Digital Preservation of Rare Manuscripts in Assam - INFLIBNET Centre

Digital Preservation of Rare Manuscripts in Assam 7 th International CALIBER 2009preservation of manuscripts in Assam. The newsreport ‘Conservation of 6,548 sanchipatscompleted’ published in the Assam Tribune, dated17 September, 2008, informed that CulturalInformatics, a branch of the IGNCA hassuccessfully completed the identification,conservation and digitization of 6,548 numbers ofrare and valuable manuscripts of Assam. Thesemanuscripts are available in different mediums likesanchipat, palm leaf, paper etc. Out of these abovenumbers of manuscripts, 4,396 were on sanchipat,259 on paper pulp, 1,892 on modern paper and 1on palm leaf, collected from 126 sources of theState, including the Satra institutes scattered indifferent places of Assam.At present, digitization of manuscripts, which areavailable in Narayani Handiqui Historical Institute(Department ofHistory & Antiquarian Studies), Guwahati is goingon by the IGNCA, which has also a mightycollection of rare manuscriptsGauhati University, the leading academic andresearch institute of NE India is known for itscentral library i.e. KKHLibrary, which is full of 2.5 lakhs valuable books.The Archival Cell is another important section ofthis KKH Library which is mainly working for thepreservation and conservation of different valuablemanuscripts. Now it has about 4,500 valuablemanuscripts written on Sachipat, tula pat and paperand these manuscripts have been preserved in themanuscript section of the Archival cell of thelibrary. Recently, digitization of around 2,000 hasbeen completed under the National Mission forManuscripts and the library will soon get the CDsof these manuscripts. It is better to mentioned thatin Assam, KKH Library has been working asManuscript Resource Center (MRC) andManuscript Conservation Center (MCC) from thevery beginning of this Mission to carry out thepreservation and conservation works of manuscriptsof the State and the library has developed abibliographic database including all total 25,480manuscripts till 4.12.2008.America based Assam Society of America, has beeninvolving in preservation of manuscript in Assam.The Society had started a Project for the digitalrestoration of rare and ancient Assamesemanuscripts, with Jugal Kalita as the ProjectCoordinator. The Kuruabahi Satra in Golaghat,Assam is one of the famous Satras in Assam, has acollection about 60 manuscripts. In 2005, theSociety digitally photographed these manuscripts,as this Satra had published an advertisement in anewspaper, seeking help for preservation of thesemanuscripts.In Assam, the manuscripts, whether stored inuniversity library, in museum or in otherorganizations, are mainly originated in Satrainstitute. So, emphasis should be given onpreserving these manuscripts first.6. ConclusionThe deterioration is one of the major problems inorganization and management of manuscriptcollection.But deterioration is the rule of nature, so nowemphasis is given on the preservation of thecontents along with the physical preservation ofthe manuscripts; in some cases physicalpreservation of manuscripts is impossible too. Thedigital preservation is suggested and followed as itcan preserve the manuscripts with its own physicalfeatures and contents.- 17 -