About Gyan Bharatam Mission:
- It is a special mission for the survey, documentation, and conservation of India’s manuscript heritage lying with academic institutions, museums, libraries, and private collectors.
- It intends to cover more than one crore manuscripts.
- A key component of the Gyan Bharatam Mission is the national digital repository of the Indian knowledge system.
- It will serve as a platform for knowledge sharing.
- It will help in digitising and centralising India’s traditional knowledge.
- It will be accessible to researchers, students, and institutions worldwide.
What is a Manuscript?
- A manuscript is a handwritten composition on paper, bark, cloth, metal, palm leaf, or any other material dating back at least 75 years that has significant scientific, historical and aesthetic value.
- Lithographs and printed volumes are not manuscripts.
- Manuscripts are found in hundreds of different languages and scripts.
- Often, one language is written in a number of different scripts. For example, Sanskrit written in Oriya script, Grantha script, Devanagari script, and many other scripts.
- Manuscripts are distinct from historical records such as epigraphs on rocks, farmans, and revenue records, which provide direct information on events or processes in history.
- Manuscripts have knowledge content.