The Vaṭakke Maṭham Brahmasvam houses several collections, the primary one consisting of 748 palm leaf manuscripts originating from the Hindu monastic complex of the Śaṅkaran tradition in Thrissur, central Kerala. This large collection was digitized as part of the British Library's Endangered Archives Programme (EAP1039, EAP1304).

In addition to this principal collection, the Vaṭakke Maṭham Brahmasvam also includes smaller collections donated over time by private owners, primarily from the Nampūtiri community. It is these collections that are being digitized as part of the Digital Preservation of Kerala Archives Project (DiPiKA).

Collection History

The collection was in the custody of L.S. Rajagopalan (1922-2008), who lived in Thrissur and was a distinguished scholar of Kerala’s traditional performing arts, widely recognized for his lifelong engagement with theater and music. His research was grounded in extensive fieldwork conducted across diverse settings, including temple spaces, rural landscapes, and urban neighborhoods. Through sustained observation, documentation, and interaction with practitioners, he sought to contextualize performance traditions within their social, ritual, and aesthetic frameworks. His scholarly interests focused primarily on Kṛṣṇanāṭṭaṃ, Kūṭiyāṭṭam, and Kathakaḷi, alongside the study of Kerala’s folk music traditions and indigenous musical instruments. He also pursued in-depth research on the musical dimensions of Vedic recitation and Carnatic music, examining their theoretical foundations and performance practices. Rajagopalan authored and published several influential studies in the fields of his interests. Following his death, his daughter donated the manuscripts to Vaṭakke Maṭham Brahmasvam in 2024.

Repository History

Vaṭakke Maṭham Brahmasvam was initially known as Vaṭakke Maṭham (from Malayalam 'Northern Monastery') - one of the four Hindu monasteries located in the city of Thrissur, which are believed to be established by the famous philosopher Śaṅkara, an expounder of the Advaita Vedānta doctrine. The monastery was transformed into vedapāṭhaśālā – a traditional Vedic school – run by Nampūtiri brahmins, at least two centuries ago. Since 2008, the institution has housed the Vedic Research Centre, a dedicated subunit located in a modern building adjacent to the main complex. This Centre is responsible for the administration and promotion of Vedic studies, organizing scholarly events and maintaining a library that features both contemporary publications and a valuable collection of palm leaf manuscripts from the Thrissur monastic complex.

Project Description

DiPiKA is a collaboration between the Vadakke Madham Brahmaswam (Vedic Research Centre) in Thrissur, the École française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO, Paris and Pondicherry), the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (HMML, Collegeville, Minnesota), and the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC), University of Hamburg. The project is funded by Arcadia for a period of five years. The project aims at preserving the rich and highly endangered written cultural heritage of Kerala. It surveys and digitizes palm-leaf and paper manuscripts kept in private collections across the state. The digitized collections will be fed into a digital repository, thus forming an online archive of Kerala manuscripts that will be openly accessible. This will facilitate its use by scholars and private owners, thereby also fostering further local initiatives to safeguard historical written artifacts.