Nagpur, 13 Aug

(HS): The oldest Indian civilisation in the world survived despite several

aggression, as it encompasses all the living being on the earth, irrespective of

different lifestyles, faiths, language food habits etc. The Vedic literature

does not mention of any caste or religion, as Hindu is not a religion but a

lifestyle, It differentiated people based on their profession and has liberty

to change it by acquiring knowledge.

The Vedas,

Upanishads and other ancient literature were penned down with lot of

experiments by Rishis and Munis and have been proved to be scientific on the

parameters of modern science.

In an effort to

connect modern science with the rich ancient Indian knowledge base. The

Government of India is making a systematic effort to understand and present the

ancient literature before the future generations.

Gyan Bharatam Mission and Funds Allocation

The manuscripts

mostly written in Sanskrit language as it was the language used in that era,

are being preserved, digitised and placed for studies by all. Besides providing

references of ancient scripts for reference in courses in science and technology,

the ancient literature is being provided with a click of a button through

internet.

The initiative

started with an international conference in New Delhi on ‘Reclaiming India’s

Knowledge through Manuscript Heritage’ from September 11 to 13, 2025, under the

‘Gyan Bharatam Mission’. An encouraging 1100 scholars, experts, students and

representatives of institutions of higher learning from across India and abroad

participate.

Documentation of

manuscripts had started from 2004, which gained a boost as the Ministry of

Culture, Government of India allocated Rs 482.85 crore for the purpose.

Over 44.07 lakh

(4.407 million) manuscripts are documented and are being stored under the Kriti

Sampada Digital Repository. Most of them are available with universities and

public libraries.

Public Libraries

The Directorate

of Public Libraries in a meeting on August 12, 2026 has planned to open and

centre for preservation, and digitisation of the manuscripts in Maharashtra

available in public libraries. The digitised ancient Indian knowledge will be

presented to the future generations. The Apex Library at Mumbai, will have the

information about all the manuscripts in Maharashtra, separated in different

categories based on their subjects

Bhadarkar

Prachyavidya Sanshodhan Mandir, Pune and Asiastic Society, Mumbai are involved

in categorisation of the manuscripts. The Higher Education Department has also

constituted an Advisory Committee for the purpose.

Cluster Centres

Gyan Bharatam

Clustor Centre have been created for coordinating with the universities and

educational institutions in the region. Care has been taken to select those who

have knowledge and interest in manuscripts.

Kavikulguru

Kalidas Sanskrit University, Ramtek in Nagpur has been selected as a Cluster

Centre for the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions in Maharashtra.

Rashtrasant Tukadoji

Maharaj Nagpur University, established in 1923, is one of the oldest

universities in India has 14,313 manuscripts preserved in its library. The

oldest manuscripts is of 17th century. The manuscripts are useful

for the students of the Department of Ancient Indian History and Archaeology.

Kavikulguru

Kalidas Sanskrit University (KKSU), established in 1972, has over 3500

manuscripts. The university has wide range of teaching facilities from

astrology to connecting ancient literature with science and technology of modern

science.

The KKSU has

been rightly selected as the Cluster Centre for almost half of the Maharashtra

State, including Maharma Gandhi International Hindi University at Wardha,

Riddhapur University dedicated to teaching Mahanubhav Sect literature. North

Maharashtra University in Jalgaon, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University,

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad), Pathan University etc.

Over 28,000

manuscripts have been identified and are being digitised.

RTM Nagpur

University has prepared three catalogues covering about 7,500 manuscripts.

The manuscripts

are made available to the students, researchers and experts in the field for reading

and references in the library. On demand photo copies of the manuscripts are

also provided.

‘Virasat Aur Vikas’

During the

inauguration of the conference in September 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi

had coined a term ‘Virasant Aur Vikas’ for connecting modern science to ancient

Indian Vedic science, which is rich in knowledge in various fields. The term ‘Virasat

Aur Vikas’ means Heritage and Development’ and supported in-depth studies of

ancient India knowledge.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Ajay Vasant Mardikar