Artifacts and rare manuscripts of Jammu and Kashmir have been put to public display at a five-day long workshop here.
The workshop-cum-exhibition - Preservative Conservation of Manuscripts - was inaugurated by Minister of state for Culture Priya Sethi at Kala Kendra in the city today.
The government is keen to launch a massive campaign for the preservation and conservation of the state's artifacts and manuscripts, she said.
Sethi said the state possesses an uninterrupted account of oriental learning, which could be traced back to the beginning of history.
By virtue of its uniqueness, the state has remained a sanctuary of mixed and harmonised cultures, the minister said.
"We need to have a research-based approach for carrying out works in listing the manuscripts," she said
Sethi said 'Mission for Manuscripts' would help the state to understand its past.
"We lack awareness as far as the cultural aspects of our society are concerned. We, perhaps, don't know the importance of artifacts available with us," she said.
In Jammu and Kashmir, there are large number of manuscripts and other historical documents written during the last several centuries and are lying in libraries, oriental research institutions, temples, khanqah's and in private collections, the minister said.
"In fact, the number is so large and widespread that we do not have even a rough estimate of what is available in our state and where. Manuscripts are written on different types of materials like birch bark, palm leaf, cloth, or paper and constant efforts are required for their preservation," she said.
"We must focus in this cultural repository for our better future," she added.
The event is being organized by Department of Archives, Archaeology & Museums, Jammu and Kashmir in collaboration with Shasvat Art Gallery, Jammu and Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH).
The workshop has been sanctioned by National Mission for Manuscripts, Union Ministry of Culture.
Besides the workshop, the exhibition of rare calligraphic specimens, rare thangkas, manuscripts, and painting are being displayed.
The exhibition displays rare items, including complete 30 chapters of Quran (hand written) on one sheet of Parhment size 6X4 feet, the specimen of Islamic calligraphy on vellum (goat skin), Ladakhi Buddhist tanka's (with gold work), paintings (Jain school and Sikh school of paintings), manuscripts (palm leaf, bhoj-petter, rice paper), shajra- mubarak from Prophet Adam (AS) size 25 feet x 1 feet (gold illuminated).
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