The cataloging and entry of information into Reading Room is now complete for EMML volumes 1-10. This encompasses the first 5,000 of the more than 9,000 manuscripts microfilmed by the Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library project. The print volumes of the EMML project were prepared by Dr. William F. Macomber and Dr. Getatchew Haile. Information from the print catalogs have been expanded upon and entered into Reading Room by Ted Erho, Dr. Ralph Lee, and Dr. Jeremy R. Brown. This cataloging update closely follows the milestone achievement of the completion of the digitization of the EMML microfilms at HMML.

This progress completes the EMML manuscripts cataloged by Dr. William F. Macomber and Dr. Getatchew Haile in the ten published print catalog volumes. There is an unpublished catalog of EMML 5001-6000 prepared by Dr. Getatchew Haile. The manuscripts described in that volume will be cataloged in Reading Room next.

The 1,500 manuscripts cataloged since the previous update are primarily from the Šawā province, although a few small private and church collections from Wallo province are also included. As is true for most of the EMML collection, these manuscripts are largely service books for the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Common works include psalters, antiphonaries, funeral rituals, missals, gospels, and stories of the saints.

One manuscript of interest is EMML 3872 from Zēnā Mārqos Monastery. This Miracles of Mary (ተአምረ፡ ማርያም) manuscript was copied during the reign of Emperor Lebna Dengel (1508-1540). The manuscript contains 204 stories about the miraculous work of the Virgin Mary, including several miracles that took place at the home church of the patron, Semʻon of Hagara Māryām church.

Another manuscript of interest is EMML 3879 from Endāfarē Māryām Church. This manuscript contains parts of two Gospel manuscripts from the 15th century. In addition to the biblical text are many land grants given by 15th century emperors, including several donated by Emperor Zar'a Yā'eqob.

Illuminated manuscripts continue to be uncommon in the manuscripts cataloged for this update. One notable exception is EMML 4762 from Boru Śellāsē Church. This 15th-century Gospel manuscript attests 16 full-page miniatures and a set of beautifully framed Eusebian canon tables. The illumination on folio 12v of the Crucifixion is a lovely example of the Ethiopian iconographic motif of depicting the Lamb of God above the cross rather than the body of Jesus Christ upon the cross.

It is our hope that this expanded access to the cataloging and images of the EMML collection will aid scholars, students, and researchers exploring these manuscripts and that this access will lead to even more exciting and important discoveries. View now

Cataloging is complete for 36 Arabic manuscripts from Eyes on Heritage (al-ʻUyūn ʻalá al-Turāth, project code EOH), a cultural institution in Gaza. These manuscripts were photographed before the Israeli invasion of Gaza in 2023, but the team was only recently able to return to the studio and send these digital images, via cloud servers, to HMML's partners in Jerusalem. These manuscripts represent only the part of the collection already photographed before displacement. Dated manuscripts in the collection range from 1726 (EOH 00005), but other manuscripts may be somewhat earlier.

The centerpiece of this collection comprises 19 manuscripts copied by ʻUthmān al-Ṭabbāʻ (1882-1950), a legal scholar and founder of the library at the Great Omari Mosque (project code OMM), HMML's prior digitization project in Gaza. al-Ṭabbāʻ was born in Ottoman Gaza and died in Egyptian Gaza; other than a few years studying at al-Azhar in Cairo, he lived his entire life in the tumultuous city, and several of his colophons bear witness to the contemporary calamities of World War I (EOH 00004) and the Nakbah (EOH 00005). Apart from two copies of works by earlier scholars, the manuscripts of al-Ṭabbāʻ are autograph copies of his own original works. There are also 11 manuscripts composed, copied, or owned by al-Ṭabbāʻ's teacher Aḥmad Bisīsū (died 1911), primarily on Sufism. As a result, the majority of the texts preserved in this collection are local to Gaza, almost all are new to HMML's collections, and many of them are likely unique copies of unpublished texts that do not exist outside these manuscript witnesses. The collection is therefore an invaluable and irreplaceable witness to the scholarly world of Gaza in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

