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Revival of National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM)

History


 30-Oct-2024

Why in the News?

The Union Ministry of Culture plans to revive the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM) and establish an autonomous National Manuscripts Authority to preserve ancient texts in India. Presently, NMM is a part of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts. Between 2003-24, metadata of 52 lakh manuscripts have been prepared, over 3 lakh titles have been digitized and one-third of them have been uploaded. Only about 70,000 of the 1.3 lakh uploaded manuscripts are accessible.

National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM)

  • It was launched in 2003 to uncover, document, conserve, and make accessible India’s vast manuscript heritage.
  • It is an initiative of the Ministry of Culture to preserve and document India's vast collection of manuscripts.
  • The Department of Culture is responsible for implementing the mission, while the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) serves as the nodal agency.
  • Objective: It is dedicated to conserving manuscripts and disseminating the knowledge contained in them, working toward its motto “conserving the past for the future.”
  • India possesses an estimate of five million manuscripts, probably the largest collection in the world.
  • 70% of manuscripts are in Sanskrit.

Manuscripts

  • It is a handwritten composition created from materials such as paper, bark, cloth, metal, or palm leaf and it must be at least 75 years old.
  • Lithographs and printed volumes are not considered manuscripts.
  • It provides knowledge of philosophy, science, literature and art.
  • Hiuen Tsang, a 7th century Chinese traveler, took many manuscripts back to China.
  • Efforts to catalogue Indian manuscripts began as early as 1803 with the efforts of HT Colebrooke, Asiatic Society of Bengal’s fourth president.
  • William Jones, C.P. Brown, John Leyden, Colin Mackenzie, Charles Wilkins, H.H. Wilson and HT Colebrooke played significant roles in studying and preserving Indian manuscripts.
  • In the 18th century, the Nawab of Awadh presented an illuminated manuscript of the Padshahnama to King George III of England.

A Manuscript