The Bakhshali manuscript, an ancient Indian mathematical text written on birch bark, is considered to be the earliest recorded example of the use of zero.
The seminal text, dating back roughly to the third or fourth century A.D., is in one of the Bodleian Libraries. of the University of Oxford. Many other Indian manuscripts lie in libraries across the globe or are with private collectors, both in India and abroad.
Sources in the Culture Ministry say the government is planning to introduce the National Manuscripts Bill, 2023, possibly in the Winter Session of Parliament. While the contours of the Bill are still being worked out, the primary aim is to document and catalogue Indian heritage texts wherever they may be, in India or abroad, maintain accurate and up-to-date information about them, and detail the conditions under which they may be consulted.
The Bill envisages setting up a 10-member National Manuscripts Authority (NMA). While the Culture Minister would be the Chairperson of this body, the other members would include the Secretaries of Culture, Finance and Education, the Vice-Chancellor of Central Sanskrit University, special invitees representing the States, and private agencies. “The National Manuscripts Authority would be the apex policy making body with regard to digitisation, conservation, preservation, editing, and publication work of manuscripts,” says a concept paper on the Bill accessed by The Hindu.
India possesses an estimated 10 million manuscripts in 80 ancient scripts like Brahmi, Kushan, Gaudi, Lepcha, and Maithili, says the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM), an autonomous body under the Culture Ministry, which is mandated with preserving the vast manuscript wealth of India.
The NMA would have the powers of a civil court to regulate the allocation of access to manuscripts and would also have an investigation wing for the purpose of conducting an inquiry into thefts and desecration of texts. It would also ensure that the manuscripts are not lost by damage or theft.
It can collaborate with universities and other educational institutions or agencies to provide fellowships and scholarships for study of manuscripts. The NMA will also prepare a dedicated digital portal for indexing, cataloguing, uploading, and downloading copies of manuscripts. The special body will be vested with the right to take over a manuscript from a private owner based on the uniqueness and the importance of the content. The sum to be paid would be fixed by an expert committee, the concept paper says.
Manuscripts are written on materials such as palm leaf, paper, cloth, and bark on themes ranging from history and religion to literature, astrology, and agricultural practice. While 75% of the existing manuscripts are in Sanskrit, 25% are in regional languages, according to the NMM.
“There is a need to link studying and interpreting of manuscripts with livelihood. Only then we can bring back the importance of ancient manuscripts into the socio-cultural milieu,” says Professor Anirban Dash, Director of NMM. He feels that the survey and documentation of Indian manuscripts abroad, “will definitely give a boost to an increased global interest in Indian manuscripts”.
The NMM has digitised 3.3 lakh manuscripts, containing about 3.1 crore folios. Even though more than 1.18 lakh manuscripts have been uploaded, only about 70,000 have been made available online for public access. The Sarasvati Mahal Library in Thanjavur, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune, Sampurnanand Sanskrit University in Varanasi, and the Oriental Research Institute in Jammu and Kashmir are some of the places which house the largest number of manuscripts in India.
