HYDERABAD: Two to three crore pages culled out from 25,000 rare manuscripts, hitherto rotting in dusty rooms of Oriental Manuscripts Library (OML), covering a gamut of literary and historical works in Arabic, Persian, Telugu and Sanskrit languages, are all set to get a fresh lease of life.

In association with the Islamic Republic of Iran and OML, Osmania University, began digitisation and microfilming of literary works.

The exercise would be completed in two years.

An MoU was reached among OML, Noor Microfilm Centre, New Delhi, and the Consul-General of Iran on Friday to take up the task of complete digitisation and microfilming.

"Funding and recruiting experts will be done by Iranian officials ," said OML Director Jayadhir Thirumala Rao.

Consul-General of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hossein Ravesh, who was chief guest at the inaugural, said that they would take up translation of a large number of Persian manuscripts.

Persian manuscripts

"There are 9,000 Persian manuscripts in this library and we will like to take up translation of these books into Urdu, Telugu and English.

This will help Indians have access to what has been said or written in Persian during that era," Mr. Ravesh said.

The Persian Department of Osmania University and experts from Iran, whose visit to twin cities would be facilitated by the Consul-General, would take up translation of Persian manuscripts to other languages.

Work in progress

Officials said that persons proficient in oriental languages and mechanisms of conservation are already working in the library since a fortnight.

"Already 5,000 pages have been digitised and microfilmed by experts. Because of the huge number of pages, the project will be taken up for two more years," the OML Director said.

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