Rare manuscripts turn up

A Delhi survey has surfaced a roughly 300-year-old illustrated *Shrimad Bhagwat*, a rare Jain manuscript from Kund Kund Bharati, and a 250-year-old medical text. (hindustantimes.com) The finds were reported on April 21, 2026, during a manuscript survey being carried out in the capital under the Centre’s Gyan Bharatam Mission. The Delhi government’s Archives Department launched the local exercise to identify unregistered manuscripts more than 75 years old tied to religion, medicine and traditional knowledge systems. (hindustantimes.com; news18.com) Gyan Bharatam is a national cataloguing and preservation drive for old manuscripts, with survey, conservation and digitization as its core steps. Its public portal says the program is built to map collections across India, preserve fragile texts and make them searchable by theme, script and region. (gyanbharatam.com) The Delhi discovery lands in the middle of a wider national push. The Union culture ministry said on March 31, 2026 that nearly 40 lakh manuscripts had been logged on the Gyan Bharatam portal and that a three-month nationwide survey had been launched to bring unrecorded collections into the system. (newindianexpress.com) Officials have said many of the manuscripts entering the national database are fragile and need urgent conservation, while others have already been digitized. The same ministry update said more than 600 custodians had submitted collections written on materials including palm leaf, paper, textile and copper plate. (newindianexpress.com) Delhi already has an archival institution built for that kind of work. The Department of Delhi Archives says it was set up in 1972 to preserve the capital’s records, manuscripts, books, maps and photographs, and moved in 1986 to its current building designed to archival standards. (delhiarchives.delhi.gov.in) Manuscripts matter partly because they are physical records, not just texts. The National Museum says Indian manuscripts span roughly from the 7th century to the 20th century and were written on materials ranging from birch bark and palm leaf to paper, cloth, wood and metal. (nationalmuseumindia.gov.in) The Delhi survey is now adding fresh entries to that record, one collection at a time. A city inventory meant to catch manuscripts older than 75 years has already turned up texts from about 250 to 300 years ago. (hindustantimes.com; news18.com)