National Mission for Manuscripts:
The Union Ministry of Culture is set to “revive and relaunch” the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM) and is mulling the formation of an autonomous body to help preserve ancient texts in India.
- Presently, NMM is a part of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts.
- The new body, likely to be named the National Manuscripts Authority, will be an autonomous entity under the Ministry of Tourism and Culture.
- National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM) was established in February 2003, by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Government of India.
- Mandate: Documenting, conserving and disseminating the knowledge preserved in the manuscripts.
- Motto: ‘Conserving the past for the future’
- A unique project in its programme and mandate, the NMM seeks to unearth and preserve the vast manuscript wealth of India.
- India possesses an estimate of ten million manuscripts, probably the largest collection in the world.
- These cover a variety of themes, textures, and aesthetics, scripts, languages, calligraphies, illuminations, and illustrations.
- While 75% of the existing manuscripts are in Sanskrit,25% are in regional languages, according to the NMM.
- Objectives:
- Locate manuscripts through a national-level survey and post-survey.
- Document each and every manuscript and manuscript repository, for a National Electronic Database that currently contains information on four million manuscripts making this the largest database on Indian manuscripts in the world.
- Conserve manuscripts incorporating both modern and indigenous methods of conservation and training a new generation of manuscript conservators.
- To train the next generation of scholars in various aspects of Manuscript Studies like languages, scripts and critical editing and cataloguing of texts and conservation of manuscripts.
- To promote access to manuscripts by digitizing the rarest and most endangered manuscripts.
- To promote access to manuscripts through the publication of critical editions of unpublished manuscripts and catalogues.
- To facilitate public’s engagement with manuscripts through lectures, seminars, publications and other outreach programmes
- To achieve this mandate, the mission has established more than 100 Manuscripts Resource Centres and Manuscripts Conservation Centres all over India.
Manuscript:
- 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.
