Archival exhibition ‘Hamari Bhasha, Hamari Virasat’ begins at National Archives
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Union Minister Meenakashi Lekhi after the inauguration of exhibition ‘Hamari Bhasha Hamari Virasat
Team L&M
On the occasion of International Archives Day (June 9) the National Archives of India is holding an exhibition titled Hamari Bhasha, Hamari Virasat at its premises. The exhibition is being held under the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM).
The exhibition presents a selection of original manuscripts drawn from the annals of the archival repository (such as Tattvartha Sutra, Ramayana, and Srimad Bhagwad Gita, among others), official files of the government, proscribed literature under the colonial regime, private manuscripts of eminent personalities, as well as from the rich collection of rare books held in the NAI Library.
It also includes among the most ancient in the world – the Gilgit Manuscripts, the oldest surviving manuscript collection in India. The birch bark folios (documents written on pieces of inner layer of the bark of birch trees; birch bark is known for its resistance to decay and decomposition) contain both canonical (sacred) and non-canonical Buddhist works that throw light on the evolution of Sanskrit, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Mongolian, Machu and Tibetan religious-philosophical literature. These manuscripts were written between the 5th and 6th centuries CE. The Gilgit Manuscripts were discovered in three stages in the Naupur village (Gilgit region), and first announced by archaeologist Sir Aurel Stein in the year 1931.
An endeavour to commemorate the treasured heritage of India’s linguistic diversity as a nation, it also sheds light on the vast corpus of archival records pertaining to variegated languages spoken across the length and breadth of the nation. India is blessed with extraordinary language diversity. According to an estimate’, out of 7,111 languages spoken globally, about 788 languages are spoken in India alone. India is thus one of the four most linguistically diversified countries in the world, along with Papa New Guinea, Indonesia, and Nigeria.
On view till July 08, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm everyday
