Lucknow, Oct 13 (PTI) More than 15,000 rare manuscripts have been digitised in Uttar Pradesh under the Centre’s Gyan Bharatam Mission, with over 7.56 lakh pages scanned across six institutions in the state, the Uttar Pradesh government said on Tuesday.
According to the state government, 7,56,392 pages from 15,890 manuscripts have been scanned as of September 2026. Metadata has been prepared for 14,594 manuscripts, while 14,208 records have been uploaded digitally.
The digitisation exercise is underway at Gita Press in Gorakhpur, Nagari Pracharini Sabha, Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, Government Manuscript Library, Sampurnanand Sanskrit University and Vrindavan Research Institute in Mathura, the government said in a statement.
Culture and Tourism Minister
Jaiveer Singh said the initiative aims to preserve centuries-old literary, religious and cultural heritage, and make it accessible for future research and study.
“The objective is not merely to scan old documents but to preserve the knowledge and historical material they contain for the long term and make them available in digital form for future research and study,” Singh said.
The Vrindavan Research Institute has recorded the highest number of scanned pages among the six institutions, with 1,93,256 (1.93 lakh) pages associated with 3,161 manuscripts digitised. Metadata has been prepared for 2,998 manuscripts and 2,846 records have been uploaded, according to the statement.
The Government Manuscript Library has scanned 1,52,519 (1.52 lakh) pages from 1,623 manuscripts, with 1,472 metadata records prepared and 1,410 uploaded. Gita Press has scanned 1,32,264 (1.32 lakh) pages from 794 manuscripts, with metadata prepared for 595 manuscripts and 570 records uploaded.
At Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, 1,26,878 (1.26 lakh) pages from 2,400 manuscripts have been scanned, while Sampurnanand Sanskrit University has digitised 90,300 pages from 1,192 manuscripts.
Nagari Pracharini Sabha has scanned 61,175 pages associated with 6,720 manuscripts, the statement said.
Singh said digitisation would help protect rare documents from deterioration and improve access for researchers, students and those studying literature and history.
He said the systematic cataloguing of manuscripts through metadata would also help document their contents and associated information, adding that the initiative would preserve Uttar Pradesh’s intellectual and cultural heritage for future generations and open new avenues for research. PTI KIS KSS
KSS
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