About

Sri. Chithira Thirunal Maharaja

Founder, University of Kerala

University of Kerala

One of the first 16 Universities in India, the University of Kerala was founded as the University of Travancore in the erstwhile princely state of Travancore by His Highness Sri. Chithira Thirunal Maharaja in 1937. At present, the University has sixteen faculties (subject groups) and forty two departments of teaching and research in addition to study centres and other departments. The Manuscript Library of the University is a treasure trove of Indian culture. The library has over 65,000 works in 30,000 copies mainly of palm leaf manuscripts, in addition to paper manuscripts, copper plates, birch bark and textiles, which includes those belonging to Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nepal etc. The Adult Education Department of the University has received UNESCO- NLM award in 2005. The University Library established in 1942 has over 3,00,000 books and gives access to over 9000 on-line journals. The University has published an English translation of the classic Dutch work, “Hortus Malabaricus” a 20-volume treatise on plant wealth of Kerala, in 2003.

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