10 private collections from central Kerala (India), including both palm-leaf and paper manuscripts, have been digitized and fully cataloged under the DiPiKA Project (Digital Preservation of Kerala Archives) and are now available in Reading Room. Together, these newly accessible materials offer important resources for the study of Kerala’s literary, ritual, and intellectual traditions.

The digitized collections are: Kaṭavattŭ Mana Collection (DKA 002); Śaṅkaranārāyaṇa Pramod Nampūtiri Tiyyannūr Mana Collection (DKA 004); a new batch of manuscripts found in the Vaṭakke Maṭham Brahmasvam Vedic Research Centre (DKA 006); Tekkē Maṭham Collection (DKA 009); Ālakkāṭṭŭ Mana Collection (DKA 011); Paṭṭattŭ Mana Collection (DKA 012); Smitha Vengery Collection (DKA 013); L.S. Rajagopalan Collection (DKA 014); T. P. Mahadevan Collection (DKA 015); and Mīṯṯna Mana Collection (DKA 016). Their contents cover a wide range of subjects, including Vedic ritualism, Vedic literature, Sanskrit and Prakrit grammar, Malayalam literature, astrology, Sanskrit drama, and more.

Among the newly digitized repositories is the private collection of Mr. Śaṅkaranārāyaṇa Pramod Nampūtiri from Tiyyannūr Mana in Varode (DKA 004), consisting of 10 palm-leaf manuscripts and one paper manuscript. The collection primarily contains texts related to Vedic ritual practice, including works such as Agniṣṭomakriyābhāṣa (DKA 004 00001), Yāgapraiṣārtha (DKA 004 00011), and Agnihotrimaraṇakriyā (DKA 004 00001), on the rites associated with the death of a Vedic practitioner. Three bundles from the collection required specialized conservation with the help of experts from other libraries after fungal infestation had caused leaves to adhere together.

Other notable additions to the Reading Room are the Kaṭavattŭ Mana Collection (DKA 002) and additional manuscripts from the Vaṭakke Maṭham Brahmasvam Collection (DKA 006), which were accidentally discovered in a plastic bag in 2023 in a remote place within the monastery. The manuscripts have now been moved to the monastery’s main manuscript library. Wooden covers on the bundles of DKA 002 bear an engraved ownership statement in Malayalam reading “Kaṭavattŭ Mana vaka” (“property of the Kaṭavattŭ Mana family”), stating their earlier ownership, but the exact identification of the family remains somewhat uncertain. Alongside works on Vedic ritual, the collection also preserves Sanskrit literary texts supposedly written in Kerala such as Tapatīsaṃvaraṇa by Kulaśekhara Varman (DKA 002 00030).

The Tekkē Maṭham Collection (DKA 009) is a small group of 14 paper manuscripts mainly on administrative matters. Distinct from the monastery’s main collection of palm-leaf manuscripts, it is now part of the central manuscript library at Vaṭakke Maṭham. These paper records, handed down by the monastery’s current administration, offer rare documentation of Kerala’s monastic history. Administrative records are generally known in Malayalam as Tiruvaṭayāḷam (originally meaning “holy sign/mark”), and document institutional affairs of the order between the late 19th and mid 20th centuries.

Three smaller repositories digitized under the DiPiKA Project preserve manuscripts of considerable value for the study of Kerala’s written heritage. The Ālakkāṭṭŭ Mana Collection, a family repository in the village of Cherpu (Thrissur district), contains 11 palm-leaf manuscripts, including the Śrīkṛṣṇacarita in Manipravalamg (DKA 011 00003), Vararuci’s Prākṛtavyākaraṇa (a grammar of Prakrit) (DKA 011 00009), and the Vilāsinī, a commentary on Lakṣmīdāsa’s Śukasandeśa composed by Mānaveda (1765-1840), the Zamorin (ruler) of the Kingdom of Calicut (DKA 011 00002). The Smitha Vengery Collection, consisting of four palm-leaf manuscripts and formerly belonging to Vēṅṅēri Mana, is now preserved at Vaṭakke Maṭham Brahmasvam. The collection includes works by Kerala authors such as the Malayalam Naḷacarita āṭṭakkatha by Uṇṇāyivāriyar (17th-18th century), a famous Kathakaḷi play narrating the love story of Nala and Damayantī (DKA 013 00001), and Śokkanātha’s Bālavyutpattikāriṇī, a commentary on Vāsudeva’s Yudhiṣṭhiravijaya (DKA 013 00003). The T. P. Mahadevan Collection consists of a single palm-leaf manuscript with a remarkable modern history. Taken from Kerala to the United States by the Vedic scholar Frits Staal and later passed on to Michael Witzel, it was returned to Kerala in 2024 by T. P. Mahadevan, a professor in the U.S. Its contents include Śaṅkara’s Bhagavadgītābhāṣya, a commentary called Pradīpa on Kālidāsa’s Megha­dūta by Dakṣiṇāvartanātha, and an anonymous commentary on Raghuvaṃśa (DKA 015 00001).

These newly available collections significantly expand access to Kerala’s manuscript heritage and demonstrate the importance of continued preservation, cataloging, and digitization of privately held archives in South India.