By IANS
New Delhi : Rare manuscripts of the Rig Veda dating back to 1500 B.C. are among 38 items of documentary heritage of exceptional value that have been added to a 'Memory of the World Register', a key United Nations agency said Wednesday.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) said the list was drawn up by its International Advisory Committee and endorsed by the Paris-based agency's Director General.
"The 30 manuscripts of the Rig Veda dating from 1800 to 1500 B.C. kept in the Bhandarkar Institute in Pune, were the oldest Vedic texts (scriptures of the Hindu religion). For Indians, the Vedas exist since the beginning of the world and are the source of revealed truth," a UNESCO statement said.
The additions brought the total number of inscriptions in the register to 158.
The Memory of the World Programme was launched 15 years ago, with the aim of preserving and digitising humanity's documentary heritage.
With the support of the UNESCO, dozens of archived collections, thousands of metres of film and millions of pages of manuscripts, books and newspapers have been preserved for posterity.
Welcoming the inclusion, the culture ministry in New Delhi said the Memory of the World programme seeks to "guard against collective amnesia". The Rig Veda manuscripts were nominated for the list by the ministry's National Mission for Manuscripts on behalf of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.
India has three other nominations – the I.A.S. Tamil Medic Manuscript Collection, archives of the Dutch East India Company and the Saiva Manuscripts from Pondicherry.
The Vedas are the first literary documents in the history of humankind and transcend far beyond their identity as scriptures. The Rig Veda, the oldest among the four Vedas, is the fountain of Aryan culture that spread beyond the Indian subcontinent to large parts of South and South-East Asia, as well as Central Asia.
The 30 manuscripts of the Rig Veda form a valuable part of the 28,000 manuscripts housed at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.