thank you for all your replies, which were really sent so very promptly. that shows the enthusiasm that linuxers have for helping each other with their problems.
unfortunately, the problem wasn't solved. it is still giving the same error:
emacs: error in loading shared libraries: libXaw3d.so.7: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
i think there is some problem with the shared libraries. it would be great if anyone of you could point it out, so that i could tell my sysadmin to do the needful
thanks for all the co-operation and support
linuxers rule!