How to Navigate

For ease of navigation, the archive is currently organised under three broader themes: practice, language, and material. These are not exclusive categories. For instance, a Tamil encuvati palm-leaf manuscript would be found under each of Tamil, palm leaf, and pedagogical practice. We have also used Language as a proxy for cultural contexts. So when we bin a oil measuring instrument under Tamil, we mean to say that the particular instrument was used predominantly by Tamil speaking people.

Furthermore, these categories are neither exhaustive nor meant to mark any rigid boundaries. Confining knowledge and practices within linguistic or geographical limits is counterproductive and does not reflect our lived realities. Language along administrative state boundaries, for instance, offers a simple example of this fluidity. Knowledge is always in motion--moving, adapting, and evolving as people, objects, and practices interact. Therefore, finding parallels across seemingly different traditions and cultures should not be surprising. The questions for us, then, are not about where something was first conceived or emerged, but about how practitioners moved, exchanged ideas, and what consequences these interactions had for the general public, particularly the labouring class.

We encourage visitors to use the inbuilt search facility to look for materials relating to specific keywords.