133rd Foundation Day of ORI celebrated

The 133rd Foundation Day of the Oriental Research Institute (ORI) in the city was celebrated on Tuesday. The event was marked by the launch of the ORI official website (orimysore.com) and the release of a Sanskrit work authored by Sayanacharya, a Sanskrit scholar who lived in the 14th century CE.

The 133rd Foundation Day of the Oriental Research Institute (ORI) in the city was celebrated on Tuesday. The event was marked by the launch of the ORI official website (orimysore.com) and the release of a Sanskrit work authored by Sayanacharya, a Sanskrit scholar who lived in the 14th century CE.

N.K. Lokanath, Vice-Chancellor, University of Mysore, who launched the website of the ORI said that it will help research scholars from across the world to gain access to rare works including the scanned images or digitized version of palm-leaf manuscripts stored in the ORI.

Mr. Lokanath congratulated the ORI for publishing ‘’Alankarasudhanidhi’’, authored by Sayanacharya who was a prolific commentator on the Vedas and related subjects and flourished during the Vijayanagara period. The work was edited by Vidwan Satavadhani R. Ganesh at his own cost spending over ₹3 lakh in the process, as a mark of respect and tribute to Sayanacharya, said Mr. Lokanath. It was released by Yadugiri Yathiraja Narayana Ramanuja Jeeyar Swami, the 41st pontiff of Sri Yadugiri Yathiraja Mutt, Melkote.

There was also a national seminar  on ‘’Sathya-Bhadra Krithi Sameeskha’’ to mark the occasion in which many scholars took part. The organisers said the digitisation project of the palm leaf manuscripts is nearing completion and the scanned and digitised books would be made available to scholars across the world. Detailed information about these books will be updataed on the website in due course.

ORI was formerly known as the Oriental Library and was established in 1891 during the period of Chamarajendra Wadiyar X. It was part of the Department of Education till 1916 when it became affiliated to the University of Mysore. It is a repository of nearly 25,000 palm leaf and paper manuscript bundles.