Anil Paba
Since the very dawn of civilization, India has had the privilege of being the fountainhead of knowledge that has guided the entire world in various fields of global achievements. Although today the West has appropriated the entire knowledge treasure as its colonial right, but the fact remains there that it has a long, continuous and cumulative tradition of knowledge heritage contained in manuscripts. But this knowledge heritage of our country, which is more than five thousand years old, is one area which has long been neglected. This neglect has proved to be the main impediment in making India a global leader in the field of intellectual property and scientific innovation.
WORLD HERITAGE DAY
Old manuscripts, rare books and other archival material constitute our most precious national heritage. These materials have unique artistic quality, craftsmanship, beautiful script and fine calligraphy. Texts of knowledge available in Pali, Prakti, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian etc are not only an intellectual treat to the mind but an aesthetic pleasure to the eyes too. India probably has the largest number of manuscripts in the world. It is mainly due to her centuries’ old prosperous literary tradition and late arrival of the printing press. Although the first printing press was established in 1556, but till the end of the 18th century its effect was only marginal. Manuscripts have been an enviable storehouse of India’s knowledge tradition.
Such type of material is abundantly found all over India in Manuscripts libraries, Archives, Universities, Temples, Mathas, Mosques, Churches, Jain Bhandaras etc.. All the major libraries and museums of India have a fairly large collection of manuscripts and other documents in their treasure. Although we have already lost more than nine million manuscripts after the burning of the library of Nalanda University, yet still, as per records, India possesses more than five million manuscripts, probably the largest collection in the world. These cover a variety of themes, textures and aesthetics, languages, illuminations and illustrations together; they constitute the memory of India’s brilliant history, astonishing heritage and elevated thought. But in absence of any kind of thorough and intensive census, it is difficult to guess the total number of manuscripts preserved therein. Mostly, these manuscripts and documents are on Palm-leaf or birch-bark, or both, which get easily decayed, deteriorated and damaged over the centuries. The first Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru in his book The Discovery of India had expressed his deep concern over the negligence of this soft power of India. According to him:
“One of our major misfortunes is that we have lost so much of the world’s ancient literature …in Greece, in India and elsewhere…..probably an organized search for old manuscripts in the libraries of religious institutions, monasteries and private persons would yield rich results. That, and the critical examination of these manuscripts and where considered desirable, their publication and translation are among the many things we have to do in India when we succeed in bringing through our shackles and can function for ourselves. Such a study is bound to throw light on many phases of Indian history and especially on the social background behind historic events and changing ideas.”
There is no doubt that these resources had long been neglected, but it is justified to note that even though delayed, care is being taken to protect, preserve and also to make them accessible to public at large, especially to researchers and scholars.
It was on 15th August, 2002, when the then visionary Prime Minister Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had announced from the Red Fort to create a National Mission to save the manuscripts of the country. Accordingly, the National Mission for Manuscripts was established through a gazette notification on 5th February, 2003, by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Government of India with an aim to unearth and preserve the vast manuscripts’ wealth of India. Establishing National Archives of India and National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM) are land mark steps in this direction. Both are providing the required services in the field of manuscripts protection and promotion. National Mission for manuscripts is a national level comprehensive initiative which caters to the need of conserving manuscripts and disseminating knowledge contained therein. It is working towards fulfilling its motto, ‘conserving the past for future’. It has emerged, undoubtedly, as the most popular and effective movement among all the heritage conservation initiatives in the country.
National Mission for Manuscripts operates through a network of Manuscripts Resource Centre and Manuscripts Conservation Centers spread all over the country. Since its inception, it has tried and done at its best to unearth and catalogue the manuscript heritage of India. The Jammu and Kashmir Manuscripts Resource Centre (MRC) has listed more than 40000 Manuscripts/Historical documents till date, housed in public and private collections. Despite its dynamic functioning and immense potential to regain India’s position as leader nation in knowledge, NMM has been facing some attenuating challenges.
Unfortunately, the National Mission for Manuscripts was created in a project mode to run concurrent with the five year plan period. The first phase of the project was over in 2007 and was given extension for second and third phase till 2017. In the year 2010 a review of the functioning of the mission done at the highest-level and a national level consultation meeting of experts and stakeholders was convened to give recommendations for the future of the Mission. Thereafter, National Consultation meeting was held on 1-2 December, 2010 and it was unanimously recommended to create a permanent institution to take care of the knowledge heritage of the country and to facilitate application of the knowledge base in the present context. A project report of the same was also submitted to the Ministry in August 2011. But till date no action has been initiated either on the recommendation of the expert consultation meeting or the project report submitted thereafter. This has brought the commendable functioning of the Mission to a halt. This naïve initiative needs the immediate and urgent attention of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India to take action on the recommendations of the National Consultation meeting and the project report of the same to make it a permanent institution to save the India’s knowledge heritage.
(The author is Director Amar Santosh Museum)
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