Survey, Preservation and Digitisation of Palm-leaf Manuscripts (lontar) in Private Collections of Bali and Lombok. (EAP1241)

The main outcome of this project has been the digitization and cataloguing of about 100 lontar manuscripts of the private collection of Balinese man of letters Ida Dewa Gede Catra, which until 2021 were stored in the premises of the Museum Pustaka Lontar Dukuh Penaban (Karangasem, East Bali, Indonesia). The project has also surveyed 9 private collections of manuscripts in Bali and 5 collections in Lombok, gathering information about the extent, history, and state of the material, and putting into effect basic conservation interventions on the manuscripts. 29 manuscripts from the Balinese collections and 7 manuscripts from the collections in Lombok were digitised and catalogued. A significant achievement of the project has been in the domain of knowledge-transfer, through the training of a team in Bali that is now able to work independently on the digitisation, identification, preservation, cataloguing, and permanent digital storage and retrieval of palm-leaf lontar manuscripts. Equally importantly, this project has contributed to raise the awareness among the owner of manuscripts as well as the general population in Bali and Lombok about the importance of this fragile heritage that forms an important part of the literary and cultural life of Bali and Lombok, and about the need to not only preserve it, but also make it more accessible to interested parties both locally, nationally, and worldwide.

Hasil utama dari proyek ini adalah digitalisasi dan katalogisasi sekitar 100 naskah lontar dari koleksi pribadi Ida Dewa Gede Catra, yang hingga tahun 2021 disimpan di lokasi Museum Pustaka Lontar Dukuh Penaban (Karangasem, Bali Timur, Indonesia). Proyek ini juga telah mensurvei 9 koleksi pribadi manuskrip di Bali dan 5 koleksi di Lombok, mengumpulkan informasi tentang luas, sejarah, dan keadaan naskah, dan menerapkan intervensi konservasi dasar pada naskah tersebut. 29 naskah dari koleksi Bali dan 7 naskah dari koleksi di Lombok didigitalkan dan dikatalogkan. Pencapaian yang signifikan dari proyek ini adalah dalam domain transfer pengetahuan, melalui pelatihan tim di Bali yang sekarang dapat bekerja secara independen pada digitalisasi, identifikasi, pelestarian, katalogisasi, dan penyimpanan dan pengambilan digital permanen naskahclontar. Yang tak kalah penting, proyek ini telah berkontribusi untuk meningkatkan kesadaran di antara pemilik manuskrip serta masyarakat umum di Bali dan Lombok tentang pentingnya warisan rapuh ini yang membentuk bagian penting dari kehidupan sastra dan budaya Bali dan Lombok, dan tentang perlunya tidak hanya melestarikannya, tetapi juga membuatnya lebih mudah diakses oleh pihak-pihak yang berkepentingan baik secara lokal, nasional, maupun di seluruh dunia.

The records copied by this project have been catalogued as:

• EAP1241/1 Manuscripts belonging to the private collection of Ida Dewa Gede Catra ‎ (1800-2022)
• EAP1241/2 Manuscripts belonging to the private collection of Drena in Selat Bangli ‎ (1900-2022)
• EAP1241/3 Manuscripts belonging to the private collection of the family of the Griya Darma Manuaba ‎ (20th century)
• EAP1241/4 Manuscripts belonging to the private collection of Dewa Putu Semara Yana ‎ (20th century)
• EAP1241/5 Manuscripts belonging to the private collection of Ida Pedanda Gede Oka Kemenuh ‎ (20th century)
• EAP1241/6 Manuscripts belonging to the private collection of Ida Bagus Heri Juniawan ‎ (18th century-20th century)
• EAP1241/7 Manuscripts belonging to the private collection of Jro Mangku Made Sura Arthayana ‎ (20th century)
• EAP1241/8 Manuscripts belonging to the private collection of the priestess Sang Mpu Istri Pramodawarddhanī ‎ (20th century)
• EAP1241/9 Manuscripts belonging to the private collection of the family of Jero Tengah ‎ (20th century)
• EAP1241/10 Manuscripts belonging to the private collection of I Wayan Gede Suryakusuma ‎ (20th century)

The following survey was produced as part of the project outputs.