This includes two copies of al-Ṭabbāʻ's large compilation of fatwas (EOH 00012 and EOH 00013) and the two parts of his extensive history of Gaza (EOH 00034 and EOH 00035), but also smaller texts on a variety of topics of interest to early-20th-century Gazans. These topics include the role of imitation (EOH 00004), analogy (EOH 00021), and individual judgment in formulating legal rulings; interaction between the traditions of Islamic law and the modern legal codes of the Ottoman Empire (EOH 00032); the legality of smoking tobacco and drinking coffee (EOH 00010 and EOH 00016); usury (EOH 00011); the signs of the Apocalypse (EOH 00005, notably written immediately in the wake of the Nakbah); and more. The importance of the Eyes on Heritage team's efforts to preserve this history under nightmarish circumstances cannot be overstated. View now

26 manuscripts from private collections are fully digitized, with cataloging data accessible through HMML’s Reading Room (project code AMKS). The collection primarily includes Hmayil (Armenian prayer scrolls) and illuminated Gospels, artifacts that serve as a medium in the homes of the faithful for veneration, healing, and miracles. This special collection was digitized by Dr. Konrad Siekierski, head of the "Home Saints" research project, funded by the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research and the Knights of Vardan Fund for Armenian Studies, 2022. His project seeks to answer questions about the historical development, cultural forms, and social functions of "home saints," which are religious manuscripts and early printed codices and scrolls that reside in Armenian private shrines or houses. The project examines objects in present-day Armenia and Georgia. Some images are fully accessible for online viewing, and others are preserved and available for on-site research at HMML but not accessible online, per the wishes of the owners. View now

Cataloging is complete for 120 manuscripts from the archive of the Central Bosnia Canton in Travnik, Bosnia and Herzegovina (Kantonalni arhiv Travnik, project code KAT). This is the principal public repository in Travnik, which for several centuries was capital of the province of Bosnia in the Ottoman Empire, and the manuscripts date from that period or earlier. They include many texts in Arabic, some in Ottoman Turkish, and a few in Persian--the three prestige languages of the Empire--and the collection is particularly rich in texts on Ḥanafī law and Arabic grammar. The oldest dated manuscript in the collection is a commentary on grammar copied in 1410 CE (KAT 00093), followed closely by manuscripts dated to 1437 (KAT 00061) and 1466 (KAT 00036). Other manuscripts are undated but may be even earlier. The latest manuscript is the account book of a prominent mosque in Travnik from 1869 to 1885 (KAT 00120). Bosnian authors and scribes are represented in the collection, but many of the manuscripts come from other parts of the Empire. View now

The final repository from the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul (the Azgayin Matenadaran Collection, project code APIA) has now been fully digitized, cataloged, and made accessible through HMML’s Reading Room. Comprising 261 manuscripts, this collection originates from a library and museum that no longer exists and is preserved today in the Patriarchate’s library.

This collection is of exceptional historical significance not only because it safeguards the physical manuscripts now digitized, but also because it preserves the memory of an entire library that was destroyed and left without trace. Once located at the heart of Constantinople, near the Galata district across the street from St. Gregory Illuminator’s church, the Azgayin Matenadaran served as a vital center of Armenian scholarship, religious life, and cultural production. Its disappearance reflects the broader obliteration of Armenian communal, intellectual, and ecclesiastical infrastructure during the late Ottoman period. The collection stands as a testament to the resilience of cultural heritage in the face of catastrophic loss. Among the collection are manuscripts containing illuminated Gospels, Psalters, Lectionaries, Yaysmawurkʻ, Mashtotsʻ, Zhamagirkʻ, Sharaknotsʻ, Kʻanonagirkʻ, commentaries, homilies, biblical concordance, and philosophical works, among other genres.

