A meeting was held at the Deputy Commissioner’s office hall under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner S.J. Somashekar, in collaboration with the Tourism Department.
It was stated that an immense wealth of knowledge in the fields of science, mathematics, Ayurveda, philosophy, and literature, accumulated over thousands of years, exists in the form of manuscripts. As time passes, many of these valuable documents are gathering dust, being damaged by termites, and in some cases have been taken to foreign museums.
The main objective is to preserve the property of our ancestors and restore India’s cultural heritage. In this regard, the Union Government’s Ministry of Culture has implemented the ‘Gyan Bharatam Mission’ project.
It was emphasized that manuscripts are not merely old documents but represent the origin, growth, and cultural essence of Indian heritage. Therefore, the project aims to integrate manuscripts with modern technology and present them to future generations.
Heads of temple, church, and dargah committees were instructed to identify manuscripts in their institutions and provide information. It was stated that such information would be verified and forwarded to the Tourism Department.
Officials were instructed to conduct surveys with the help of senior storytellers and poets to gather details about languages, scripts, historical timelines, and medicinal knowledge if original documents are found.
Karthikeyan, District Coordinator of the Cultural Foundation Cluster Centre, Mysore, stated that surveys and census work of ancient handwritten texts, palm-leaf manuscripts, and other traditional knowledge resources are being carried out under the Gyan Bharatam Mission in Karnataka.
He appealed to the public, religious institutions, and researchers to upload details of manuscripts available with them through the mission’s app.
Kodagu Museum Curator, B.P. Rekha, stated that the project aims to survey, preserve, protect, digitize, register, critically edit, translate, and publish ancient manuscripts using modern technology for future generations.
Deputy Commissioner S.J. Somashekar released the poster of the survey.Several dignitaries and representatives from various organizations were present.
