CHENNAI, INDIA, January 1, 2024 (Press Release): There has been great loss caused by the recent heavy rains and cyclones affecting the lives of the citizens of Chennai. The Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute, situated inside the premises of Madras Sanskrit College, Mylapore, Chennai, has been a world-renowned institution in the field of Sanskritic and Indological Studies for the past 75 years.
Due to recent rains, the institute (and the Madras Sanskrit College) was inundated with water for four days and the water had entered the ground floor of the institute, affecting hundreds of books and journals and a lot of furniture. Such a calamity has never happened before in the history of the institute or the Madras Sanskrit College, established in 1906. Under the expert supervision of the officials from the archives and Connemara Library and Tanjore Saraswathi Mahal Library, we are trying our level best to retrieve the books/journals that were soaked in the water for four days. This is a very cumbersome process that requires not only great patience and expertise but also considerable money. The institute does not receive any grants from the Central or State governments and has been thriving on the contributions from some philanthropists and corporate sectors. It is estimated that around Rupees One Crore would be required (US$120,154) for mending the books, purchasing furniture including almirahs to keep books/journals, electrical works, purchase of new computers, and more.
Besides carrying out high-class research, it has been helping scholars and the public through various activities like the publication of books, journals, and monographs, conducting seminars, conferences, and workshops on different subjects like arts, architecture, science, Yoga, religion, philosophy, literature, and language, and holding periodical lectures on various topics. Being affiliated with the University of Madras since 1983, it has produced about 70 M.Phil. / Ph.D. scholars, in addition to helping hundreds of scholars from different countries. One of the most important activities of the Institute is maintaining and preserving valuable ancient books and ancient palm leaf manuscripts in its library. The library consists of 65,000 rare books and 1300 ancient palm leaf manuscripts and is one of the best of its kind in the world.
For more details or to provide financial assistance to the Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute, contact Dr. Sita SundarRam.
Email id: ksrinst@gmail.com
Website: www.ksri.in; www.ksri.co.in
Phone: (044)24985320; 29505320
Mobile: 9884899716 / 9789809640