The KSRI has a well-maintained collection of hundreds of ancient palm-leaf and papers manuscript. However, for want of resources we have not been able to prepare a Descriptive Catalogue and also digitize the manuscripts. Once this is done and hosted on the web-site, scholars from across the globe can have easy access to them. The manuscripts are in different scripts like Grantha, Devanagari, Tigalari, Malayalam and Tamil. Some of them are of historical value too. We need at least one scholar well versed in deciphering the scripts and prepare a Descriptive Catalogue.

A comparitive study of facts found in Valmiki Ramayana with the present day scientific and geographical theories.

This is a Mahakavya which throws much light on the empire of Vikramaditya and Salivahanaera.This is being critically edited for the first time

CRITICAL EDITION OF VIVEKAMĀRTĀṆḌA, YOGABĪJA AND YOGASŪTRA ABOUT THE WORKS: 1. VIVEKAMĀRTĀṆḌA: Vivekamārtāṇḍā is an excellent text on Yoga consisting of more than 600 verses divided into 6 prabodhas. The Author of the text is Viśrūpadeva. It has been published with 3 available manuscripts by K.Sambasiva Sastri under Trivandrum Sanskrit Series 119. But there are lacunae in this edition which need to be filled in with other manuscripts available at GOML Chennai, Adyar, Bhikaner, Baroda and Lonavla. The text deals with many aspects of Yoga including Haṭha Yoga, Nātha Yoga, Kuṇḍalinī Yoga, Rāja Yoga, Chāyāpuruṣa lakṣaṇam, Svara Śāstra, philosophy etc. The text contains many verses which are similar to Gorakṣa Samhitā. A critical edition with study of this text will be a great contribution in the field of Yoga. 2. YOGABĪJA: Yogabīja is an ancient popular Yoga text attributed to Gorakṣanātha available in Adyar Library and Research Centre, Chennai, Allahabad, Baroda, Govt. Oriental Manuscripts Library, Chennai, Jodhpur, Lonavala, Mysore, Udaipur, Kanpur and Mangalore which speaks about the popularity of this text. The text is quoted, to name a few, by Brahmānaṇḍa in his commentary on Haṭhayogapradīpikā by Sundaradeva in his Haṭhasaṅketacandrikā and by Śivānanda Sarasvatī in his Yogacintāmaṇī. There is one published text available, edited and translated by Dr. Brahma Mitra Awasthi, which is replete with errors. Yogabīja is an ancient text and had been a source of inspiration for many later Yogic texts. It is really an astonishing fact that with as little as two hundred and one verses, YB has been able to counter jñāna and expound in brief the principles of Yogic concepts in a fluent literary style embellished with similes and metaphors and at the same time ensuring that the intricate philosophical content is articulated in a lucid manner. 3. YOGASŪTRA This Yogasūtra is a different text from the traditional Yogasūtra of Patañjali. The whole text was dictated by a blind Pandit, Dhanraj and was written by Sri Bhagvan Das in 1910 at Benares. This is divided into four chapters containing 125,107, 130 and 139 sūtras respectively. But the colophon says, पातञ्जलीये योगसूत्रे चतुर्थोऽध्यायः । This manuscript also contains a brief autobiography of the author. This is available only in Adyar Library, Chennai.

Gold, precious metals and gems have always attracted the people. The very first mantra of R̥gveda refers to Agni and extols the god as “Ratnadhātman”. There are innumerable reference to gems in the Vedas, Upaniṣads, Itihāsas, Purāṇas and classical literature. Individual texts like Ratnapradīpa, Ratna Parīkṣā and others were also written on this subject. There are separate chapters which deal with gemology in Arthaśāstra of Kauṭilya, Br̥hatsamhitā of Varāhamihira, Garuḍa Purāṇa, Skanda Purāṇa, Agni Purāṇa, Abhilaṣitārtha Cintāmaṇi (also known as Mānasollāsa) of Someśvara and other texts. A compendium of ‘nine gems’ gleaned from such important texts would be of great help to scholars and others who deal with jewels. An attempt is made here to present the salient features of different gems for the benefit of all.

A survey of the descriptive catalogues of many institutions, universities and other academic bodies reveals that hundreds of texts on Yoga still remain unpublished. A descriptive catalogue of such manuscripts of Yoga kept in various libraries in India and abroad will certainly be of great help to the scholars and practitioners of Yoga throughout the world to know how various Yogic practices have evolved over a period of thousands of years. These manuscripts are the store-house of wisdom left behind by the great men of our country for the benefit of the human kind. The details of all these manuscripts can be stored in computers and made available to all through web sites. This is Yogaksema: Aprapta.sya praptihy yogah, praptasya parirakshanam kshemah.

Editing & Publishing of Manuscripts Project

The Institute has been organizing many seminars / conferences on various important themes of historical and practical value. The papers presented by leading scholars in these fields would be published in one volume which would be a source of useful information to scholars on religion, especially Vaishnavism.

The institute has published many articles on various aspects of theory and practice of Buddhism in its Journal of Oriental Research from its inception.Some of them would be collected and presented as a separate book 'Some aspects of Buddhist Studies" by the Institute.

These are ancient original Sanskrit texts which give valuable information about temple architecture, rituals, installation of various deities, Yogic practices etc. These are still followed in many temples in India. The Institute possesses rare hand written copies of these two agama texts, each 300 pages long, with scribal errors which may have to be edited.

Ancient texts and polity, Dharma Sastra, Vastu Sastra (Architecture) and Śipla Śāstra ( Iconography) and other subjects describe various cities with mansions, gardens, water bodies etc. This book gives an idea of the great planning involved in building a cities, villages, towns and other such information.

There are 20 minor Upanishads dealing on various precepts and practices of Yoga. They have been collected and published as "Yoga Upanishads' by the Adyar Library Research Centre more than fifty years ago and separate translation in English has also been published. However there are many errors in the original texts and subsequently in the translation as well. KSRI published three such Yoga Upanishads with correct "readings' in original Sanskrit with Roman transliteration, English translation, and Notes. We would like to publish the rest of seventeen texts.

India's contribution to the field of architecture is unmatched. There are thousands of historical monuments / palaces/ temples which have withstood various challenges, both man-made and natural phenomena for hundreds of years. Mnasra is an ancient text, more than 1000 years old that treats architecture in various aspects.

The book Saddarsanasamuccaya of Jinabhadrasuri has been prescribed as text in some Indian universities for the post-graduate degree in philosophy/Sanskrit. Unfortunately no English translation is available for this book. The Institute comes forward to help the students and scholars, especially in the field of Jainology by bringing out a readable English translation for this work.