Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS)-National Institute of Indian Medical Heritage (NIIMH) signs MoU with Sevadhi Museum & Indological Research Institute (SEMIRI) for digitization of medical manuscripts

Key facts

• The National Institute of Indian Medical Heritage (NIIMH), Hyderabad, under the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), Ministry of Ayush, signed an MoU with Sevadhi Museum & Indological Research Institute (SEMIRI), Kumaranalloor, Kottayam, Kerala.
• SEMIRI, run by the Kumaranalloor Ooranma Devaswom, has preserved more than 30,000 manuscripts, including temple records.
• The collaboration will support systematic digitization and preparation of a descriptive catalogue of SEMIRI's medical manuscript collection.
• CCRAS-NIIMH will provide technical and scholarly expertise for digitization and catalogue preparation under the MoU.
• The descriptive catalogue will document bibliographic details such as title, author, subject, script, language, material, physical dimensions, folio details, condition, and provenance as per the Ayush Manuscripts Advanced Repository format.
• Digitization will create high-quality digital copies to aid long-term preservation and reduce repeated physical handling of fragile manuscripts.
• The initiative is significant in the context of the Gyan Bharatam Mission and the government's broader efforts to preserve and disseminate India's manuscript heritage.
• A specialized expert team from CCRAS-NIIMH has initiated on-site digitization under the Collection, Digitization and Cataloguing of AYUSH Manuscripts and Rare Books project.