07-31-2005, 08:17 PM
A brand new rediscovery of grand old Delhi
Mandira Nayar
NEW DELHI: Sniffing out history through narrow by-lanes and broad tree-lined avenues of Delhi these days are a bunch of enthusiastic treasure hunters hot on the trail of the Capital's written legacy. Covering obscure temples, tiny mosques and even the odd slum cluster, the search for manuscripts launched by the National Mission for Manuscripts here this past week has led to some exciting discoveries in totally unexpected quarters.
From two pages of a folio found in a temple at Mukerjee Nagar that dates back to the 11th Century to "Guruanyas", a 200-year-old handwritten manuscript that is worshipped even today in a temple near good old Kashmere Gate, the paper chase seems endless.
"We never thought there would be so many manuscripts in Delhi. We knew we would find some in places like Chandni Chowk, but it was really surprising that there were so many of them in North Delhi. Some of the finds like the 11th Century manuscript are really important because the script is a mix of Bengali, Maithili and Sanskrit, which will go a long way in understanding how these languages evolved. The only problem is that we have not found a full collection anywhere," says conservator Ritu Jain.
Walking in the sweltering July heat with only an Eicher map for a guide, it was after four long days that one of the search teams got lucky. "The first day of the hunt was a Sunday and the area we were to map out was residential with mainly businessmen living there. They all had door-phones and they wouldn't even let us in. Some people even thought we were salesmen," said Sanjay, a volunteer.
While the preliminary survey for the Capital was to last only ten days, the teams already have appointments to look at manuscripts till September 20. With people suddenly discovering that old written texts are valuable, volunteers are being promised sacks full of old manuscripts from places as far away as Kanpur.
The usual spots apart, manuscripts have also been found in places like homoeopathic clinics and even slum clusters, in a way proving that protectors of the past are not always educated or rich.
The priest at a small roadside Durga temple in Model Town III here is a perfect example of the "ordinary" unsung protector. Clinging on to the words of wisdom passed down from his father, he has kept alive a small piece of history. Handwritten in carbon-black that is tough to wash away, the manuscript is the only one that survives from a larger collection.
"We had a whole trunk full of manuscripts. But they were ruined in the floods that happened a couple of decades ago. This was the only one that we managed to save," he said.
While conservationists believe that there is still hope of salvaging some bit of the past for the future, they also believe that the ongoing survey is historic in more ways than one. And perhaps the most important find has been the enthusiasm of the younger generation for the ancient world. As a lawyer-turned-manuscript-scout Arun Kumar Shukla put it: "I feel that such things help me rejuvenate myself. I intend to keep following up these appointments so that I can find all the manuscripts even after the survey is over."
Mandira Nayar
NEW DELHI: Sniffing out history through narrow by-lanes and broad tree-lined avenues of Delhi these days are a bunch of enthusiastic treasure hunters hot on the trail of the Capital's written legacy. Covering obscure temples, tiny mosques and even the odd slum cluster, the search for manuscripts launched by the National Mission for Manuscripts here this past week has led to some exciting discoveries in totally unexpected quarters.
From two pages of a folio found in a temple at Mukerjee Nagar that dates back to the 11th Century to "Guruanyas", a 200-year-old handwritten manuscript that is worshipped even today in a temple near good old Kashmere Gate, the paper chase seems endless.
"We never thought there would be so many manuscripts in Delhi. We knew we would find some in places like Chandni Chowk, but it was really surprising that there were so many of them in North Delhi. Some of the finds like the 11th Century manuscript are really important because the script is a mix of Bengali, Maithili and Sanskrit, which will go a long way in understanding how these languages evolved. The only problem is that we have not found a full collection anywhere," says conservator Ritu Jain.
Walking in the sweltering July heat with only an Eicher map for a guide, it was after four long days that one of the search teams got lucky. "The first day of the hunt was a Sunday and the area we were to map out was residential with mainly businessmen living there. They all had door-phones and they wouldn't even let us in. Some people even thought we were salesmen," said Sanjay, a volunteer.
While the preliminary survey for the Capital was to last only ten days, the teams already have appointments to look at manuscripts till September 20. With people suddenly discovering that old written texts are valuable, volunteers are being promised sacks full of old manuscripts from places as far away as Kanpur.
The usual spots apart, manuscripts have also been found in places like homoeopathic clinics and even slum clusters, in a way proving that protectors of the past are not always educated or rich.
The priest at a small roadside Durga temple in Model Town III here is a perfect example of the "ordinary" unsung protector. Clinging on to the words of wisdom passed down from his father, he has kept alive a small piece of history. Handwritten in carbon-black that is tough to wash away, the manuscript is the only one that survives from a larger collection.
"We had a whole trunk full of manuscripts. But they were ruined in the floods that happened a couple of decades ago. This was the only one that we managed to save," he said.
While conservationists believe that there is still hope of salvaging some bit of the past for the future, they also believe that the ongoing survey is historic in more ways than one. And perhaps the most important find has been the enthusiasm of the younger generation for the ancient world. As a lawyer-turned-manuscript-scout Arun Kumar Shukla put it: "I feel that such things help me rejuvenate myself. I intend to keep following up these appointments so that I can find all the manuscripts even after the survey is over."