Indian Government has launched a national initiative to record and digitize historical manuscripts, a move that seeks to unlock the country’s vast knowledge legacy covering diverse themes with subjects from ancient science and medicine to literature and astronomy.
The plan led by India’s Ministry of Culture consists in a three - month national survey using technology and local committees to preserve and make available the world’s largest collection of manuscripts.
The initiative, considered the first of its kind, seeks to create a centralized database that allows preserving and facilitating access to millions of historical documents as reported by News9, India’s, a news network headquartered in Noida.
The exercise will begin at the district level and then advance to higher administrative levels. During the process, manuscripts preserved both in institutional repositories and in private collections will be identified.
All the information collected will be stored in a national digital repository hosted on the central portal of the Gyan Bharatam Mission created to preserve, digitize, and disseminate India’s vast manuscript heritage and revive its civilization knowledge traditions for future generations.
It is estimated that the South Asian country has the largest collection of manuscripts globally, with about ten million copies. The project will have state and district committees for its execution and will also integrate more than one million manuscripts that have already been digitized by institutions and state governments.
The authorities indicated that each manuscript will be geolocated to support its conservation, preservation and digitization. In addition, field teams will use a mobile app to upload data from documents found during the survey.
Key aspects of the initiative include:
• Digital Preservation and Access: The project aims to bring manuscripts online to prevent the loss of fragile documents and increase accessibility for researchers globally.
• National Survey and Geo - Tagging: The initiative includes the National Manuscripts Survey, which is creating a geo – tagged, searchable digital repository of manuscripts found across the country.
• Scale: With an estimated 10 million manuscripts, likely the largest colletion in the world, the project goes beyond religious tests, covering diverse themes like literature, mathematics, and record – keeping.
• International Collaboration: India has signed MoUs with universities in countries like Thailand and Vietnam to train scholars in digitizing these ancient texts.
• Technological Focus: The initiative emphasizes scientific conservation, capacity building, and transforming physical manuscripts into digital narratives, with projects already underway in regions like Jammu and Kashmir.
This project operates under the broader umbrella of #IndianHeritage and #DigitalIndia, leveraging technology to protect India’s “forgotten” manuscripts.
The Secretary of Culture, Vivek Aggarwal, pointed out that the use of technology will allow the manuscripts to be digitized in standardized formats, which will make it easier for researchers and the public to access this valuable cultural material.
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