A pitiful story

[Madhav Deshpande]

During my visit to Pune during May 2002, I came to understand that a contract to digitize the slips was already awarded to a computer firm in Pune.  I distinctly remember meeting the director of this firm at the Bhandarkar Institute.  I don't know whether the work of digitization ever actually began and where it stands today.  

                                                                        Madhav Deshpande

> ----------
> From:         Paul Kiparsky
> Reply To:     Indology
> Sent:         Monday, July 28, 2003 5:02 PM
> To:   INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk
> Subject:           Re: A pitiful story
> 
> Re http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/text/2001275153_sanskrit28.html:
> 
> The story of the Deccan College Sanskrit dictionary is even more
> alarming than this article indicates.  The dictionary is based on a
> huge database of citations from all branches of Sanskrit literature,
> excerpted and annotated by some very great scholars.  It is stored on
> brittle paper slips in the "Scriptorium" at Deccan College under less
> than ideal conditions.  The paper is crumbling and it is said that
> some of the slips have disappeared.
> 
> To safeguard this irreplaceable resource and to make it available to
> the scholarly community, it should be digitized and published in CD
> form.  A resolution to this effect was just passed unanimously at the
> World Sanskrit Conference in Helsinki.
> 
> This should be seen as an emergency measure and not as a substitute
> for the publication of the dictionary itself.  Funding for it should
> be sought from UNESCO, and surely private donors can be found to
> contribute money, equipment, and expertise.
> 
> Paul Kiparsky
> 
>