HMML Global Operations: India

India


  • Region

    Asia
  • Country

    India
  • Cities

    Lucknow, Mahmudabad, Delhi, various cities in the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu
  • Repositories

    Mahmudabad Family Library (Uttar Pradesh), various repositories in Kerala and Tamil Nadu
  • Languages

    Arabic, English, Hebrew, Malayalam, Malayalam Garshuni, Mandaic, Manipravalam, Neo-Aramaic, Persian, Sanskrit, Syriac, Urdu, and others
  • Project Dates

    2008–2013, 2018–present
  • Partners

    Central European University in Budapest, Hungary (CEU); Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute; Digital Preservation of Kerala Archives (DiPiKA); École française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO, Paris and Pondicherry); Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures at Universität Hamburg (CSMC); Vadakke Madham Brahmaswam (Vedic Research Centre, Thrissur)

HMML is actively pursuing projects in India and throughout South Asia. Work in India began in 2008 with colleagues from CEU, establishing ties with the ancient Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala in southwest coastal India, who trace their origins back to the earliest Christian era. Their tradition, rooted in the Syriac Christianity of Mesopotamia and incorporating elements of local culture, survived the arrival of Portuguese missionaries in the late 15th century. Archivist Reverend Father Ignatius Payyappilly of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly, Kerala, led the field work beginning in 2008 to digitize paper and palm-leaf manuscripts written in Syriac, the local language of Malayalam, and Malayalam Garshuni (Malayalam written with Syriac alphabet). In 2018, HMML began working in northern India with the library of the Raja of Mahmudabad in Lucknow—a collection of over 2,000 Persian manuscripts still held by the family. These collections in Kerala and Uttar Pradesh illustrate the blending of imported religious and literary culture fused with local traditions.

In 2023, HMML began work with DiPiKA to digitize and catalog endangered, largely-Hindu manuscripts written in Sanskrit, Malayalam, and Manipravalam languages. These collections are kept in private households and religious institutions of the two southernmost states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The manuscripts are the only traces left of specific intellectual, religious, and literary traditions peculiar to that part of the Indian subcontinent. The project, which expands a differentiated and multilingual history of these regions, is a collaboration with EFEO, CSMC, and the Vadakke Madham Brahmaswam.


Mar Aprem Mooken, Chaldean (Assyrian Church of the East) Metropolitan of India, holding a Syriac manuscript from the collection of the Metropolitanate in Thrissur, India
Mar Aprem Mooken, Chaldean (Assyrian Church of the East) Metropolitan of India, holding a Syriac manuscript from the collection of the Metropolitanate in Thrissur, India
Portuguese-era church, Thrissur
Portuguese-era church, Thrissur
Scholar of Old Malayalam and Malayalam Garshuni, Fr. George Kurukkoor and historian Dr. Susan Thomas translate a bound, palm-leaf manuscript
Scholar of Old Malayalam and Malayalam Garshuni, Fr. George Kurukkoor and historian Dr. Susan Thomas translate a bound, palm-leaf manuscript
Local technicians digitizing palm-leaf manuscripts in Kerala
Local technicians digitizing palm-leaf manuscripts in Kerala
From left, Dr. Susan Thomas, Prof. István Perczel, and HMML Executive Director Dr. Columba Stewart visit an historic church in Kerala
From left, Dr. Susan Thomas, Prof. István Perczel, and HMML Executive Director Dr. Columba Stewart visit an historic church in Kerala
Traditional Indian stone oil lamp, topped with a cross, overlooks a coconut palm forest at the hill village of Pushpagiri
Traditional Indian stone oil lamp, topped with a cross, overlooks a coconut palm forest at the hill village of Pushpagiri
Coonan Cross in the Shrine at Mettancherry
Coonan Cross in the Shrine at Mettancherry
Ernakulam Siva temple celebration
Ernakulam Siva temple celebration
Fr. Johns Abraham Konat, a Malankara Orthodox Syriac priest, holds a family Syriac Bible
Fr. Johns Abraham Konat, a Malankara Orthodox Syriac priest, holds a family Syriac Bible
Palm-leaf manuscript
Palm-leaf manuscript
Fr. Ignatius Payyappilly
Fr. Ignatius Payyappilly
Manuscript in Syriac from Pampakuda (PKDA KONAT 236)
Manuscript in Syriac from Pampakuda (PKDA KONAT 236)

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