Restoration and conservation of Sāncipāt manuscripts of Assam for preserving in ordinary rural setup

Abstract

Tens of thousands of Sāncipāt manuscripts, written on beautiful folios called Sāncipāt made of Sānci-bark, were popular in Assam from the early medieval period till the early twentieth century and are testimonies of a rich cultural and literary heritage. Baring a small fraction conserved under a passive environment in libraries and museums, most of these manuscripts are traditionally stored under ordinary rural conditions for occasional reading. Properly prepared Sāncipāt can survive centuries due to robust physical strength and resistance against fungus, insects, and humidity. Sāncipāt was traditionally coated with antifungal, insect-repellant, and decorative Hāitāl and Hengul pigments and subsequently coated with humidity-resistant natural varnishing called Lā-coating. However, natural weathering for centuries has caused damage to Sāncipāt manuscripts, particularly those without Hengul-Hāitāl and Lā-coatings. These manuscripts urgently need to be preserved as and where they are adequate since conservation of the huge number of manuscripts in a passive environment is impractical in the rural setup. This paper shows that some chemicals used in the conservation of paper have harmful effects on Sāncipāt, which markedly differ from paper in physical and chemical characteristics. We also propose a method for restoring and conserving Sāncipāt manuscripts based on the traditional method of their preparation without using any such chemicals. This involves mild physical cleaning, mending with fresh Sāncipāt and natural gum, applying antifungal and insect-repellant pigments in the free spaces, and finally applying Lā-coating (varnishing) in the traditional way. Results of a piloting of the method with fourteen manuscripts have been presented.