Bhubaneswar: Dr Subrat Kumar Acharya, eminent scholar of Indian epigraphy and paleography, stressed on the need for focusing on text editing as the country had a vast treasure of ancient texts.
Dr Acharya, chief guest at the inaugural function of a workshop on Text Editing at the SOA Deemed to be University, said India’s literary tradition, particularly the Sanskrit epics, needed to be explored as barely 20 per cent of the available texts had been edited till now and the rest is yet to be explored.
“Researchers are also not evincing interest in text editing because it is a difficult task and no university was also focusing on this aspect though Odisha has plenty of ancient literature,” Dr Acharya said on Friday.
He said when European historians set foot in India, they were under the impression that the country did not have a history or any culture. “The first historians on India were imperial historians who chronicled what they knew in the 18th and early 19th century,” Dr Acharya said.
Philologist Sir William Jones, who set up the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784, set the ball rolling by collecting ancient texts and inscriptions. He was joined by researcher Charles Wilkins. They took the help of local pundits to delve into the texts.
“By 1808, the duo rendered Kalidasa’s Shakuntala into English and introduced the richness of Sanskrit to the Anglo-Indian literature. Gradually, the Britishers realised that India had a rich literary tradition,” Dr Acharya said.
Forty-one researchers are attending the weeklong workshop, which has been organised by the SOA Centre for Propagation, Preservation and Restoration of Ancient Culture and Heritage of India (PPRACHIN).
Four PPRACHIN experts in the domain — Prof. Jagannath Das, Prof. Gouranga Charan Das, Prof. Pradipta Kumar Panda and Prof. Santosh Kumar Ratha – will be imparting training to the researchers.
Head of PPRACHIN Prof. Gayatribala Panda outlined the objective of the workshop.
