Revival of the National Mission for Manuscripts: A New Initiative to Preserve India’s Ancient Texts

Revival of the National Mission for Manuscripts: A New Initiative to Preserve India’s Ancient Texts

Sub: History

Sec: Schemes

Why in News

The Union Ministry of Culture recently announced plans to relaunch and revitalize the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM) to enhance the preservation of India’s ancient manuscripts. A proposal to establish an independent, autonomous body, likely named the National Manuscripts Authority, is under consideration. This decision underscores the government’s commitment to conserving the rich heritage encapsulated in India’s historic manuscripts.

National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM):

The National Mission of Manuscripts (NMM) was established to unearth and preserve India’s vast wealth of manuscripts.

The NMM was founded in 2003 under the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), Ministry of Culture, Government of India.

NMM has recorded metadata for approximately 52 lakh manuscripts across the country.

Over 3 lakh titles have been digitized, with about one-third of these manuscripts uploaded online for public access.

Over the past 21 years, NMM has undertaken preventive and curative conservation on nearly 9 crore manuscript folios.

These manuscripts include a wide variety of themes, languages, scripts, textures and aesthetics, illuminations, calligraphies, and illustrations.

The chief mandate of the mission is to identify, collect, document, preserve and conserve the manuscripts from all over India and make it accessible to people.

Its motto is ‘conserving the past for the future’.

Formation of an Autonomous Body

The Ministry is considering converting the NMM into an autonomous entity, the National Manuscripts Authority.

Objective: To streamline and strengthen the conservation and digitization efforts by enabling independent operations under the Ministry of Culture.

Functions of the National Manuscripts Authority

Expanding the scope of metadata compilation to cover a wider range of manuscripts across various Indian languages and regional scripts.

Accelerating the pace of digitization to ensure a substantial number of manuscripts are preserved in digital format and made accessible.

Implementing advanced preventive and curative measures for physical manuscripts to maintain their structural integrity over time.

About Manuscripts:

A manuscript is a handwritten composition on paper, bark, cloth, metal, palm leaf or any other material dating back at least seventy-five years that has significant scientific, historical or aesthetic value.

Lithographs and printed volumes are not manuscripts.

Manuscripts are found in hundreds of different languages and scripts. Often, one language is written in a number of different scripts. For example, Sanskrit is written in Oriya script, Grantha script, Devanagari script and many other scripts.

Manuscripts are distinct from historical records such as epigraphs on rocks, firmans, revenue records which provide direct information on events or processes in history. Manuscripts have knowledge content.

Manuscripts in India

India’s manuscripts have for centuries captured the imagination of the world.

As early as the seventh century Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang took back hundreds of manuscripts from India.

Later in the late eighteenth century, the Nawab of Awadh gifted a superb illuminated manuscript of the Padshahnama to King George III of England. Today, it is considered one of the finest pieces in the Royal Collection.

National Museum is a treasure for Manuscripts and ancient written records.

The replica of Girnar Rock Edict is placed in the prime place to view and know the creative genius of Indian scribes.

The major, minor rock edicts and pillar edicts of Ashoka found across India are in the languages of Bramhi, Prakrit, Greek and Kharoshti, which are earliest written documents.