One 18th-century manuscript (APIA 00029) is a copy of the Commentary on the Twelve Prophets (Meknutʻiwn Erkotasan Margarēitsʻn) by Nersēs vardapet Lambronatsʻi (1153-1198). The manuscript illumination depicts an Armenian vardapet (doctor of the church) instructing student-monks sitting at the feet of their teacher. View now

Cataloging is complete for six manuscripts from Nakšibendijska tekija šejha hadži hafiza Husni-ef. Numanagića (HMML project code NTV), the Naqshbandī Sufi lodge of Husni Numanagić (1853-1931) in Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Items in the collection date from the 18th and 19th centuries and include three Qurʼan manuscripts, one copy of a well-known Arabic treatise on pedagogy, one notebook of Sufi prayers and homilies in Arabic and Ottoman Turkish, and one catechism in Bosnian. View now

Cataloging is now complete for the final objects in the collection of the Armenian Church, Diocese of Aleppo. These manuscripts, housed at the diocese, are from the Halēpi Surb Kʻaṛasun Mankunkʻ Yekeghetsʻwoy (the Armenian Holy Forty Martyr’s Church in Aleppo, Syria). The manuscripts have now been fully digitized, cataloged, and made accessible through HMML’s Reading Room.

Comprising 174 objects, this collection represents a rare survival of manuscripts from one of the most volatile centers of Armenian Christianity, preserved through over a century of upheaval, including the waves of violence and displacement in the region over the past 20 years. The manuscripts in this collection include illuminated Gospels, Psalters, Lectionaries, Yaysmawurkʻ, Mashtotsʻ, Zhamagirkʻ, Sharaknotsʻ, Kʻanonagirkʻ, commentaries, and homilies, among other works. Each digital catalog entry at HMML now links directly to the detailed print catalog prepared by Artavazd Surmēyan in 1935.

One highlight of the collection is an Armenian Gospel dating to 1338 (AODA 00033). An example of the Van Monastic School’s color, patterns, and artistry, the manuscript includes miniatures that illuminate episodes from the Gospels and the life of Christ. Originating from Arckē (modern-day Adilcevaz, Turkey), the manuscript was safeguarded and carried to Aleppo by survivors of the Armenian Genocide in 1919-1920, a testament to both its sacred significance and enduring historical legacy. View now

Metadata for 792 manuscripts from the Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, has been added to Reading Room. The manuscripts in the archive are divided into several collections, many of which come from religious communities closed during the Reformation. These include important collections from the Dominicans, Carmelites, Reichsstift Sankt Bartholomäus, and Sankt Leonhard Stift. The collection contains an important, but small, collection of Ethiopian and Arabic manuscripts, as well as several volumes in German, French, and Italian. Of particular interest are the late medieval liturgical manuscripts of Reichsstift Sankt Bartholomäus. View now

Cataloging is complete for 20 manuscripts from Zavičajni muzej Visoko (project code ZMV), a local history museum in Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The manuscripts date from the 18th and 19th centuries and include Islamic theological and devotional material in Arabic, Turkish, and Bosnian. There is also a local court register from the 1820s and account books from the late 19th century, when Bosnia was under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. View now

Cataloging is complete for one manuscript (CAB 00001) from the Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Baṣrah, Iraq. This manuscript is a book of funeral liturgies in Syriac, copied in 1883 CE. It was photographed by the Centre Numérique des Manuscrits Orientaux (CNMO). It is the first item photographed for HMML in southern Iraq. View now

Cataloging is complete for 41 previously unavailable manuscripts from the Fondation Georges et Mathilde Salem (project code GAMS) in Aleppo. These manuscripts were photographed in 2008, but the images were unavailable in HMML's Reading Room until now.

