The new IAS campus at Chemmancherry

View of the IAS campus from the west

Institute of Asian Studies, Chennai

The IAS saw its modest beginning in 1982 at Tiruvanmiyur, a spiritual centre hallowed in the ancient literary and cultural traditions of Asia. Since then it has grown to become one of India's premier indological research and publication institutes.

The Cankam poems glorifying heroic deeds had a counterpart in the Kojiki anthology of Japan. The manyosu of that country echoed sentiments found in the love verses of the Cankam period. Institute of Asian Studies and include in its programme of work a comparative study of literature in addition to purely literary studies. It was evident to them that the interaction between the culture of South India and that of East Asian nations had contributed a great deal to the cohesion that characterizes the Asian ethos. The Institute of Asian Studies was conceived with the objective of strengthening the cultural ties between India and other nations of Asian.

The IAS logo symbolically representing the synthesis of two distinct cultures, the Indian and the Japanese is depicted by a traditional South Indian lamp along with of Japanese percussion instrument very similar to the Indian uTukkai drum (a small drum tapering in the middle). The sailing ship at centre represents the free exchange of ideas between geographically distinct cultures of Asia.

The main object of this Workshop is to give intensive training to our participants in preservation, conservation, deciphering, editing, digitising and publication of the rare palm-leaf manuscripts.

They will be given good training in the study of scripts (paleography) and other academic areas related to Manuscriptology. There shall be four or five classes per day starting from 10 am to 5 pm with a lunch break for one hour.

The participants will be provided breakfast, tea and lunch free of cost along with reasonable accommodation facilities for outsiders.

Interested persons can apply with their Curriculum Vitae either by surface mail or by e-mail to the

The Director
Institute of Asian Studies
Chemmancherry, Sholinganallur Post
Chennai – 600 119
Tamilnadu, India

Phone : (91) 44 – 24501851, 24500831, 24502212
Cell : (0) 98405 26834
Fax : (91) 44 – 2450 1851
Email : ias@xlweb.com
Website : http://xlweb.com/heritage/asian