This  is  a  demonstration  of  how  ancient  manuscripts and inscriptions can  be  preserved  and  their contents  disseminated  on  the  Internet  so  that  they  become  readily  accessible  to  scholars anywhere  in  the  world.  The example  presented here 
is of a palm-leaf  manuscript   believed  to  be  about  200 years  old from the collection of manuscripts accumulated over several generations of my family, belonging to a long line of traditional scholars hailing from a village in Tirunelveli District in Tamil Nadu.. The image shown below is the front face of the first of seven palm leaves closely inscribed on both sides in  Grantha,  (an  archaic  script  used  in  South  India). It carries the opening verses  Sarga 131 of the Yuddha Kanda of  the  Valmiki Ramayana. 
 

 

1. It will be seen that the original text in the manuscript is written continuously which makes reading difficult. Word and Line breaks have therefore been inserted in the transcriptions to facilitate easy reading.

2. The above mode of presentation is expected to facilitate critical study by scholars, especially to identify textual errors and  variations ( paQ -ed ). For example, the first word in the first line uses the Grantha equivalent of d  instead of x ;  and the  word mma at the end of the second line in the  original should read mm
 
    I would appeal to all institutions and individuals in possession of
ancient manuscripts or photographs or other accurate reproductions
of ancient inscriptions to adopt this methodology to preserve and
disseminate their valuable content for the benefit of all people around the world.