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-print…
--
Best!
Subhashish Panigrahi
Programme Officer, Access To Knowledge
Centre for Internet and Society
@psubhashish