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Manuscript Conservation

Preserving Knowledge Written by Hand

Many manuscripts have survived for centuries, but age, insects and storage conditions are making them fragile faster than they can be studied. ASSF conserves, documents and digitises palm-leaf and handwritten-paper collections, folio by folio.

An opened volume of handwritten Devanagari paper folios, with ruled margins, red highlighting and folio numbers in the margin.
Handwritten paper folios: ruled margins, red highlighting, and the folio number written in the margin.

Two materials, one urgency

Palm-leaf manuscripts

Text inscribed into prepared palm leaves and bound into units. Over time the leaf itself becomes brittle, cracks and splits — conservation has to work with, not against, that material.

Handwritten paper manuscripts

Handmade paper develops tears, folds, losses and staining, often unevenly across a single manuscript. Every folio starts with its own condition assessment.

Beyond scripture, these collections hold philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, grammar and literature — material records of an intellectual tradition, not only a religious one.

  • Philosophy & spiritual thought
  • Mathematics & numeracy
  • Astronomy & cosmology
  • Medicine & health
  • Literature & language
  • History, art & illustrated traditions

Painted within the collections

Some collections hold far more than text: folios painted beneath their lines, cloth paintings of the cosmos, whole leaves of colour. Paint cracks and lifts along every fold, so conservation has to hold the picture as carefully as the word.

A painted diagram on cloth shaped like an hourglass, divided into tiers filled with small figures.
The Jain cosmos (loka), drawn as an hourglass of tiered worlds.
A paper folio with lines of Devanagari text above a yellow painted band of elephants, riders and animals.
A folio with a procession painted beneath its text.
An orange painted leaf showing an elephant, a white bull, a lion, a crescent moon, fish and vessels.
Elephant, bull, lion, moon and vessel — emblems of the auspicious dreams in Jain tradition.
A painted panel of a crowned, many-armed figure seated above an elephant, on an orange ground.
A crowned, many-armed figure above an elephant.
A paper folio with text above a turquoise painted band of standing figures beside a tree.
A folio with an assembly of figures painted beneath its text.
Close view of painted cloth, the paint cracked and lifting along a fold.
Paint cracking along a fold — the damage conservation stabilises.

Photographed at the inauguration of the Shravanabelagola conservation programme, July 2025.

From assessment to a durable record

No two manuscripts are alike — sometimes no two folios. Assessment decides the approach before anything is treated.

Preventive conservation
When the manuscript is sufficiently stable and the priority is to prevent or slow further deterioration.
Curative conservation
When deterioration has already affected the manuscript and active intervention is required to stabilise, repair or strengthen it.

The curative process

  1. Documentation

    Recording material, structure and condition before anything is touched.

  2. Preparation

    Preliminary measures that make safe treatment possible.

  3. Surface cleaning

    Removing accumulated dirt with methods suited to the material.

  4. Treatment

    Deacidification and chemical stabilisation, matched to the deterioration found.

  5. Repair & strengthening

    Mending cracks, tears and structural loss, folio by folio.

  6. Stabilisation

    Ensuring the material is safe for handling and long-term storage.

  7. Protective enclosure

    Archival-quality housing for the conserved manuscript.

  8. Digitisation

    A high-resolution digital record, so the original need not be handled again.

A damaged handwritten manuscript with a loss torn through its lower lines, photographed beside a slip marked BEFORE and an accession label reading KBJ/PM/047.
Documentation comes first: this manuscript was recorded as KBJ/PM/047, and photographed, before treatment.

Restoration of Tadpatras

The Foundation's own short film on the Kumbhoj Bahubali programme — documentation, treatment and digitisation, filmed during the conservation work itself. In Hindi.

From completed work to ongoing work

Timeline of conservation projects, 2022–2026.

  1. Kumbhoj, from 2022-02 to 2024-09

  2. Karanja Lad, from 2024-10 to 2025-08

  3. Shravanabelagola, from 2025-07, ongoing

  4. Karanja Lad — continuing work, start date not yet supplied, ongoing

Palm-leaf and paper manuscripts laid out on red cloth at Shravanabelagola, with monks and Foundation members looking on.
Shravanabelagola, Hassan district, Karnataka.
Ongoing

Shravanabelagola

Bahubali Prakrit Bhawan, NIPSAR
Hassan district, Karnataka

Manuscripts
2,695 granthas
Folios
3,65,520

Conservation began 11 July 2025 — one of the Foundation's largest continuing efforts.

  • Completed

    Kumbhoj

    Bahubali Siddhopeth Granthalaya
    Kolhapur district, Maharashtra

    Manuscripts
    1,399
    Folios
    1,06,277

    Conserved and fully digitised, February 2022 – September 2024.

  • Completed

    Karanja Lad

    Shri Mahaveer Brahmacharyashram Gurukul Ashram
    Washim district, Maharashtra

    Manuscripts
    221
    Folios
    28,268

    Conserved October 2024 – August 2025. A further 866 folios have since been entrusted to the Foundation for the next phase.

  • Ongoing

    Karanja Lad — continuing work

    Shri Mulsang Balatkar Gan Mandir
    Washim district, Maharashtra

    Manuscripts
    Folios

    Building on the completed Karanja Lad project, extending conservation to further repositories in the area.

Our work so far

Counts from the Foundation's two completed conservation projects and its survey of 18 repositories. Where a figure has not been supplied, the space is left open — not estimated.

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.

Building conservation capacity, not just completing projects

ASSF employs lead conservators, assistant conservators and trainees at industry-standard terms — building long-term capacity in a field where trained conservators are scarce in India. Local institutions are trained in safe handling and preventive care, so custodians can continue looking after their own collections.

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