Patna/New Delhi, Mar 30 (PTI) Images of folios drawn from rare manuscripts, including a ninth-century Holy Quran, ancient Tibetan texts, and handwritten documents from the 1850s linked with the British Raj and freedom fighter Veer Kunwar Singh, have been displayed in Patna as part of an exhibition being held to promote the preservation of old manuscripts.
The exhibition — ‘Bihar ki Bauddhik Parampara’ — has been hosted at the Bihar State Archives (BSA), with contributions from the state archives, the famed Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library and the Patna Museum’s rare collection of manuscripts, officials said on Monday.
The event was organised under Gyan Bharatam, announced in the Union Budget 2025-26, and a flagship initiative of the Ministry of Culture, aimed at unearthing, safeguarding, and preserving India’s vast manuscript heritage.
The government, on March 16, began a three-month nationwide survey for documentation, conservation, and digitisation of the country’s manuscript heritage under the initiative.
On the same day, this exhibition was launched with an aim to not only foster preservation of old manuscripts but also encourage research on them.
A senior official of the BSA said about “150 panels are on display”, and many people, from researchers to students, have visited the exhibition, which ends on March 30.
Printed images of these rare documents have been put on display.
Patna’s Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, home to some of the rarest manuscripts in the country, has contributed printed copies of several of its priceless possessions.
A collection of Tibetan manuscripts was brought to India by scholar Rahul Sankrityayan and donated to the Patna Museum in the early decades of the 20th century.
Over 70 folios drawn from the Rahul Sankrityayan collection of the museum are also part of the exhibition, said a senior official of the modern Bihar Museum, whose management also administers the heritage Patna Museum.
A manuscript folio depicting Lord Ganesha and Goddess Saraswati, besides a few portraying Lord Krishna and ‘gopis’, drawn from the 18th-century Bhagavata Purana; a set of illustrations from a document dating to 1824 has also been displayed.
Folios of richly decorated manuscripts of the Holy Quran, including one from a ninth-century Holy Quran written in Kufic script, and another one written in Naskh and Sulus script, have also been exhibited.
From the British era, rare handwritten letters, correspondences between senior officials of Patna and Bengal Presidency, and deeds executed by freedom fighter Veer Kunwar Singh are also part of it.
A deed — ‘Tamassuk Qistbandi’ — dated December 25, 1855, executed by Kunwar Singh in a favour one Mosstt Dharman; letters written by British administrators in Patna and Saran districts in 1857; a copy of the letter dated September 6, 1857 from Patna Commissioner E A Samuells to the Secretary, the government of Bengal detailing achievements of British troops at different places in Bihar; and a letter of 1858, from the Collector of Shahabad district (then undivided, later after independence named Bhojpur district) relating to estates of Babu Kunwar Singh and Amar Singh, among other documents are also on display.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday highlighted the importance of the Gyan Bharatam survey and urged people to share information about such documents if they come across them for their proper verification and preservation.
Addressing his monthly radio address, ‘Mann Ki Baat’, Modi said, “I am glad that thousands of manuscripts have been shared so far” under this exercise.
The prime minister said, for example, Chao Nantisindh Lokang of Namsai, Arunachal Pradesh, has shared manuscripts in the Tai script, and Bhai Amit Singh Rana of Amritsar has shared manuscripts in the Gurmukhi script.
The Abhay Jain Library in Rajasthan has shared very old manuscripts inscribed on copper plates, and the Hemis Monastery in Ladakh has given information about valuable Tibetan manuscripts.
More than 7.5 lakh manuscripts have been digitised under the Gyan Bharatam initiative, with 1.29 lakh of them available on its dedicated portal, the government had informed Lok Sabha on February 2. PTI KND NB NB
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.