![]() ![]() The programme involves working with Italian expert Marco Di Bella, whose country has previously funded equipment for the House of Manuscripts' offices, including lighting. "You can spend several months with the same book."Īhmed is one of seven Iraqi conservators who are currently undergoing training, funded by the Italian embassy, to help them carry out their colossal restoration mission. “They give us the manuscript, we treat it following proper scientific norms and we give it back.Each intervention must "preserve the old appearance" of a work, said Tayba Ahmed, 30, who has been doing restoration for three years.īut it also must reduce any damage to the work "so that it can live longer", she added.Ī text "may not have a cover, the pages might be detached, you may have to sew and make a leather cover", she said. ![]() “We will not be storing manuscripts here, it is a treatment centre,” said Sarma from HeCSA, adding that the public, religious institutes, families are welcome to get their manuscripts fixed at the centre. The centre, which is now fully functional, is not an archive. “Unfortunately, despite efforts, many are on the path to getting ruined,” said Sharma, adding, “This is part of our heritage, our identity.” The Department of Historical and Antiquarian Studies has a huge collection of both Sanchipaat and Tulapaat from the 13th century. “We are also using sophisticated equipment: handheld digital microscopes, infrared light (for illustrated manuscripts), UV fluorescent light (as a non-destructive examination technique) etc,” said Sharma. (Photo Courtesy: Avinibesh Sharma)Īmong the special preservation steps is one that uses a special Japanese tissue paper to ensconce the manuscript, and it is then put in an acid-proof box that is made in Italy. The Manuscript Conservation Centre in Guwahati will treat thousand-year-old hand-written folios from the Ahom Kingdom. “Conservation, restoration digitisation and documentation - the centre will cover all aspects,” said Avinibesh Sharma, one of the chief conservators and a document specialist at the lab. In places like Assam, the weather is humid - so manuscripts require even more care, maintenance at least every five years. While this is not the first attempt by NMM (two other centres were earlier established - one of which eventually closed - in the Guwahati University and in Guru Charan College, Silchar), it is arguably the first professional conservation laboratory for such manuscripts. On December 8, the state inaugurated a manuscript conservation centre that is based out of two rooms in the KK Handique Govt. The NMM is an initiative started in 2003 under the Ministry of Culture for scientific management of the manuscripts. In November 2017, HeCSA, a group of 10-12 conservationists who are undertaking projects to preserve the history of the state, approached the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM). They would then dispose them in water bodies,” he said. Thus several surviving manuscripts would have burnt edges, which superstitious people considered bad omens. “The idea was to preserve them with heat and smoke. Among the special preservation steps is using a Japanese tissue paper to ensconce the manuscripts, which will be then put in an acid-proof box made in Italy. He explained how in the olden days, manuscripts were stored in kitchen ceilings (called dhuasaangs or smoke roofs), right above wooden choolahs (chimneys). “One incident happened a few years ago in Nagaon - and local boys had to swim to retrieve hundreds of these manuscripts floating around the river,” said Jayanta Sarma of the Heritage Conservation Society of Assam (HeCSA). In the past, there have been instances when hundreds of manuscripts were dunked into rivers in different parts of Assam. At times due to a lack of proper conservation efforts, and sometimes because of a lack of awareness. Over centuries, the Sanchipaat has lived on: in private collections of old families, in the Satras (or the neo-Vaishnavite monasteries) of Majuli, Nalbari and Barpeta, and in libraries and museums.īut many have disappeared too. These “tree-bark” manuscripts, called Sanchipaat, were made through intricate, laborious procedures, and had a variety of information on diverse topics: wildlife, medicine, rituals and legends of Assam’s longest ruling dynasty, all written by hand. It was on bits of tree bark that the Ahoms, under whom a 600-year-old dynasty flourished in Assam, communicated in the 13th century. This is currently housed in the Department of Historical and Antiquarian Studies. The sanchipaat, which contains 135 folios, describes types of elephants, their ailments and treatment. The Hastividyarnava sanchipaat dating back to AD 1734 was composed under the orders of the Ahom King Sivasingha.
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