They include texts by a variety of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish authors on topics ranging from medicine to grammar to poetry and literature. Most are in Arabic, but there is some text in Syriac, Italian, French, and Latin, as well as one extensively decorated manuscript in Armenian (GAMS 01000), the only Armenian manuscript in the GAMS collection. Likely dates range from the 13th century to the 20th century. The addition of these images increases the availability of the important collection of Paul Sbath (1887-1945), one of the great manuscript collectors of the modern Middle East, whose collection was divided between the Vatican and his native Aleppo upon his death. With this addition, the Reading Room includes a total of 477 objects from the Salem collection. View now

The collection of the Syriac Catholic Archdiocese of Mosul (project code ASCM) consists of the archive of the archdiocese from 1859 to 1922 (ASCM 00001), as well as a ferman (decree) of Sultan Mahmud II dividing property in Mosul between the Syriac Orthodox and Syriac Catholic communities (ASCM 00002). View now

Cataloging is now complete for the manuscript collection of the Katʻoghikosutʻiwn Hayotsʻ Metsi Tann Kilikioy (the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia); this collection of 239 manuscripts is now fully digitized, cataloged, and accessible through HMML Reading Room. This collection represents a rare survival from one of the most volatile centers of Armenian Christianity. These manuscripts bear witness to a world lost and destroyed during and in the aftermath of the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

When the Cilician Catholicosate in southeastern Adana, Turkey, was forcibly and abruptly vacated in 1921, only a handful of its manuscripts escaped destruction. Survivors carried these artifacts to Aleppo, Syria, then to Anṭilyās, Lebanon, where the Catholicosate reestablished itself in exile in 1930. There, in the spirit of rebuilding Armenian religious and cultural life, a new repository was born--one that would come to hold an exceptionally rich array of illuminated and illustrated manuscripts, with works dating as far back as the 9th and 10th centuries. Between 2004 and 2005, HMML digitized these artifacts, preserving the knowledge and art they contain in digital format. Now online access makes them available to the world.

Beyond its handful of Cilician holdings from Sis, Turkey, the Anṭilyās collection preserves the histories of at least three other Armenian communities from Turkey and Cyprus.

1. Cyprus: 69 manuscripts originated from the vibrant Surb Astvatsatsin Church (St. Holy Mother of God) in Nicosia and the Surb Makar Monastery. These manuscripts, copied or preserved in Cyprus—including those once housed in the now-occupied Monastery of St. Makar and the medieval Church of the Holy Mother of God — were first cataloged by Fr. Nersēs Akinean, and published by the Mkhitarist Press in Vienna in 1961.
2. Euphrates College (Kharberd/Elazığ, Turkey): Several manuscripts trace their provenance to the library of this once-active Armenian educational and cultural center, destroyed in the early 20th century.
3. The Yovhannēs Mkrian Collection: The second-largest portion of the Antelias holdings derives from the private library of Fr. Yovhannes Mkrian (1831-1909), a priest, intellectual, and delegate of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Born in Partizak, he served as vicar of the Patriarchate and, in 1878, traveled to London as part of diplomatic efforts surrounding the “Armenian Question.” In 1932, his manuscript collection, rescued after the Genocide, found a permanent and secure home in Anṭilyās.

Together, these materials form a comprehensive record of Armenian intellectual, artistic, and liturgical life from the 9th through the 19th centuries. The manuscripts include illuminated Gospels, Psalters, Lectionaries, Yaysmawurkʻ, Mashtotsʻ, Zhamagirkʻ, Sharaknotsʻ, and Kʻanonagirkʻ, among others. Notably, ACC 00164, a 9th- or 10th-century Gospel written in Erkatʻagir (“iron script”), includes a colophon dated 1428 (877 A.C.), noting its rebinding at the Monastery of Argelan (Van)--a tangible link to medieval Armenian scribal networks and rich Christian life in the Lake Van region. Each record in HMML Reading Room now links directly to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation-sponsored 1984 catalog by Anoushavan Vardapet Tanielian, allowing researchers to trace manuscripts' histories, contexts, and connections across centuries and geographies. View now

Cataloging is complete for Bibliothèque des Manuscrits al-Wangari (ELIT WAN), the library of the Sidi Yahya Mosque, or Jāmiʻ Sīdī Yaḥyá, in Tombouctou, which dates back to the 15th century. The mosque is named for Sīdī Yaḥyá al-Wangarī, a noted scholar whose tomb is located inside.

