Asiatic Society ties up with IIT-Kharagpur to breathe new life into fragile manuscripts
Times of India | 19 December 2025
Kolkata: In the Museum of the Asiatic Society on Thursday, centuries-old manuscripts—many too fragile to be touched—found hope of a new lease of life through cutting-edge technology. The Society conceived this pioneering initiative to preserve its brittle and deteriorating manuscript collection by creating exact replicas using multispectral imaging, a technique more commonly associated with advanced scientific and space research.
The demonstration was conducted by professors Saumik Bhattacharya and Debasish Sen from the Vision and Intelligence Systems wing of IIT Kharagpur, who showcased how multispectral cameras can capture details invisible to the naked eye and help recreate manuscripts with astonishing accuracy. Lt Col Anant Sinha, administrator of the Asiatic Society, said the initiative marked a crucial shift in conservation strategy. "The aim is to create faithful reproductions of rare and deteriorating manuscripts so that scholars can study them without repeatedly handling the originals," he said. "Multispectral imaging allows us to recover faded texts, illustrations, and material details that conventional photography or scanned images simply cannot capture."
The Asiatic Society houses one of the country's most important collections of manuscripts, many written on palm leaf or handmade paper using natural pigments derived from stones, oxides, and vegetables. Despite decades of careful conservation, age and environmental factors have taken a toll. "These manuscripts are becoming increasingly brittle. After a point, even the best preservation methods cannot stop natural decay," Bhattacharya explained. "That is why it is critical to produce exact clones—using the same materials, pigments, and substrates as the originals."
Unlike standard cameras that record images in just three colour channels—red, green, and blue—multispectral cameras capture data across multiple, narrowly defined wavelength bands, including near-infrared light that the human eye cannot see. Each pigment and material reflects and absorbs light differently, creating a unique spectral signature. By analysing these signatures, researchers can identify the precise composition of inks, pigments, and writing surfaces, said Sen. "This allows us not only to replicate how a manuscript looks, but also what it is made of," Sen said. "We can reproduce brush strokes, pigment density, and even the frequency of strokes. Once the replica is complete, there is virtually no visible difference between the original and the clone."
The process involves capturing multiple monochromatic images at different wavelengths, digitally aligning them, and then using computational algorithms—often supported by machine learning—to reconstruct the full spectral profile of every pixel. This data is then used to recreate the manuscript using original or historically accurate materials. The professors revealed that their team has already successfully produced exact replicas of several ancient paintings and manuscripts, though sourcing the original pigments has been a challenge. "Finding the right stones, oxides, and vegetable dyes takes time, but accuracy is non-negotiable," Bhattacharya said.
Beyond preservation, the initiative is expected to transform access to rare texts. High-fidelity replicas can be shared with researchers in India and abroad, while the original manuscripts remain safely stored. For historians, philologists, and art conservators, the technology also opens new possibilities—such as reading erased or overwritten texts and identifying later alterations. As the Asiatic Society moves to scale up the project, the initiative stands as a rare confluence of heritage and high technology, ensuring that invaluable knowledge systems survive not just as records, but as living, study-ready artefacts for generations to come.