xxxviii
role in the Gundert-centenary celebrations. The delegates to the
conference from Kerala, comprising academicians, artists and
journalists visited the university library to inspect the many objects
of Gunder's legacy. Prof Scaria Zacharia, who has spent considerable
time studying the Malayalam manuscript collection in Tuebingen,
hopes to edit this vast source of Kerala history in the near future.
As an after-effect of Gunder's earlier legacy to the library his heirs
recently presented the library with 16 further Malayalam palm-leaf
manuscripts which had been lying with them for the past 100 years.
Presently the University Library has approximately 85
Malayalam manuscripts, mostly on palm leaf. Since 1970 the
collecting of Malayalam monographs has been systematically pursued.
At present it is only possible to estimate the number available which
may be about 1500 to 2000 volumes including, of course, secondary
literature on Malayalam and Kerala. Our patternwork of regional
booksellers on the south Asian subcontinent exists also in South
India and these booksellers/publishers guarantee us a regular
supply of literature in and on Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu
and Brahui. Literature is also avaialable in our collection in and on
Dravidian dialects like Tulu, Kurukh, etc.
On the academic side Prof Scaria Zacharia is continuing his
research work on the Tuebingen collection. He has introduced most
of the rare and valuable materials available in this collection through
the critical studies which have appeared as introductions in every
volume of the Hermann-Gundert series published in Kerala. Now he
is editing further valuable manuscripts of the Tuebingen collection
and proposes to publish them as part of a series entitled 'Tuebingen
University Malayalam Manuscript Series'. Prof Scaria Zacharia was
fortunate to have been a recipient of both an Alexander-von-
Humboldt stipend as well as of the DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer
Austauschdienst) in order to pursue his research here. We are also
happy to note that the academic community in Kerala is supporting
this venture. All over the world such academic publications have
become a financial risk for the publishers. In spite of that, however,
the Kerala Study Centre in St Berchmans' College, Changanassery,
and D.C. Books, a leading publisher of Malayalam literature in
Kerala, have taken the bold decision to publish this new series. We
are aware that the 'Payyannu pattu' in our collection is a very rare