As a mosque library, the collection is oriented towards Qur’an commentary, Qur’anic science, Islamic law, and related subjects. However, it also contains lesser-known works by al-Suyūṭī and other classical authors, as well as local figures such as al-Mukhtār ibn Yerkoy Talfī and the Jaljalī family from Say, present-day Niger Republic, which are not represented in other collections in the region. Likewise, it contains letters from the rulers of Ḥamdallāhi and the Kunta family previously unknown by scholars. The collection also includes numerous letters, documents and other notes, especially relating to Goundam, a town southwest of Timbuktu, as well as exercise books and other materials connected to the Timbuktu Madrasah, a French-Arabic school established by colonial authorities in the 1900s.

The completion of this collection also marks the completion of cataloging relating to the Endangered Libraries in Timbuktu (ELIT) project, numbering three libraries and some 7,276 items. These libraries, connected to Timbuktu’s three principal mosques, remained in the city while other libraries were evacuated to Bamako, and the manuscripts were digitized on-site in collaboration with the British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme (EAP). View now

The entry of cataloging information into Reading Room is now complete for EMML volumes 1-8, which accounts for the first 3,500 of the more than 9,000 manuscripts microfilmed in Ethiopia by the Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library project. The print volumes of the EMML project were prepared by Dr. William F. Macomber and Dr. Getatchew Haile. Information from the print catalogs has been expanded upon and entered into Reading Room by Ted Erho, Dr. Ralph Lee, and Dr. Jeremy R. Brown. The images and cataloging data for the first 3,500 manuscripts of the EMML project can be viewed in Reading Room.

In addition, HMML has finished scanning all EMML microfilms that it hosts on-site. These are all available online in Reading Room.

Since the previous update, volumes 5-8 have been fully entered into Reading Room with images. These 2,000 manuscripts, EMML 1501-3500, are largely from the Šawā and Wallo provinces of Ethiopia. Most of these manuscripts were copied for use in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and include psalters, hymn and chant books, rites and rituals, lives and miracles of the saints, and liturgical texts.

Of particular interest will be the manuscript collection from Ḥayq Esṭifānos Monastery. This religious center contains many old and rare works. These include EMML 1763, a 14th-century manuscript with a collection of 86 homilies, and EMML 1767, a 13th-century copy of the Lives of the Apostles (ገድለ፡ ሐዋርያት, Gadla ḥawāryāt).

Another manuscript collection of interest is Miṭāq Takla Hāymānot Church. This expansive collection includes several early manuscripts, such as EMML 2098, a 15th-century copy of the first eight books of the Bible.

Although illuminated manuscripts are not overly common in these volumes of EMML, several are truly spectacular. For example, EMML 2373 is a Homiliary for the archangel Michael (ድርሳነ፡ ሚካኤል, Dersāna Mikāʼēl) with 23 miniatures, including 17 miniatures of the miraculous deeds of the archangel Michael.

The EMML collection, now with increased access to the images and cataloging information, continues to offer up surprises and new insights, even more than 50 years after the photography project began. View now

Cataloging is complete for the 35 Ethiopic manuscripts at the Austrian National Library in Vienna. This collection of manuscripts was microfilmed by HMML in the 1960s and 1970s, and the images and cataloging information have now been added to Reading Room. The first 28 manuscripts in this collection (Codex Vindobonensis Palatinus. Aethiop. 1-28) were cataloged by Nikolaus Rhodokanakis in his 1906 catalog, Die äthiopischen Handschriften der k. k. Hofbibliothek zu Wien. The rest of the collection was largely undescribed until now.

