtra manuscripts and brought it to the attention of the world once again.

Elaborating on the financial assistance provided by the United States to institutions and heritage centres across the world, Jennifer said: “The United States has provided grants of nearly $26 million for the preservation of 640 projects in more than 100 countries worldwide.

These funds have been used to support a wide range of activities such as the restoration of historic buildings, assessment and conservation of museum collections, archaeological site preservation, documentation of vanishing traditional craft techniques, improved storage conditions for archives and manuscripts, and documentation of indigenous languages.”

She and her team hoped to be back at ORI to see the changes the funds would have made possible in the Institute. Vidwan Shivakumaraswamy, Prof V G Talawar and registrar P S Naik were present on the occasion.