St. Joseph’s College Irinjalakuda composes ancient wisdom, knowledge, and fun, curating the Script Garden. Lekhitha re-assembles the myriad ancient scripts that read Ee- Dham- Naha-Mama, after the Script Garden’s appellation. The installation of Ezhuthaani- “Narayam”, “Maadhaveeyam”- where the numbers, musical notes, and letters of the alphabet blend abiding by the principles of Kadapayadhi table, the oversized “Rota Pins” of the ancient Roman game Rota, “High Cubes” with mathematical signs, abloomed “Area of circles”, “Earth on letters”, and Kalmandapa- a columned entrance to the Script Garden furnishes the assemblage.

Lekhitha:

Our civilisation bears credit to numerous ancient scripts. Nine ancient scripts including Brahmi, Tamil Brahmi, Devangari, Vattezhuthu, Grantha, kharoshthi, Pallava, Tamil and, Sharada are instated here. All scripts decipher the title of the script garden Ee- dham- naha- mama. Most of the garden area is occupied by Sal Tree. The installations are placed throughout the lawn under the shade. The alphabets to which these letters belong are added at the base of the installation “Narayam”.

Narayam:

Sky’s poetry in the lawn- In Southern India during earlier days, Narayam alias Ezhuthaani was the instrument used for writing. Metallic pens were used to make impressions on palm leaves. A gigantic model of Narayam of twelve feet high is reproduced using brass. Under the model is the alphabets of nine scripts. The inscribed scripts are Brahmi, Devanagari, Kharoshti, Tamil Brahmi, Grantha, Pallava,Tamil and, Sharada. In addition to this, the script garden also showcases numbers and mathematical signs.

Maadhaveeyam:

The Sculpture where the numbers, musical notes, and letters of the alphabet blend abiding by the principles of Kadapayadhi. The sculpture of Madhaveeyam honours Sanghamagrama Madhavan from Irinjalakuda, the renowned mathematician and astrologist. Madhavan has achieved his universal discoveries using the Kadapayadhi letter-number system. Mela-kartha Ragas of Karnatic music is also composed using this Kadapayadhi system. Madhaveeyam which combines script, numerals, astrology, and fine art is a tribute to Sangagrama Maadhavan by this sanctum sanctorum of Saraswati.

Area of Circles:

The area of Circles is an abloomed band of circles bearing earth’s fragrance.  SOUL is the word derived from reading the band of circles together. This word binding the whole of the universal substance is in congruence with this garden that fills the spirit of the campus.

High Cubes:

High cubes are seats in the shape of dice and mathematical signs. These installations are a combination of signs and contemporary art.

Rota Pins:

Rota is an ancient Roman game. It is the primitive form of today’s Tik-Tak. The oversized model of Rota is reproduced to sharpen the visitors’ intelligence.

Letters on Earth:

Letters on Earth is an artistic rendition of earth pulsating on letters. “Earth is contained in the book” is the philosophy behind this creation.

Kalmandapa:

The entrance to the garden echoes the expertise of ancient architecture.  This piece of art is exquisite with lush climbers hanging from the rocky pillars.

The college successfully owns the first-ever garden pursuit for scripts. The script garden is made possible by the degree-level project undertaken by the Malayalam Department with the financial support of UGC regarding the preservation of archives and communication. The driving force behind this project was to make academics and related activities more creative and eco-friendlier. Preservation of archival treasures like stone, palm leaves, tree, paper, etc., ., Digitization, and research are also being executed in the college through “Manuscript Research & Preservation Centre (MRPC)” lab. Manuscript Research & Preservation Centre is a unique laboratory which provides preservation, digitization and complete recovery of physical documents. MRPC handles all kinds of palm leaf documents and paper documents. Complete technical facilities are available for preservation and digitization which includes Ink fixing, aqueous cleaning, solvent cleaning, bleaching, deacidification, encapsulation, repair, lamination and full range of digital preservation.