आचार्य शांति सागर फाउंडेशन
Preserving Wisdom. Serving People. Building for the Future.
Manuscript conservation: These pages have survived centuries.
These pages have
Will they survive the next one? We're making sure the answer is yes.
How a manuscript is conserved →
Acharya Shanti Sagar Foundation is a charitable foundation established in 2019, working to preserve India's manuscript heritage, strengthen rural communities and respond to practical human needs.
Registered trust, Bengaluru — GAN-4-00431-2018-19
Three pillars, one purpose
Heritage and humanity are bound together: preserving a manuscript protects knowledge carried across generations; strengthening a village helps people live, learn and grow with dignity.
Preserving Knowledge Written by Hand
Scientific conservation of fragile palm-leaf and handwritten-paper manuscripts — assessed, treated, documented, archivally housed and digitised.
1,34,545 folios conserved at Kumbhoj and Karanja Lad
Creating Spaces That Serve Communities
Community halls, staff accommodation and public sanitation built where a missing facility limits what a village can do.
14 rooms of staff quarters at Hosur; a Samudaya Bhavan at Yarnal
Responding Where the Need Is Immediate
Free medical camps, education support and emergency relief, shaped by what each community is actually facing.
7,77,534 cooked meals, Bengaluru, 1 April – 3 May 2020
Our work so far
- Manuscripts conserved
- 1,620+
- Kumbhoj 1,399 · Karanja Lad 221 — two completed projects.
- Folios conserved
- 1,34,545+
- Kumbhoj 1,06,277 · Karanja Lad 28,268 — assessed, treated and rehoused folio by folio.
- Repositories surveyed
- 18
- Karnataka 3 · Maharashtra 6 · Tamil Nadu 9.
- Folios documented by survey
- 17,14,928
- In 12,681 manuscripts — the measure of what remains to be protected.
The work, up close
Conservation happens at the custodian's side, in rooms full of visitors, munis and conservators. These are the Foundation's own photographs from Shravanabelagola, Karanja Lad and Kumbhoj.
Palm-leaf bundles and wrapped manuscripts laid out at the start of the Shravanabelagola programme, July 2025. 
Working on a palm leaf, Shravanabelagola workshop. 
Munis reading a paper manuscript at the Shravanabelagola inauguration. 
The Foundation's exhibition of palm-leaf and paper Jinvani, Karanja Lad. 
Conservators and visitors at the palm-leaf table, Shravanabelagola workshop. 
Visitors examining folios at Karanja Lad. 
Munis visiting the conservation work at Kumbhoj. 
The conservation room at the Karanja Lad exhibition.
Voices from the work
The impact of this work is best understood through the people and institutions who experience it directly.
आप भी इस तरह के जीर्णोद्धार को कराएँ, जिससे ग्रंथ सैकड़ों साल के लिए पुनर्जीवित हो जाएँ।Read the whole recording
जैन समाज की काशी — महाराष्ट्र का कारंजा नगर। समन्तभद्राचार्य द्वारा स्थापित महावीर दिगंबर जैन गुरुकुल। इसमें प्राचीन जैन साहित्य का जीर्णोद्धार, पुनर्लेखन, आलेखन, व्यवस्था करने का कार्य श्री शान्तिसागर फ़ाउंडेशन, बैंगलोर के द्वारा हो रहा है, जिसे हमारे मंत्रीवर […] जी, जो धन्यकुमार जी के सुपुत्र हैं, उन्होंने समग्र जीर्णोद्धार के कार्यों को दिखाया। देखकर बड़ी प्रसन्नता हुई। और मैं समग्र भारतवासी जैन समाज से एवं प्राचीन ग्रंथवानों से भाव रखता हूँ कि आप भी इस तरह के जीर्णोद्धार को कराएँ, जिससे ग्रंथ सैकड़ों साल के लिए पुनर्जीवित हो जाएँ और धर्म एवं संस्कृति का संरक्षण हो। इस हेतु सकल समाज एवं फ़ाउंडेशन के लिए मेरा बहुत-बहुत आशीर्वाद, आशीर्वाद।
Karanja, in Maharashtra — the Kashi of the Jain community. The Mahavir Digambar Jain Gurukul, founded by Acharya Samantabhadra. Here, the restoration of ancient Jain literature — its recopying, recording and ordering — is being done by the Shri Shanti Sagar Foundation, Bangalore. Our secretary, […] ji, son of Dhanyakumar ji, showed us all of the restoration work. Seeing it brought great joy. And to the Jain community across India, and to all who keep ancient granthas, I say: have this kind of restoration done too, so that the granthas come back to life for hundreds of years and our dharma and culture are preserved. For this, my many, many blessings to the whole community and to the Foundation.
Transcribed from the recording and translated. […] marks a word that could not be made out.
