New Delhi declaration adopted to preserve manuscript heritage, civilisational identity

A global conference on India’s manuscript heritage concluded on Saturday with the adoption of the New Delhi Declaration, which aims to preserve, digitise and disseminate knowledge contained in these manuscripts.

The conference, titled ‘Gyan Bharatam’, was held over three days at the Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.

The declaration recognises manuscripts as “ the living memory of a nation, and foundation of its civilisational identity”. It resolved that manuscripts should be preserved, repatriated or digitised to ensure access for future generations. The resolution also urged efforts to acquire original manuscripts from across the world or secure their digital copies.

India is home to nearly 10 million manuscripts that reflect its traditional knowledge and cultural heritage.

The Centre has launched the Gyan Bharatam Mission under the Ministry of Culture to document, survey, conserve and digitise this collection. The mission aims to make more than one crore manuscripts from academic institutions, museums, libraries and private collections available to the public.

The declaration called for the manuscript preservation efforts to be turned into a jan aandolan or people’s movement, aiming to engage communities and institutions across the country. “We firmly believe manuscripts are not merely relics of the past, but a guiding light for the future,” the declaration stated.