UNESCO recognises 307-year-old Mahabharata manuscript preserved at Visva-Bharati

Kolkata: A 307-year-old palm-leaf manuscript containing a portion of the Mahabharata, which has been preserved at Visva-Bharati university in Santiniketan, was included in UNESCO's Memory of the World Asia-Pacific Regional Register, an official said on Tuesday.

The UNESCO register preserves and highlights documentary heritage of major cultural, historical, and scientific significance across the region.

The manuscript, comprising 221 folios, was transcribed by Haricharan Sharma and documents the Karna Parva, one of the 18 sections of the ancient Sanskrit epic traditionally attributed to sage Vyasa.


"UNESCO's Memory of the World Asia-Pacific Regional Register has included the 307-year-old manuscript. This recognition is expected to bring greater attention to Visva-Bharati's rich manuscript collection housed at its Lipika repository," the university's spokesperson told.

He said the central university began digitising thousands of rare manuscripts at the Lipika manuscript repository under the government's nationwide Gyan Bharatam Mission, under the guidance of an expert team from the Asiatic Society.

Gyan Bharatam Mission safeguards India's manuscript heritage by bringing it into the digital age.

"The development will also encourage further research into the historical and literary works preserved there," the spokesperson said.

Lipika also houses manuscripts of other sections of the Mahabharata, besides a diverse collection of works in Sanskrit, Bengali and four other languages.

The spokesperson said several other works preserved at Lipika, including treatises on dramaturgy, had earlier received UNESCO recognition.

The latest recognition has renewed interest in the university's manuscript archives and their significance as repositories of India's literary and cultural heritage.