The National Mission for Manuscripts (NAMAMI) is an autonomous organisation under

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: *Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) * Ministry of Culture (Algeria) *Ministry of Culture (Argentina) *Minister for the Arts (Australia) *Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan) * Ministry of ...

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

, established to survey, locate and conserve Indian manuscripts, with an aim to create national resource base for manuscripts, for enhancing their access, awareness and use for educational purposes. The Mission was initiated in February 2003, by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture,

and Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) is the nodal agency for the execution of this project. It creates bibliographic databases of Indian manuscripts and is involved in the

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

and preservation of the manuscripts.

Overview

The organisation works in the field of restoration and conservation Indian manuscripts, and their digitisation, to promote access and scholarship through research and publication. It has also established a national network of institutions and manuscript repositories, including Manuscript Resource Centres (MRC-s), Manuscript Conservation Centres (MCC-s), Manuscript Partner Centres (MPC-s) and Manuscript Conservation Partner Centres (MCPC-s), spread across the nation. It has also established ''Kritisampada'', the National Database of Manuscripts, a digital archive at its website. The Mission also got a

Rigveda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts ('' śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one ...

manuscripts preserved at the

Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) is located in Pune, Maharashtra, India. It was founded on 6 July 1917 and named after Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar (1837–1925), long regarded as the founder of Indology (Orientalism) in Ind ...

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

, where it runs a 'Manuscripts Resource and Conservation Centre', included in

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

’S,

Memory of the World Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...

Register in 2007. In October 2010, the Sayaji Rao Gaekwad Library (Central Library), BHU in association with the Mission, held a national workshop on manuscript conservation at the library.

Manuscript Conservation Centres (MCCs)

The Mission runs a network of 32 conservation units across the India, known as Manuscript Conservation Centres (MCCs), divided according to geographical zones.Manuscript Conservation Centres
NMM.

North

* Central Institute of Buddhist Studies, Leh * Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi * Department of Language and Culture,

Shimla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, the ...

* The Himalayan Society for Heritage and Art Conservation, Nainital * Vrindavan Research Institute,

Vrindavan Vrindavan (; ), also spelt Vrindaban and Brindaban, is a historical city in the Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located in the Braj Bhoomi region and holds religious importance in Hinduism as Krishna spent most of his childho ...

Rampur Raza Library The Rampur Raza Library (''Rāmpur Razā Kitāb Khāna'') located in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, India is a repository of Indo-Islamic cultural heritage and a treasure-house of knowledge established in the last decades of the 18th century. It was bu ...

, Rampur * Nagarjuna Buddhist Foundation,

Gorakhpur Gorakhpur is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the Rapti river in the Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometers east of the state capital Lucknow. It is the administrative headquarters of Gorakhpur dis ...

* Indian Conservation Institute,

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

* Visweshvarananda Biswabandhu Institute of Sanskrit and Indological Studies,

Hoshiarpur Hoshiarpur () is a city and a municipal corporation in Hoshiarpur district in the Doaba region of the Indian state of Punjab. It was founded, according to tradition, during the early part of the fourteenth century. In 1809, it was occupied b ...

* Central Library,

Banaras Hindu University Banaras Hindu University (BHU) IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/), is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916 ...

, Banaras

South

* Oriental Research Institute, Sri Venkateswara University,

Tirupati Tirupati () is a city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of the Tirupati district. The city is home to the important Hindu shrine of Tirumala Venkateswara Temple and other historic temples and is re ...

* Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad, Telangana *

INTACH The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) is a non-profit charitable organisation registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. In 2007, the United Nations awarded INTACH a special consultative status with Unit ...

Chitrakala Parishath Art Conservation Centre,

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

, Karnataka * Tamil Nadu Government Museum,

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, Tamil Nadu * Karnataka State Archives, Bangalore, Karnataka * Tanjore Maharaja Serfoji's Saraswati Mahal Library,

Thanjavur Thanjavur (), also Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is the 11th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian religion, art, and architecture. Most of the Gr ...

, Tamil Nadu * Centre for Heritage Studies Hill Palace Museum,

Thripunithura Thrippunithura or Tripunithura (), is a prominent historical and residential region in the City of Kochi in Kerala, India. Located about 7 km (4 mi) from the city centre, Tripunithura was the capital of the erstwhile Kingdom of Cochin ...

, Kerala * Regional Conservation Laboratory,

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

, Kerala * State Archives and Research Institute, Hyderabad, Telangana

East

Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library, in Patna, Bihar, is one of the national libraries of India. It was opened to the public on the 29th of October in 1891 by Khuda Bakhsh Khan, HMJ Sir Khan Bahadur Khuda Bakhsh. Its collection started with 4,000 of ...

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

* Sarasvati, Bhadrak * Sri Dev Kumar Jain Oriental research Institute, Arrah * Manuscript Library,

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every year, ...

, Kolkata, West Bengal *

Orissa Art Conservation Centre,

Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar (; ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. The region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Ekamra Kshetra'' (area (''kshetra'') adorned with mango trees (''ekamra'')). Bhubaneswar is ...

, Odisha * AITIHYA, Bhubaneswar, Odisha *

Sambalpur University Sambalpur University is located in Burla town, of district Sambalpur, India, in the state of Odisha. Popularly known as Jyoti Vihar, it offers courses at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels. The governor of Odisha is the chancellor of ...

, Burla, Odisha * Krishna Kanta Handiqui Library,

Gauhati University Gauhati University, also known as GU, is a Collegiate university, collegiate public state university located in Guwahati, Assam, India. It was established on 26 January 1948 under the provisions of an Act enacted by the Assam Legislative Assem ...

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

, Assam * Manipur State Archives,

Imphal Imphal ( Meitei pronunciation: /im.pʰal/; English pronunciation: ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Manipur. The metropolitan centre of the city contains the ruins of Kangla Palace (also known as Kangla Fort), the royal seat of the f ...

, Manipur *

Tawang Monastery Tawang Monastery, located in Tawang city of Tawang district in the States and Union Territories of India, Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, is the largest monastery in India. It is situated in the valley of the Tawang Chu, near the small town ...

Tawang Tawang is a town and administrative headquarter of Tawang district in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. The town was once the capital of the Tawang Tract, which is now divided into the Tawang district and the West Kameng district. Tawan ...

, Arunachal Pradesh

West

* Rajasthan Oriental Research Institute,

Jodhpur Jodhpur (; ) is the second-largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan and officially the second metropolitan city of the state. It was formerly the seat of the princely state of Jodhpur State. Jodhpur was historically the capital of the ...

* Mahaveer Digamber Jain Pandulipi Samrakshan Kendra,

Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known ...

, Rajasthan * Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, Gujarat *

(BORI), Pune, Maharashtra

Central

* Scindia Oriental Research Institute (SORI),

Ujjain Ujjain (, Hindustani pronunciation: �d͡ːʒɛːn is a city in Ujjain district of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the fifth-largest city in Madhya Pradesh by population and is the administrative centre of Ujjain district and Ujjain ...

Manuscript Studies

* Basic Level Courses on Manuscriptology and

Palaeography Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...

* Advanced Level Workshop on Manuscriptology and Palaeography * Research Fellowships (Gurukula Fellowships)

References

External links

Official Website of National Mission for Manuscripts

''Bharatiya Kriti Sampada'', the National Database of Manuscripts
{{authority control Historiography of India Manuscripts Government agencies established in 2003 Organisations based in Delhi Government agencies of India Heritage organizations Indology Archives in India 2003 establishments in Delhi Indian missions