Madras HC seeks state govt's response for translation of ancient manuscripts

MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday has sought a response from the State government to a PIL seeking the appointment of an expert to translate the remaining Modi-script manuscripts preserved at the Saraswathi Mahal Library in Thanjavur.

Jeevakumar of Budalur in Thanjavur district filed the PIL seeking a direction to appoint a qualified person with expertise in the Modi script to translate the remaining bundles of manuscripts preserved at the library.

In his petition, he said that the special Modi script was used for writing during the Maratha period. Though some documents written in the script were translated between 1970 and 1978, several documents were not translated.

He submitted that translation of the documents would reveal details about the history and economy of Thanjavur.

Hearing the petition, a division bench comprising Justices CV Karthikeyan and Sakthivel directed the Principal Secretaries of the School Education, Archaeology and Information Technology departments to file their responses and adjourned the case.