Hyderabad Mail
Hyderabad Mail
The Telangana State Archives and Research Institute is leading India's manuscript preservation efforts under the *Gyan Bharatam Mission*, having surveyed over 1.87 lakh manuscripts across Hyderabad in 15 languages. The collection includes rare texts in Old Persian (Shikista script), Arabic, Urdu, Deccani, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, and other languages.
Dr. Zareena Parveen, Director of State Archives, coordinates the effort focusing on Shikista Persian manuscripts - an old chain script - alongside Urdu and Deccan tradition texts. The archives house 1,80,668 manuscripts totaling approximately 11.48 lakh pages, including Mughal administrative records, literary works, and palm-leaf manuscripts.
Major contributors include Osmania University's Dr. Ambedkar Library (3,662 books in 15 languages), Sanskrit Academy, and private collections with bamboo and palm-leaf texts. As of April 2026, officials have scanned 107 manuscripts with 23,088 images captured.
The mission invites public participation, offering free conservation and digitization services while allowing owners to retain custody of their manuscripts, ultimately creating a National Digital Repository accessible globally.
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