The most commonly cited manuscript in this collection is Aethiop. 16 (HMML project number 24994). This manuscript is of particular importance to the study of the Ethiopic Bible with its unique forms of the books of Daniel and the Minor Prophets that are copied intermingled with commentary. One of the earliest illuminated manuscripts in this collection is the fifteenth-century Aethiop. 21 (HMML project number 24990). This manuscript features five full-page miniatures, interspersed to introduce each of the manuscript’s five texts. The ornate crosses and decorative designs called ḥarag (ሐረግ) in the fifteenth-century Aethiop 5 (HMML project number 24974) may also be of interest to art historians.

The images and catalog descriptions of these manuscripts and the rest of the collection can be found in Reading Room by searching "Codex Vindobonensis Palatinus. Aethiop." View now

Cataloging is complete for 785 mostly Arabic-script manuscripts from the National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Nacionalna i univerzitetska biblioteka Bosne i Hercegovine, project code NUB). Much of the collection was destroyed when the library was shelled during the Siege of Sarajevo in 1992, but hundreds of manuscripts were saved through the heroic efforts of the librarians.

The languages best represented in the collection are Arabic and Ottoman Turkish, but there is a significant amount of Persian as well; other languages appear in Cyrillic, Roman, and Hebrew scripts. The collection also includes 37 manuscripts at least partially written in the Bosnian language, whether in Arabic, Cyrillic, or Roman script. This is a rich testimony to the development of vernacular literature in the Ottoman Balkans, and the collection as a whole witnesses to the early modern devotional, literary, and scholarly life of this region. The oldest dated manuscript in the collection was copied in Urūmīyah (Iran) in 1337 CE (NUB 00467), while the latest is a Bosnian poem copied in Sarajevo in 1950 CE (NUB 00650). Further cataloging of the remaining portions of the collection, generally in Cyrillic and Roman scripts, is ongoing. View now

In the 8th century, numerous missionaries came to the German-speaking areas of Europe from England—one of these missionaries was Saint Walburga (approximately 710-779 or 780), a Benedictine nun and abbess of the Monastery of Heidenheim near Eichstätt. About a century after she died, her remains were transferred to Eichstätt, where a house of canonesses took care of them. In the 11th century, Count Liutger of Lechsgmünd and Graisbach converted the house to a Benedictine monastery for women, Benediktinerinnenabtei St. Walburg. Despite the official secularization of the monastery in 1806, the sisters remained faithful to their vows and received permission to continue their communal life. Three decades later, the monastery was renovated and granted permission to accept novices again. In 1852, they even dispatched the first Benedictine sisters to North America, some of whom established a new foundation in Central Minnesota in 1857: Saint Benedict’s Monastery (Saint Joseph, Minnesota). Still active and present on the same Eichstätt site today, Benediktinerinnenabtei St. Walburg houses a collection of manuscripts, now cataloged in Reading Room.

These 28 manuscripts date from the 14th through the 17th century and offer a range of materials that would be useful for the devotional life in a community of religious women. Fr. Jonathan Fischer, OSB, led the effort to microfilm the manuscripts at St. Walburg and other repositories in Eichstätt in 1984. Among other topics, the texts include Psalms and prayers, texts designed to help with teaching nuns and novices, commentaries on the legend of Saint Walburga and the miracles of the Virgin, dialogues, hagiographies, prayer books, rules for religious life, and sermons, many focusing on what it meant to live as a woman dedicated to a religious life. About half of the manuscripts are prayer books for personal devotions. Most of the materials are written in German, with only four manuscripts in Latin. View now

Pantal Vaidikan Dāmodaran Nampūtiri, a private collection belonging to Mr. Damodaran from Pantal Mana in Rappal in Kerala, India, has been digitized and fully catalogued under the DiPiKA Project (Digital Preservation of Kerala Archives) and is now available in HMML Reading Room. The collection includes 45 palm-leaf manuscripts and 47 paper manuscripts, most featuring either Malayalam or Sanskrit written in the Malayalam script.