एक-एक प्रोसेस इतना नियंत्रित तरीके से होता है… अब मैं जितना बोलूँ, उतना कम है।Read the whole recording
तो कारंजा का कितना बड़ा महत्व है। और ये धरोहर — पाँच सौ, साढ़े पाँच सौ साल पुरानी धरोहर — आज जिस प्रकार सँभाल के रखना… और समय के साथ वो खंडित तो होती है। तो फिर उसको और आगे ले जाने के लिए ये टीम जूझ रही है, लगातार। ये जो अभी इस तरह से आप देख रहे हैं न, यह ऐसा नहीं होता है। आप यहाँ जब वो काम सारा चलता है, तब वो देखने जैसा है कि किस प्रकार वो एक-एक पत्र को […] सँभालते हैं, उसका कार्य करते हैं। […] इंक डाइल्यूट हो जाती है, तो उसके लिए प्रॉपर सॉल्यूशन बना के… एक-एक प्रोसेस इतना नियंत्रित तरीके से होता है, कि अगर ऐसे ही किया जाए, तो ये और छिन्न-भिन्न होके ख़राब हो जाएगा। और ये एक बार यहाँ से जो ग्रंथ पास होके जाता है, उसकी लाइफ़ और 100–150 साल बढ़ जाती है, क्योंकि उसके ऊपर लेमिनेशन होता है — आपको दिखेगा भी नहीं कि ये लेमिनेशन किया गया है। और सबसे बड़ी बात कि यह सारा प्रोसेस रिवर्सिबल है। कहीं भी कोई ऐसे केमिकल का यूज़ नहीं हुआ है कि वो उसको डैमेज करे, और […] ख़राब करे। कि आप उसको ओरिजिनल में ले जाना चाहते हो, तो आप उसको पूरा रिवर्सिबल कर सकते हो। इस प्रकार का सारा कार्य होता है। मतलब, अब मैं जितना बोलूँ, उतना कम है। आप एक-एक चीज़ में कितना समय देते हो, वही चीज़ बताती है — इसमें गर्व है, इन्वॉल्वमेंट है।
So — how great Karanja's importance is. And this heritage — five hundred, five hundred and fifty years old — keeping it safe the way it is today… and with time, it does break apart. So, to carry it further forward, this team is at it, without a break. What you're seeing now, like this — it isn't like this. When the work is going on here, that is worth seeing — how they handle each single leaf […], how they work on it. […] the ink has thinned, so they make up a proper solution for it… every single process is done in such a controlled way, because done any other way, it would come apart and be ruined. And once a grantha has passed through here, its life grows by another 100–150 years, because it is laminated — and you won't even see that it has been laminated. And the biggest thing: this whole process is reversible. Nowhere is any chemical used that would damage it, or […] ruin it. If you want to take it back to the original, you can reverse it completely. That is the kind of work done here. Honestly — however much I say, it falls short. How much time you give to every single thing says it all — there is pride in it, and involvement.
Transcribed from the recording and translated. […] marks a word that could not be made out.
The work of conservation and preservation of “Jinvani” is an excellent and priceless work. This work will definitely increase the life span of all texts which are rarely available. All the best for noble work.Seeing the restoration work of more than 1000 granths of our Jainism, filled me with immense pride and happiness. It made me realize the greatness of our saints who worked hard for the betterment of society and spiritual upliftment. I am deeply grateful for the restoration team, the trust and everyone involved for their initiative and extremely happy for all the work that has been done and is still going on. Thank you for reviving the gems of Jainism.From the field
11 July 2025 · Shravanabelagola
श्रवणबेलगोला में अति प्राचीन ताड़ पत्र व हस्त लिखित शास्त्रों के संरक्षण एवं संवर्धन का कार्य प्रारंभ।
Conservation begins at Bahubali Prakrit Bhawan, Shravanabelagola — 2,695 granthas and 3,65,520 folios, one of the Foundation's largest continuing programmes.
15 November 2024 · Parsola, Rajasthan
अदृश्य भक्ति के दर्शन: शांति सागर महोत्सव का आलोक
The Mahotsav procession at Parsola, 13 October 2024.
13 November 2024 · India Post
आचार्य श्री शांति सागर जी पर विशेष ₹5 डाक टिकट का शुभ विमोचन
Release of the ₹5 commemorative stamp and first-day cover for Acharya Shri Shanti Sagar Ji.
Join the work
Hold manuscripts?
Ask for a survey of your collection. For a collection of around 1,000 shastras, the conservation lab is set up at your own premises.
Ask us to survey your collectionPartner with us
Institutional collaboration — with custodial institutions, hospitals, schools, community organisations and public authorities.
Write to the FoundationWork with us
Professional expertise and participation, in conservation and in the Foundation's community work.
Write to the FoundationSupport the work
Fund the conservation of a folio, or support the Foundation's programmes.
Restore a folio
Do you hold palm-leaf or paper manuscripts?
Bhandars, mandirs, mathas and families hold folios that are deteriorating now — the Foundation's own survey of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu found far more than has yet been treated. Where a collection runs to around 1,000 shastras (70,000–1,00,000 pages), the conservation lab is set up at the custodian's own location, so the manuscripts never leave it. Send photographs from a phone, or call.