Over one lakh manuscripts catalogued in Himachal Pradesh

The Himachal Pradesh government has catalogued over one lakh manuscripts as part of the National Manuscript Mission Yojna which aims to preserve old languages and dialects, an official said on Sunday.

The state government has catalogued 1,26,000 manuscripts at the Manuscript Resource Centre, set up under the National Manuscript Mission Yojna, a state government statement said here adding that last year alone 13,500 manuscripts were collected and catalogued.

To preserve old languages and dialects, the state government catalogued 1,26,000 manuscripts at the Manuscript Resource Centre set up under the National Manuscript Mission Yojna, the statement said.

For this, the government has set up an 11-member record management committee to look after the archaeological works and preserve cultural ethos.

A department of Art, Language and Culture has also been set up to implement schemes and programmes for preserving the rich culture and traditions, the statement said.

To preserve rare scripts from extinction, a training centre of Pabuchi script has been started in Nahan town which provides training to five students every year.

To encourage the writers and litterateurs, the government organises various events such as Lal Chand Prarthi Jayanti, Pahari Gandhi Baba Kanshiram Jayanti and Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar Jayanti.

Such activities go a long way in the conservation of culture, traditions and 'pahari' dialects in Himachal Pradesh, the statement said.

The National Mission for Manuscripts works with the help of 57 manuscript resource centres across the country and the Himachal Academy of Arts, Culture and Languages in Shimla is one such centre.

The work for cataloguing of manuscripts started in the state in 2002-03. Most of the manuscripts were collected from Sirmaur, Kangra, Kullu and Una districts.

Officials said most of the manuscripts are written in Devnagri, Tankri, Sharda (all prevalent in the hills), Gurmukhi, Bhoti and Persian scripts.

--IANS

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