More than half of Tamil estampages covered under ASI’s ongoing digitisation drive

The Epigraphy Division of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has begun the process of digitising all the Tamil estampages in its collection.

The project includes scanning the estampages, providing descriptive metadata for the inscriptions, and uploading them to a dedicated online repository for easy access.

K. Munirathnam Reddy, Director (Epigraphy), ASI, Mysuru, said the Epigraphy division of the ASI had already started digitising estampages of inscriptions in several Indian languages, as well as those in Arabic and Persian, in its possession. This includes close to 25,000 Tamil inscriptions.

Recently, while responding to a question by DMK Rajya Sabha Member N.R. Elango, Union Minister for Culture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said out of 24,806 Tamil estampages possessed by the ASI, scanning had been completed for 13,740 estampages.

Mr. Reddy said these inscriptions had already appeared in the ASI’s Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy.

The digitisation exercise is being carried out under the Bharat Shared Repository of Inscriptions (BharatSHRI), a digital epigraphy museum initiative aimed at creating a dedicated digital repository of all recorded inscriptions, to ensure easy access for scholars and the public.

The process includes scanning estampages and preparing descriptive metadata. This will carry details of each inscription — including its location, the king and dynasty associated with it, the language and script, the period to which it belongs — and the transcript of the inscription, along with a description. The digital repository is expected to go live in two months.

The users from any remote corner would be able to access the digital repository to know the details about the inscriptions, Mr. Reddy added.