The National Institute of Ayurveda was established on 7th February 1976 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. The Institute, an Autonomous Body under Department of AYUSH, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India, is registered under the Rajasthan Societies Registration Act, 1958.The Institute is first of its

kind in India having a national character and international repute with the following Aims and Objectives:

1. To promote the Growth and Development of Ayurveda.
2. To produce Graduates and Post-Graduates in all Branches of Ayurveda.
3. To provide Medical Care through Ayurveda Systems of Medicine to the suffering humanity.
4. To provide Medical Care through Ayurveda Systems of Medicine to the suffering humanity.
5. To provide and assist in providing service and facilities of highest order for Research, Evolution, Training, Consultation and Guidance to Ayurveda System of Medicine.
6. To conduct Experiments and develop Patterns of Teaching Under-Graduate and Post-Graduate Education in all branches of Ayurveda.

An independent Ayurveda College was established in August 1946 by the Government of Rajasthan and this College was merged to form National Institute of Ayurveda known as NIA on 7th February 1976. This was one of the very few Ayurveda Colleges in the country to introduce Post-Graduate Education in Ayurveda as early as in 1970.

After its establishment in 1976, the Institute has grown tremendously in the field of Teaching, Training, Research, Patient Care etc., as a result of which it has now 14 Specialties for Post-Graduate Education as well as Regular Fellowship Program leading to Ph.D. Apart from this there is also Under Graduate course (BAMS), Diploma Course in AYUSH Nursing & Pharmacy and various other certificate courses. Interdisciplinary M.Sc. courses are to be launched from this academic session in 6 departments.

NIA has a 280 bedded NABH accredited hospital which caters to around 3 lakhs around 1200- 1500 patients visit NIA OPDs per day. The hospital is equipped with a modern well equipped Pathology Laboratory running in PPP mode. The institute is equipped with modern research instruments for drug standardization and research.

Since its existence, it has continuously been engaged in promoting reforms and developments in Ayurveda System of Health care at National and International level. NIA has made a name of excellence in teaching, training and patient care activities and incomparable academic standards in the field of Ayurveda at Graduation, Post-Graduation, Fellowship (Ph.D.) Diploma and Certificate levels.

NIA recently got accredited with the NAAC and Deemed University Status (De Novo) which are the added feather to its glory.

National Institute of Ayurveda, the prime apex institute of Ayurveda, is known for its long generous classical tradition. It might give proper direction to Ayurveda manuscriptology by utilizing its huge academic resources and can only be able to explore those hidden treasures to the rest of the world for the benefit of the mankind. Hence the study of Ayurveda manuscript should be continued and must be encouraged in the institute to improve the qualities of Ayurveda scholars in this field.

The AYUSH system of medicine and treatment is gaining immense popularity across the globe. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has given an opportunity to strengthen the user base of ayurveda across the globe. The credits behind the effort to mainstream AYUSH system of medicine go to the leadership of the Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India. The researchers from all streams of medicine are not only interested in the established Ayurveda principles, but also are focusing on unexplored principles of ayurveda. Thus, it can be considered as the ideal time to recognize the importance of Ayurveda manuscriptology and work towards the development of manuscript unit. Access to the information available in the unpublished manuscripts will only strengthen the global demand of Ayurveda.

The Manuscript Unit of institute have been established in 2016. Since then the unit has started digitization of rare Manuscripts and rare books. The unit has started mapping of Ayurveda manuscripts in various states of India especially in Rajasthan, West Bengal etc. In initial phase focus was laid on identifying and collecting the scattered Ayurveda Manuscripts and old rare books collection of personal belonging. In this regards the unit has collected original copy of more than 50 valuable Ayurveda manuscripts of 1200 pages and also has copy of 315 Ayurveda Manuscripts of about 2300 pages from various parts of India. The unit has also collected more than 250 old and rare Ayurveda books of various Vaidya families and traditions. Subsequently identifying and mapping of private libraries having collection of Ayurveda manuscripts and old rare Ayurveda books have also been started by the unit. More than 30 private libraries of Rajasthan and 45 of West Bengal have been searched out and mapping process is going on.

The unit has all required up-to-date infrastructure and instruments for digitization & other works and has technical expertise in this regards.

Beside these the unit has doing the following job to enrich the ayurveda wisdom.

1. Digitize 260 rare old books.
2. Digitalize, scanned, typed and edited rare manuscripts like Charaka Nyasa, the oldest (of 6th Century AD) & unpublished Commentary of Charaka Samhita of Acharya Bhattar Harichandra and Charaka Panjika, the 2ndoldest (of 7th Century AD) & unpublished Commentary of Charakasamhita of Acharya Swamikumar (in verge to publish).
3. Digitalize, scanned, typed, collate, compare the reading with the published one with other available manuscripts and edited rare manuscripts like Charaka Pradipika, one of the important Commentary of Charaka Samhita written in early 20th century by Acharya Jyotish Chandra Swaraswati(in verge to publish).
4. Digitalize, scanned, typed, collate, compare the reading with the published one and edited rare books like Ratnaprabha of NishchalKar and Tattvachadrika commentary of Shivdas Sen on Chakra Dutta (in verge to publish).

1. Digitize 260 rare old books.
2. The unit have MOU with Vrindavansodha Sansthan, Vrindavan (U.P.) 2018.
3. The unit going to do the MOU with CCRAS, New Delhi to share mutually manuscript data and expertise.
4. The Unit has contacted 6 manuscript libraries in Rajasthan and 5 Manuscripts libraries of West Bengal. The unit is on the verge of doing MOU for sharing the copy of Ayurveda Manuscripts for research purpose.
5. Ten sources of personal belongings (of Ayurveda Manuscripts) have agreed to give photocopy of all Ayurveda manuscripts of their collections to the unit.
6. Started cataloguing and digitizing of Manuscripts of personal belongings in Jaipur.

Lack of a central nodal agency in the field of Ayurveda manuscripts makes it even difficult to maintain the database and uniform policy. Thus, it is the need of the hour to identify a nodal manuscript unit of Ayurveda and take responsibility in forming the policies regarding the Ayurveda manuscriptology throughout India and in collaboration with other countries through MOUs.

1. Exploration of manuscripts will add on to the already existing knowledge in various Samhita.
2. It will also explore various clinical research and works conducted byscholars of different eras and documented as manuscripts.
3. It will help in bridging the gap between authors of various timeperiods.
4. It may help in clarifying many established principles which aredifficult to understand and apply in applied medicine.
5. Access to the information will help the research personnel in exploring more of literary research.
6. It will promote various institutions in opening up manuscript units and thereby improve the job opportunities to authentic Ayurveda research scholars.
7. Improvement in the clinical medicine through the information explored will help the society at ground level.