By IRNA
Srinagar : Hundreds of rare manuscripts in Persian and Arabic languages, some dating back to 16th century, housed in Kashmir university have been digitalized and are now available online in that version, the university officials said Thursday.
Experts have converted about 363 rare manuscripts into digitalized form.
There are around 60,000 pages now available in digitalized form.
Kashmir University undertook this task in collaboration with the New Delhi based National Mission of Manuscripts of Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts.
The manuscripts, some of them 400-years-old, were lying in a precarious condition and needed urgent attention, university officials said.
This invaluable literature is now available online for discerning scholars and research students, Kashmir University PRO, Showkat Shafi told IRNA.
The manuscripts include Persian Mathnawi of Maulana Rumi, Akbar Nama, Shireen-Khusrao Khushkhat (Persian), Duri Mukhtar, Risala Jalaliya (Arabic), Duri Yateem, Ramzan Nama (Kashmiri) and Diwan-e- Ghalib, Bayazi Rubaiyat (Urdu) and etc.
A 300 year old hand written Quran, too, has been digitalized.
Saleem Sadiq, a Kashmir University student, said: "These manuscripts are rare and very old. We used to suffer a lot, as the quality of these manuscripts was very bad and pages were worn out.
"Besides, we could not take them with us. Now available in the CD format, we can use them anywhere and any time."