இந்திய அறிவு மரபு (Indian Knowledge Systems - IKS) மற்றும் தமிழ் இலக்கியங்கள்: Viksit Bharat 2047 நோக்கிலான ஆய்வுகள்

Digital Humanities and Tamil Language Resources: AI, OCR, and Digitization of Inscriptions and Palm-Leaf Manuscripts

Authors

  • Dr A.Mohanraj Associate professor in Tamil, Nandha Arts and Science College (Autonomous), Erode -638052 Author
  • Dr D Mahalingam Head, Department of library & information science, Nandha Arts And Science College.(Autonomous) ERODE-52 Author
  • Dr.V.C.Srinivasan Administrative Officer, Nandha Arts and Science College (Autonomous), Erode. Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.63300/tm12022026.45

Keywords:

Digital Humanities, Tamil Language Resources, AI, OCR, Inscriptions, Palm-leaf Manuscripts, Digitization, Natural Language Processing

Abstract

This paper explores the application of Digital Humanities technologies—including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Optical Character Recognition (OCR), and Natural Language Processing (NLP)—to preserve and digitize over two millennia of Tamil linguistic heritage currently threatened by physical decay. It examines the technical challenges of parsing ancient script variations and damaged physical artifacts like palm-leaf manuscripts and stone inscriptions, while evaluating modern computational tools and Tamil-specific Large Language Models (such as Tamil-LLaMA and AI4Tamil). Ultimately, the study highlights how integrating AI-driven workflows safeguards invaluable historical knowledge, advances computational Tamilology, and makes Tamil intellectual heritage globally accessible.

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Author Biographies

  • Dr A.Mohanraj, Associate professor in Tamil, Nandha Arts and Science College (Autonomous), Erode -638052

    முனைவர் அ.மோகன்ராஜ், இணைப்பேராசிரியர், தமிழ்த்துறை, நந்தா கலை மற்றும் அறிவியல் கல்லூரி (தன்னாட்சி), ஈரோடு -638052

    Dr A.Mohanraj*, Associate professor in Tamil, Nandha Arts and Science College (Autonomous), Erode -638052

    *Corresponding Author Email: drmohanraj1975@gmail.com.

  • Dr D Mahalingam, Head, Department of library & information science, Nandha Arts And Science College.(Autonomous) ERODE-52

    முனைவர் த.மகாலிங்கம், துறைத் தலைவர், நூலகம் மற்றும் தகவல் அறிவியல் துறை, நந்தா கலை மற்றும் அறிவியல் கல்லூரி (தன்னாட்சி), ஈரோடு 52.

    Dr D Mahalingam, Head, Department of library & information science, Nandha Arts And Science College.(Autonomous) Erode-52

    Email id : nasc.library@gmail.com, Orchid Id : https://orcid.org/0009-0001-3733-9046

  • Dr.V.C.Srinivasan, Administrative Officer, Nandha Arts and Science College (Autonomous), Erode.

    முனைவர் வி.சி.சீனிவாசன், நிர்வாக அதிகாரி, நந்தா கலை மற்றும் அறிவியல் கல்லூரி (தன்னாட்சி), ஈரோடு.

    Dr.V.C.SrinivasanAdministrative Officer, Nandha Arts and Science College (Autonomous), Erode.

    Email: srivc2345@gmail.com, Orcid Id:  https://orcid.org/0009-0008-9926-7982.

References

[1.] Balachandran, K. (2023). Tamil palm-leaf manuscripts: Digitization and preservation. Journal of Tamil Studies, 45(2), 67-89.

[2.] Chakravarthi, B. R., et al. (2022). DravidianCodeMix: A corpus for code-mixed Dravidian languages. Proceedings of the 2022 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing, 1234-1245.

[3.] Doddapaneni, S., et al. (2023). IndicNLP: A comprehensive NLP dataset for Indian languages. Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics, 11, 456-472.

[4.] Ganesan, R., & Krishnamurthy, S. (2024). Optical character recognition for Tamil: A deep learning approach. International Journal of Document Analysis and Recognition, 27(1), 45-62.

[5.] Mohan, R., & Vijayakumar, D. (2022). Digitization of Tamil manuscripts: Challenges and opportunities. Journal of Digital Humanities, 5(3), 89-112.

[6.] Rangarajan, S. (2017). Tamil inscriptions: A digital epigraphy project. South Asian Studies, 33(2), 145-168.

[7.] Sahoo, R., Bhattacharya, A., & Das, S. (2024). Large language models and Indian languages: Opportunities and challenges. Journal of Computational Linguistics, 50(3), 112-135.

[8.] Schreibman, S., Siemens, R., & Unsworth, J. (2020). A companion to digital humanities. Wiley-Blackwell.

[9.] Svensson, P. (2016). Digital humanities and the humanities. Cambridge University Press.

[10.] Veerakannan, S., & Vijayakumar, D. (2025). AI and Tamil literary studies: Challenges and opportunities. Journal of Digital Humanities, 6(2), 89-112.

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Published

07/20/2026

How to Cite

இந்திய அறிவு மரபு (Indian Knowledge Systems - IKS) மற்றும் தமிழ் இலக்கியங்கள்: Viksit Bharat 2047 நோக்கிலான ஆய்வுகள்: Digital Humanities and Tamil Language Resources: AI, OCR, and Digitization of Inscriptions and Palm-Leaf Manuscripts. (2026). Tamilmanam International Research Journal of Tamil Studies, 12(02), 617-633. https://doi.org/10.63300/tm12022026.45

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