• Name of the internship Programme: Manuscriptology and Textual Criticism 
• Area of specialization: Manuscriptology
• Name of the Coordinator: Dr. Sooraj R. S. (Assistant  Professor on Contract, Department of Sanskrit), & Dr. Arathi K.  (Assistant  Professor on Contract, Department of Sanskrit)
• Duration of the programme (Minimum 60 hours): 60 Hours
• Institutional linkages if any: Institute for Vedic and Cultural Studies, Guruvayur Devaswom, Guruvayur Devaswom Hindu Matha Granthasala.
• Targeted number of participants: 20

Manuscriptology and the critical edition of manuscripts stand as the cornerstone of preserving and transmitting the world's literary and historical heritage. This specialized field involves the meticulous scientific study of handwritten documents, focusing not only on their physical characteristics, such as the materials and scripts used, but also on the process of creating a definitive and accurate text. The critical edition of manuscripts is a rigorous scholarly undertaking, where multiple versions of a single work are collated and analyzed to identify scribal errors, interpolations, and variations, ultimately aiming to reconstruct the original or most authentic version of a text. As a discipline, it bridges the gap between traditional knowledge and modern scholarship, ensuring the integrity of ancient wisdom and cultural narratives. 

• To Introduce Manuscriptology and Textual Criticism.
• To introduce various Manuscript repositories of Kerala
• To make an awareness on the vast manuscript heritage of India.
• To introduce ancient Indian scripts.
• To study Grantha script and old Malayalam script.
• To critically edit unpublished manuscripts.
• To understand students on the future possibility of Manuscript studies.

• Introduction to Manuscriptology, Palaeography and Textual Criticism.
• Introduction to ancient Indian scripts in general.
• Working practice on Grantha and old Malayalam scripts.
• Basics of Manuscriptology viz. writing materials, tools, inks, scribes, scribal errors, conservation and preservation etc..
• Introducing Collation, Emendation and Heuristics and Higher criticism.
• Practical session on critical edition of Manuscripts

• The first phase is to familiarise the scope and importance of Manuscriptology in the current research process and introduce them to various sources of collecting manuscripts viz. Catalogues Catalagorum, New Catalogue Catalagarum, manuscript repositories etc. 
• The second phase is to visit manuscript repositories and manuscript collections. Along with it students will be taught with Grantha and old Malayalam scripts particularly, and ancient Indian scripts generally.
• The third step is the edition of manuscripts using various textual criticism tools. 
• The final stage is to prepare the edited work for publication and dissemination of the text that is newly identified and edited.

• Preservation of ancient knowledge.
• Understanding cultural and historical context.
• Linguistic and philological insights.
• Reconstruction of texts.
• Cataloguing and accessibility.
• Establishing the most authentic text.
• Clarifying meaning and eliminating ambiguities.
• Contextualizing texts with critical apparatus.
• Understanding textual transmission and evolution.