Dairatul Maarif, the ancient institute devoted for preservation of rare Arabic manuscripts, has got a new lease of life with the Ministry of Minority Affairs agreeing to sanction Rs. 13 crore.
The visit of Arvind Mayaram, Secretary, Minority Affairs, Government of India, to the institute the other day signalled good days for it.
Funds will be released under the Government of India scheme ‘Hamari Darohar’, which aims at preserving the rich heritage of minority communities in the context of Indian culture. The funds would be sanctioned over the next few years in instalments.
Mr. Mayaram asked the Telangana Minority Welfare Secretary, Syed Omer Jaleel, to immediately send a proposal in this regard. Mr. Mayaram and other senior officials accompanying him were quite impressed by the treasure trove of books at the institute situated in the Osmania University campus. At the same time, they were shocked at its run down condition and the poor facilities available to preserve the manuscripts. The officials were in the city to attend a meeting on bifurcation of the Wakf Board.
Mr. Mayaram, who had heard a lot about Dairatul Maarif from his wife who visited it earlier for her research work, did not want to give it a miss. He made a detailed inspection of the editing, composing, printing and binding sections and also examined the rare collection of books. The Central team was quite surprised at the Arabic translation of Geeta.
Dairatul Maarif was established in 1888 during the reign of the 6{+t}{+h}Nizam, Mir Mahboob Ali Khan, with the objective of procuring, transcribing, collating, editing and publishing rare Arabic manuscripts of prominent scholars belonging to the classical era of Islam. Over the years, the Institute has published books covering a wide range of subjects such as interpretation of the Quran, traditions, history, philosophy, Sufism, metaphysics, medicine, surgery, mathematics and others. Vice-President, Hamid Ansari, was among the many dignitaries to visit Dairatul Maarif.
Mr. Mayaram suggested digitalisation of the books and their translation in English.
Funds will be released under the Government of India scheme ‘Hamari Darohar’