Shiju and ML wikimedians, splendid effort! Congratulations!!
Cheers,
Vishnu
On Thursday, 29 August 2013, Subhashish Panigrahi <subhashish@cis-india.org> wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> This is a great success to share the effort of Shiju and other
> Malayalam Wikimedians to bring Samkshepa Vedartham, the first
> Malayalam book online. This is a news article which has come on The
> Times of India and copyrighted.[1]
>
> THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: From a college library in Bangalore, a fragile
> copy of the first book printed in Malayalam -- SampkshepaVedartham --
> has made a leap to eternity. Thanks to efforts by
> MalayalamWikipedians, the book printed in 1772 and kept in Dharmaram
> College in Bangalore is now available free on the internet, without
> any copyright restriction.
>
> The scanned copy of 'Sampkshepa Vedartham or Nasranikal Okkeyum
> Ariyendunna Sampkshepa Vedartham' will be a major source of
> information for those interested in the history and development of
> Malayalam script. The book by Italian priest Clement Peanices is in
> the form of Christian religious teaching in question-answer format.
> The first edition of the book was printed using Malayalam types in
> Rome in 1772 and was brought to the state in 1774.
>
> A scanned copy of 'Albhabetum Grandonico Malabaricum', the first book
> to use Malayalam types, is already available for public use. It is
> believed that the Malayalam portion of this Latin book was printed
> using the movable types made to print 'Sampkshepa Vedartham'.
>
> Shiju Alex, an active Wikipedian, had taken the initiative to bring
> out 'Sampkshepa Vedartham' on the internet with the support of other
> members of Malayalam Wikipedia. Ironically, one of the oldest copies
> of the book is housed in the Kerala university library. Though it was
> digitized using the state grant, it is not available for public use.
>
> "Sampkshepa Vedartham was printed almost 241 years ago. The book gives
> insights into the old type of Malayalam numerals. No space is left
> between words. Also signs, such as full stops, are not used between
> sentences," Alex said. He said the scanned copy of the book has been
> uploaded on archives.org, where interested people can read it online
> or download the PDF format. "We have begun steps to upload it in
> Wikipedia commons (an online repository of media files). A digitized
> version will also be available in Malayalam Wikisource," he added.
>
>
> 1. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/thiruvananthapuram/First-book-printed-in-Malayalam-goes-online/articleshow/22125735.cms
>
> --
> Best!
> Subhashish Panigrahi
> Programme Officer, Access To Knowledge
> Centre for Internet and Society
> @psubhashish
>
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