- Puranas devote quite a sizeable portion of the texts for the description of earth and its evolution (sarga-pratisharga). Puranas devote quite a sizeable portion of the texts for the description of earth and its evolution (sarga-pratisharga). Usually the technique adopted in giving even difficult concepts is by means of a story, symbolic representation or allegorical stories. The present project envisages to bring out such ancient knowledge on evolution of earth, climate changes, changes in earth surface due to passage of time, the concept of deluge (pralaya) etc. with the help of recently known scientific facts. An attempt will also be made to reconstruct the geological history of earth and divide it into geological ages based on Puranic information.

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.

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.