Demonstrates the wealth and diversity of India's manuscript traditions and communicates a lasting impression of India as a multifarious and multicultural society that holds knowledge and knowledge systems in high regard. This title introduces manuscripts, books, and related documents that span a timescale of almost two millennia of Indian history. The Word is Sacred; Sacred is The Word: The Indian Manuscript Tradition' sets out to demonstrate the wealth and diversity of India's manuscript traditions and to communicate a lasting impression of India as a'

Contributed articles.

On the performance, achievements, and activities of the Mission in India for a period of five years commencing from 2004.

The National Mission For Manuscripts, Through Its Nationwide Documentation Efforts, Is Engaged In Preserving And Rendering Accessible India'S Knowledge Cultures. The Mission'S Seminar Series, Samrakshka, Which Began In February 2005, Presents Various Regional And Local Practices Employed In The Creation And Preservation Of Manuscripts.

On the Mission's background, objectives, and plans in India.

This book highlights the present status of manuscript collection in the different repositories of India, and also suggests some remedial measures which are required to be adopted for the proper conservation, care and management of manuscripts. It showcases the nature of base material, ink, pigments, binding materials, writing and illustration techniques used in different manuscripts, given the importance of having thorough knowledge about the chemical composition of different materials before adopting any kind of conservation practice. As dating of manuscript is a very difficult task, a great variety of techniques and methodology such as palaeography, style of writing, illustration and terminology, colophon, spectrometric methods, and radio carbon dating, among others, are discussed here. Furthermore, as prevention is better than cure, different preventive measures, including indigenous methods practiced during the ancient period for preservation of manuscripts, are also outlined, as are the hazards of using different chemicals for conservation of manuscripts.

Illustrations: 6 B/W & 3 Colour Illustrations Description: The National Mission for Manuscripts was established as a five-year mission in February 2003 by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Government of India with the purpose of locating, documenting, presenting and disseminating the knowledge content of India s handwritten manuscripts, said to be the largest collection of handwritten knowledge documents anywhere in the world. While looking ahead to reconnect with the knowledge of the past, the Mission is in the process of trying to re-contextualize the knowledge contained in manuscripts for the present and the future generations. The Mission launched a lecture series titled Tattvabodha in January 2005. Since then, a monthly lecture series in Delhi and other centres in the country, Tattvabodha has established itself as a forum for intellectual discourse, debate and discussion. Eminent scholars representing different aspects of India s knowledge systems have addressed and interacted with highly receptive audience over the course of the past year and a half. The present volume comprises the first ten lectures under Tattvabodha. A glance at the list of contributors will reveal that the Mission has had the privilege of hosting the finest exponents of Indian culture and the compilation of their lectures makes for invaluable literature. The contributors are listed in alphabetic order: M. K. Byrski, R. Champakalakshmi, Lokesh Chandra, D. P. Chattopadhyaya, G. N. Devy, Irfan Habib, Sheldon Pollock, Namwar Singh, M. S. Valiathan and Kapila Vatsyayan.