It is a matter of immense pleasure to formally introduce the Department of Ayurveda Manuscriptology as an integral and promising endeavour of the "National Institute of Ayurveda, Deemed to be University, Jaipur"

The institute running since 1976 has continuously been engaged in promoting reforms and developments in the Ayurveda System of Health care at the National and International levels. The Institute is the first of its kind in India having a national character and international reputation. The institute has NAAC, NABH, NABL Accreditation, and Deemed University Status is an added feather to the glory of works taken in the institute.

National Institute of Ayurveda 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.), Inter-disciplinary M.Sc., Diploma, and Certificate levels.

National Institute of Ayurveda is the pioneer in establishing a Manuscript Unit in 2016 and since then, is continuously collecting, digitizing, preserving, and editing the manuscript treasure of Ayurveda.

The University is functioning under the guidance of the Ministry of AYUSH and is taking every step in implementing all the guidelines from the Govt. of India. As a part of the same, Interdisciplinary Education and Evidence-based Research are being emphasized. M.Sc. in Ayurveda Manuscriptology is the first of its kind which is being launched as an interdisciplinary course from this session. Recognizing the efforts of the unit and to strengthen the field, NIA was declared as Nodal Agency for Ayurveda Manuscriptology by the Ministry of AYUSH, Govt. of India in December 2020.

Since then, the Nodal Agency is working on various levels to achieve the mandates of the Ministry of AYUSH such as Mapping, Collection, Digitization, Preservation, Collation, Editing, and Publication of Manuscripts and Rare Ayurveda books from personal and institutional belongings of both Govt. and Private Sector.

Till date, Nodal Agency has communicated more than 500 Institutes and Research Centres regarding its mandates and requested them to provide with any available data or catalogue of manuscripts. 10 major libraries of India have been visited and more than 200 manuscripts collected from 6 institutions. Apart from digitizing the collected manuscripts, more than 250 rare books of ayurveda whose publication is not active at present are also digitized. Major organizations and institutes have approached Nodal Agency with the Letter of Intent and 2 MoUs are already signed.

An exclusive post graduate 2 year Interdisciplinary Course "M.Sc. in Ayurveda Manuscriptology" is to be launched and its syllabus and ordinance have been approved. To create awareness among the research scholars, hands on training Workshop and Lecture Series are being conducted on every month so as to increase the manpower to work in Ayurveda Manuscriptology. Talks are on with InternationalAyurveda Fraternity such as Srilanka, Bangladesh and Nepal for Cooperation in works related to Ayurveda Manuscripts and MoU. Three major works of Ayurveda Literature on Caraka Samhita & Cakradutta are on the verge of publication and soon will be available in the public domain.

The Portal of Ayurveda Manuscriptology is the need of the hour and we are proud to launch the same on the auspicious occasion of Ayurveda Day-2021. The Portal will be able to cater the needs of Ayurveda Scholars and Sanskrit experts across the globe who wish to work on fundamentals of Ayurveda through Literary Research. Apart from a library with access to the digitized Ayurveda manuscripts and rare books, the scholars can take academic and technical guidance from Nodal Agency through Collaboration and Coordination. Scholars across the nation can take part in various activities such as Workshops, Seminars, Symposiums, Certificate Courses and so on through the events of the Nodal Agency in the portal. All the published works of Nodal Agency can be accessed through the portal. Any suggestions from the community will be considered to make the portal user friendly and effective so as to achieve its ultimate goal.

National Institute of Ayurveda welcomes all the research scholars across the globe who wish to join hands in conserving our literature through evidence-based research. It will continue to strive hard in bringing new information by exploration of the ocean of knowledge available in the unpublished manuscripts and also may bring about a change in the academic curriculum by giving suggestions to the governing body. The hidden clinical treasure is a direct boon to the public who are already enjoying the benefits of Ayurveda through the promotion of health as well as getting treated when ill.

I am also confident that, in the days to come, many more scholars will be willing to work in the field of Ayurveda Manuscriptology.