Telangana archives race to preserve rare Persian, Urdu manuscripts
HYDERABAD: The Telangana State Archives and Research Institute (TSRAI) is racing ahead to safeguard India’s manuscript legacy, fast-tracking preservation and digitization under the Gyan Bharatam Mission (GBM). This flagship Ministry of Culture initiative has already made impressive strides in Telangana, where officials have uncovered more than 1.8 lakh manuscripts and are bringing them to life in digital form at TSRAI.
Launched by the Prime Minister, the mission updates the earlier National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM), established in 2003 under the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA). Its goal is to survey, document, conserve, and digitize over one crore (10 million) manuscripts across academic institutions, museums, libraries, religious shrines, and private collections nationwide.
On November 14, 2025, the Telangana State Archives & Research Institute and the Gyan Bharatam Mission signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding. Under this agreement, Dr. Zareena Parveen, Director of State Archives, will survey, identify, and document rare manuscripts, especially those in Shikista (old chain script) Persian, held in institutions and private collections throughout Telangana.
Dr. Parveen’s expertise in old Persian and Urdu, along with her knowledge of Deccan manuscript traditions, has helped implement the mission in Telangana. After the MoU, officials installed scanners and computers, and assigned one cataloguer and two computer operators. They also provided online training after February 16, 2026.
As of April 8, 2026, officials have scanned 107 manuscripts and fully exported 60. They have captured a total of 23,088 images and successfully exported 13,181 images. Technical issues on the GBM side have slowed the export process, and 47 manuscripts remain pending.
The Telangana State Archives houses 1,80,668 manuscripts in a wide range of forms and languages. The collection includes 668 book-form manuscripts in Old Persian (Shikista), Arabic, Urdu, Deccani, Kannada, Marathi, Turkish, and English, totaling about 1,23,000 pages or images. The archives also contain 1,55,000 paper manuscripts, mainly Mughal records in Old Persian (Shikista), detailing the Mansabdari, revenue, and military systems of the Mughals in the Deccan, spanning an estimated 10,00,000 images. An additional 25,000 ornamental Persian manuscripts from a private collection contribute another 25,000 images. Altogether, the State Archives hold approximately 11,48,000 pages and images, covering subjects such as memoirs, biographies, literature, linguistics, geography, travelogues, and administrative history.
Survey work and data collection are ongoing. About 50 institutions and individuals with manuscripts and palm-leaf records have been identified in Hyderabad. The survey will soon expand to all districts of Telangana.
A survey under the Gyan Bharatam Mission identified 1,87,688 manuscripts across nine major institutions and private collections in Hyderabad. The Telangana State Archives & Research Institute contributed the largest share, with 1,80,668 book and paper manuscripts in multiple languages. Dr. Ambedkar Library at Osmania University holds 3,662 books and 305 palm leaves in 15 languages. The Department of Heritage holds 1,060 books in Persian, Sanskrit, Arabic, and Urdu, and the Sanskrit Academy has over 130 Sanskrit books. Dairatul Maarif holds 200 Arabic books, and the Iqbal Academy has 172 books in Persian and Urdu. Among private collections, Thanniru Srinivas contributed 1,000 bamboo leaf manuscripts and 100 books in Pali, Sanskrit, and Telugu. Sitaram Bagh Temple holds about 1,000 palm leaf folios in Sanskrit, and Suravaram Pratap Reddy Telugu University holds 77 books and 9 palm leaves in Telugu. Together, these collections represent a rich and diverse manuscript heritage that the mission aims to conserve and digitize.
Dr. Zareena Parveen, Director of State Archives and Coordinator of the GBM Cluster Centre, has appealed to the public, history enthusiasts, and families who possess rare manuscripts and palm-leaf records inherited from their ancestors. Conservation experts will visit your place free of cost to conserve and digitize these priceless records, ensuring scientific preservation while keeping them in the safe custody of their owners,” she stated.
The programme aims to cover not only institutions but also private collections held by individuals, religious shrines including temples, mutts, dargahs, mosques, churches, gurdwaras, and synagogues.
“Ultimately, officials will upload all digitized manuscripts to a National Digital Repository of Indian Knowledge Systems, making India’s ancient wisdom accessible to researchers, students, and the global community, while ensuring the physical preservation of the original manuscripts,” said M.A. Raqeeb, Assistant Director, Telangana State Archives.
With over 1.87 lakh manuscripts surveyed in Hyderabad and work expanding across Telangana, the Gyan Bharatam Mission is moving quickly from policy to practice. The mission brings together heritage conservation, technological innovation, and public participation to ensure officials preserve, digitize, and share India’s ancient knowledge systems globally.