Mr. Pantal Damodaran belongs to the Vaidikan family of the Iriññālakkuṭa grāma, whose members are renowned experts in the procedure of Vedic rituals. Notably, there are only six families of Vaidikans in Kerala, making this lineage particularly significant. The collection is largely composed of texts on Vedic ritual practice, many of which – based on recent survey findings – are not known to exist in other archives. These manuscripts preserve a distinctive sacrificial tradition specific to this family line, offering valuable insight into a rare and localized Vedic heritage. The collection comprises, among other things, such unique works on the subject of Vedic ritualism as Yāgakriyā (DKA 003 00033), Agniṣṭomavidhi (DKA 003 00019), Yogiyāruṭe kārikā (DKA 003 00058), and Loṣṭacitiprakāra (DKA 003 00010).

The palm-leaf manuscripts in this collection are part of the ancestral holdings of the Pantal Mana. Some of the paper manuscripts contain notes written by the current owner's father, reflecting his scholarly engagement with Vedic tradition. The remaining paper manuscripts were acquired by him from various other families engaged in the practice of Vedic śrauta ritual. These include Taikkāṭṭŭ Mana, Kiṭaṅṅaśśēri Mana, Kapliṅṅāṭṭŭ Mana, Kōtamaṅgalam Mana, Kāpra Mana, and Tōṭṭam Mana.

While working on the collection, the team made a surprising discovery noting that two of the palm-leaf manuscripts had attached to them Dutch East India Company coins dated to the year 1751 (DKA 003 00022) and 1790 (DKA 003 00005). The coins have a hole in the middle and are affixed at the end of the string that serves to bind the bundles. View now

The Naṭuvil Maṭham Svāmiyār Collection, comprising 11 manuscripts written on palm leaves, has been digitized and fully cataloged under the DiPiKA Project (Digital Preservation of Kerala Archives) and is now accessible through HMML Reading Room.

Naṭuvil Maṭham is one of four Hindu monasteries (or maṭhas) originally located in the city of Thrissur, Kerala (India), where it is believed they were established by the renowned Indian philosopher Śaṅkara, proponent of the non-dualistic doctrine of Advaita Vedānta and allegedly founder of the pan-Indian monastic order of the Daśanāmī-Saṃnyāsins. These four maṭhas (Vaṭakke Maṭham, Naṭuvil Maṭham, Iṭayil Maṭham, and Tekkē Maṭham) were built adjacent to one another, forming a unique monastic complex associated with a vernacular monastic tradition that dates back to approximately the 12th century, according to inscriptional evidence.

Today, three of the maṭhas remain in Thrissur: Naṭuvil Maṭham and Tekkē Maṭham, which continue as active Advaita Vedānta monastic institutions; and Vaṭakke Maṭham, which has functioned as a traditional Vedic school (vedapāṭhaśālā) for at least two centuries, run by members of the Nampūtiri community–Kerala brahmins, who in the past formed the highest stratum of Kerala society. In this capacity, it is known as Vaṭakke Maṭham Brahmasvam.

The Naṭuvil Maṭham Svāmiyār Collection was donated to Vaṭakke Maṭham Brahmasvam in 2019 by the head of the monastery, Maṟavañcēri Tekkēṭattŭ Nīlakaṇṭhan Bhāratīkaḷ. The manuscript collection includes, among other things, important texts of the monastic order such as Saṃnyāsakalpavyākhyā (DKA 001 00001), Yatyācārasaṃgraha (DKA 001 00006), and Samādhividhivyākhyā (DKA 001 00005), which outline prescriptions and regulations governing daily conduct, ritual practice, and doctrinal foundations for ascetics of this monastic tradition. These and other works offer a rich entry point into this Hindu tradition and the community that followed it. View now