Working towards fulfilling its motto ‘Conserving the past for the future’, National Manuscripts Mission (NMM) has emerged as a movement, undoubtedly, the most popular and effective among all the heritage conservation initiatives in the country, said NMM Director V. Venkatramana Reddy.
Addressing the three-day national seminar on ‘Unpublished scientific manuscripts in Sanskrit’ conducted by the mission at Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha (RSVP) here on Tuesday, he said the mission was mandated to unearth and preserve the country’s vast manuscript wealth.
Established in 2003 by the union Ministry of Tourism and Culture and inaugurated by the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, the mission is a unique project in its programme and mandate, Prof. Reddy said. The mission will also extend support to the varsity in hosting an international conference on manuscripts next year.
RSVP Vice-Chancellor V. Muralidhara Sharma expressed confidence that the forty delegates from the scholarly and scientific fraternities would help unravel the treasure hidden in Sanskrit manuscripts. “People possessing such valuable manuscripts can donate them to the Vidyapeetha, which will add to our impressive collection of 3800 such manuscripts,” Prof. Sharma said.
