Modern India is experiencing an unusual and synergetic blend of the traditional and the modern in both domestic as well as in the international arena. On one hand, Indian Information Technology is being hailed as a power to reckon with, and on the other, the traditional Indian knowledge systems like Ayurveda, Yoga, etc. are beginning to be applied seriously around the world. For example, in the last few decades, there has been a wide acceptance of Yoga in western nations, with more and more people from all over the world flocking to India to get the Yogic solution to their health problems. Demand for remedies through Ayurveda is as high as ever, and several people are involved in bringing together the resources required to offer solutions to people. As a result of this scenario, there has been a renewed interest in various aspects of Indian History. This includes the authentic history of Indian polity, Indian sociology, Indian philosophy, Indian medicine, Indian fine arts, Indian martial arts, Indian art and culture, Indian performing arts and so on.

The Present problem and the envisaged solution:

Though the number of persons studying and conducting research in the traditional fields has increased manifold, there has not been a matching increase to facilitate learning and research in this field. There are several reasons for this. However, at the heart of this lies the lack of availability of resources. The understanding or preservation of all traditional knowledge systems revolves around the understanding of history. Over the decades, several hundreds of books have been published concerning history, that give a better understanding of the subject. Experts in the field have resorted to specialisation in order to do justice to research in the subject, leading to a proliferation of fields and sub-fields within each aspect of Indian history (such as Indian astronomy from 500 CE to 1250 CE). Despite this, it is difficult to grasp the sheer amount of information contained across these books, and this fact has been a handicap to scholars, researchers and enthusiasts alike.

 

One is not assured of obtaining the relevant information even after travelling throughout the country since the books located in each place are not always known beforehand and may change with time; nor is the effort of travel commensurate to the results gained from it. Information scattered in several places, in such a way, has become a major problem for research.

As the first step to overcome this acute and critical problem, the current project brings out a comprehensive, classified, electronic master descriptive catalogue of and books and select manuscripts relating to various aspects of Indian history that include authentic history of Indian polity, Indian sociology, Indian philosophy, Indian medicine, Indian fine arts, Indian martial arts, Indian art and culture, Indian performing arts and so on. This electronic master descriptive catalogue not only contains information about numerous works of History, authored in English and other regional languages of India, but also acts as a digital repository of more than 750 such books that have published over the last 200 years or so.

This catalogue and the associated digital repository of books is intended to facilitate scholars, researchers and students in their respective fields and promote research in the study of history of the Indian Knowledge Traditions as a whole.

It can be accessed online at :www.history.in