New Delhi Declaration Adopted to Preserve and Digitise India's Manuscript Heritage

The New Delhi Declaration was adopted to enhance efforts in preserving, digitising, and disseminating India's rich manuscript heritage, ensuring access for future research.

A significant conference of scholars and experts concluded with the adoption of the New Delhi Declaration, emphasising the importance of manuscripts as a beacon for the future. This declaration aims to enhance efforts to preserve, digitise, and disseminate knowledge while also working to retrieve original works. The event, held at Vigyan Bhawan, saw participants resolve to acquire and repatriate manuscripts or secure their digital versions from abroad for research and national pride.

India boasts one of the world's richest collections of ancient manuscripts, with nearly 10 million texts preserving traditional knowledge and cultural heritage. The declaration highlights that these manuscripts are not just historical relics but serve as a guiding light for the future. It was adopted after three days of intense discussions during the Gyan Bharatam global conference, which was organised into eight working groups.

Preserving India's Manuscript Heritage

The Gyan Bharatam Mission, launched by the Ministry of Culture, aims to survey, document, conserve, digitise, and make accessible over one crore manuscripts found in academic institutions, museums, libraries, and private collections across India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed that this mission will become a proclamation of India's culture and consciousness. He noted that many countries house India's ancient manuscripts and emphasised unifying this shared heritage under the mission.

The declaration stresses that manuscripts are living memories of a nation and form the foundation of its civilisational identity. These texts, inscribed on materials like palm leaves and birch barks, embody wisdom across various subjects such as philosophy, science, literature, arts, and spirituality. The declaration calls for systematic research and reinterpretation of these manuscripts.

Gyan Bharatam: A Movement for Cultural Identity

The New Delhi Declaration further resolves to nurture every script and language by caring for manuscripts from all regions. This effort symbolises unity in diversity and strengthens cultural bonds across communities. It also advocates public awareness campaigns to inspire respect and pride in India's manuscript traditions while mentoring future generations to sustain the spirit of Gyan Bharatam.

Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat described the New Delhi Declaration as a collective resolve rather than just a document. He unveiled the logo of the Gyan Bharatam Mission during the conference attended by over 1,100 participants from India and abroad. The declaration pledges to guard India's manuscript heritage as a cultural cornerstone for Viksit Bharat 2047.

The conference aimed to build an alliance among custodians of old manuscripts in India. It seeks to create a nationwide ecosystem for their preservation and knowledge dissemination under Gyan Bharatam's aegis. Official sources mentioned that achieving these goals would require extensive work within legal frameworks, especially regarding acquiring digital copies of inscriptions housed abroad.

The declaration concludes with a commitment to transform Gyan Bharatam into a people's movement or "jan aandolan," strengthening cultural identity and promoting knowledge-based growth. The first letters of different pledges form "Gyan Bharatam," symbolising this collective effort to preserve India's rich manuscript heritage for future generations.

With inputs from PTI