The Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT) today announced that it will be rendering 46 Tamil epics into Braille so that students who are visually challenged need not depend on others to understand and read the content. Tamil epics, such as Sillapatiakaram, Tolkappiyam and Manimekalai are some of the 46 epics that are being brought out in Braille. 

Tirukkural, which is a part of the Pathinen-keezhkanakku (Eighteen Lesser Texts), is the only book that is available in Braille as of now, stated an IANS report. The institute will be providing these books that are converted to Braille free of cost to the students as early as December this year. R Chandrashekhar, Director of CICT, while speaking to IANS said, "Visually challenged students who are in college pursuing Tamil literature are at a difficulty in learning Tamil epics and these students have to depend on others for this. Hence, the institute has decided to bring out 46 epics in Tamil literature in the Braille language. This will help the students learn Tamil classical literature and epics on their own." This is the largest collection of Tamil literature being converted into Braille format, added the Director.

Manimekalai,  written by Seethalai Sataṉar around the 6th century, and has ideas on abolishing prostitution and prisons, will also be translated into 18 different languages, including Malay, Thai, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese, stated the IANS report.