The Hindu : New Delhi News : Celebrating the written word

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Saturday, Sep 23, 2006
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Celebrating the written word

Mandira Nayar

Ancient Indian manuscripts to be displayed in Frankfurt at an exhibition, "The Word is Sacred: Sacred is the Word''

TREASURE OF YORE: A manuscript for the exhibition at Frankfurt

NEW DELHI: These are tangible evidence of India's vast ancient wisdom that the country has been famed for.

Dating back to the 2nd Century and the more recent 20th Century, the written word of India in the form of manuscripts will be celebrated in Frankfurt till this coming January.

The exhibition will be called "The Word is Sacred: Sacred is the Word''.

Solo exhibition abroad

This is the first time that Indian manuscripts will be travelling for a solo exhibition abroad.

And centuries-old titles will find space with plenty of glossy new titles as India will also be the Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair at the time when the exhibition is opened.

The National Mission for Manuscripts that has been scouting the corners of the country to find valuable manuscripts for the past four years is responsible for putting the mammoth exhibition together.

From philosophy and cosmology to "branded" Indian texts like Ramayana and the Rig Veda, the exhibition aims to showcase the vast canvas of knowledge that India has kept alive.

90 manuscripts

Scattered across the country, there are close to 90 manuscripts from different traditions, styles, scripts and languages, treasures that have remained hidden even from "desi'' eyes.

There is a fragment of the Rig Veda, a "tiny'' Koran and even a firman from Emperor Akbar who has come to be the poster-boy of secularism in history.

"We first thought that we should call the exhibition "Akshar'', but we weren't sure how this would be accepted in Germany. Then we thought that the word is sacred in India.

Manuscripts are worshipped in places in India. But it is not always in a religious way,'' asserts the Director of the National Mission for Manuscripts, Sudha Gopalakrishnan.

With the written word being associated with "vidya'' (knowledge), there is an inherent respect for books, points out Ms. Gopalkrishnan.

"People touch a book to their head in case it falls on the ground,'' she says.

The exhibitions will give Western viewers a glimpse into this tradition that is really second nature in India and still very vibrant. "There will be a separate section on the Majuli Islands where manuscripts are worshipped. A cell has been specially created at the Museum Fur Angewandte Kunst where the exhibition is being held to give people an experience,'' reveals Ms. Gopalkrishanan.

Apart from the expected usual manuscripts on "Ramayana", there are also other interesting ones to watch out for.

There is a Parsi text in Persian, there is also a garland version of the "Geet Govinda''. Beautifully drawn on "rudraksha'' beads, the manuscript is really one of its kind.

There is also a manuscript on the Ayurveda for elephants from Orissa.

Really valuable pieces of history, the manuscripts have been scrutinised carefully and insured.

With some of them having more than one folio, each folio has been separately insured.

While all of them are irreplaceable, there is one that has been valued for a crore of rupees.

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