CHENNAI: The Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute attached to the Sanskrit College in Mylapore is in doldrums because of lack of government patronage.
The institute, one of the three involved in Sanskrit research in the country, has been surviving on private donations. With not enough resources, the management is unable to pay the faculty the benefits of the sixth pay commission.
Institute director V Kameswari said the Union government stopped its financial support in 1995, after which it has been solely dependent on donations. “The institute has a trove of rare palm leaf manuscripts and books not just about Sanskrit literature but also on architecture, fine arts, geography, history and astronomy in Sanskrit ,” says Kameswari
The two other such institutes are R G Bandarkar Sanskrit Institute in Pune and GanganathJha Sanskrit Institute in Allahabad . “We have requested a onetime grant from the Union planning commission and also annual assistance from the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan , but are yet to get any support ,” says K S Balasubramanian , deputy director of the institute . The plan panel had given grants to the Mumbai Asiatic Society and Kolkata-based Asiatic Society.
The institute was getting about 10 lakhtill 1995butdueto a misunderstanding between the government-appointed members of the governing committee and the management , the aid was stopped .Today ,there are 24scholars at the institute , most of them women doing their PhDs. “Scholars from across the country and world visit the institute . We send out publications to many foreign universities and they in turn send their publications which are preserved here ,” says Kameswari .
The institute was started as a private non-profit organization in 1944in memory of Kuppuswami Sastri , a renowned Sanskrit scholar . It has a library with books on astronomy, architecture, fine arts, mathematics, Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads and various branches of science.
“A private entrepreneur made a donation with which we have air conditioned the library. The palm-leaf manuscripts in the library are 600 to 1,000 years old. Many of them are in Grantha script. We also have books on Jainism that speak about solving mathematical equations and explain geographical concepts,” says Kameswari , who is worried about keeping the ancient language alive.
Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.comÂ
An appeal from the Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute :
People also have the option of becoming a life time member of the library, by paying 2000 Indian Rupees and get 8 hard bound books free of cost – including 4 volumes of Mahabashyam of Sage Patanjali (the great vyaakarana treatise) in Sanskrit with English translation,  a text on indian astronomy and mathematics ( sadratnamaalaa by sankaravarman),  encyclopedia of numerals ( volume 1), a critical study of algebra in 16th century india ( biijapallava of krsna daivajna), samkrata and sangitaa and two editions of the journal of oriental research.
For more information kindly contact Sanskrit college, Mylapore, Chennai
I found your site v interesting
can we get some application forms for donating ti Kuppusami research foundation online
wising yr efforts all the best
Happy to know you are interested to donate for the noble cause. But, we are neither appointed by the “Kuppuswamy Sastri Research Institute” to collect nor collecting any donation for the same. Patrons may send their contributions by contacting at the below address
Kuppuswamy Sastri Research Institute,
Sanskrit College,
Mylapore, Chennai. Phone- 044-24985320
Thanks