By IANS,
New Delhi : The preservation of the history of Jammu and Kashmir region has been given a new lease of life with the digitisation of thousands of rare manuscripts.
The National Mission for Manuscripts has documented 37,379 ancient manuscripts through its two manuscript resource centre in Jammu & Kashmir and Leh since its inception in 2003 to preserve the country’s written heritage, Culture Minister Kumari Selja said in the Rajya Sabha Wednesday.
The minister, in response to a query, said “the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA) has micro-filmed the entire collection of 5,437 manuscripts of the Ranbir Sanskrit Research Institute in Jammu”.
The IGNCA has also micro-filmed seven manuscripts belonging to Charar-e-Sharif, the minister said.
The ancient manuscripts at the shrine of Charar-e-Sharif had suffered extensive damage in terrorist strikes during the peak of insurgency in Kashmir.
The town, a popular tourist destination, plays host to pilgrims during the annual Urs at the mausoleum of Sheikh Noor-ud-din, also known as Nund Rishi, a Kashmiri seer, who belonged to the rishi order.
Kashmir is an archive of heritage manuscripts belonging to the Hindu and Islamic eras.