Move to impart reading skills in manuscripts

Hyderabad: As part of efforts to protect centuries old manuscripts and for generating awareness about treasure trove of knowledge passed on from medieval times, the Abul Kalam Azad Oriental Research Institute located at Public Gardens will be conducting a 2-month workshop on 'manuscript reading,' from September.

According to the organisers, who just held a 3-day national seminar on 'Oriental Libraries in Deccan' (erstwhile Hyderabad State) as part of its diamond jubilee celebrations on August 26-28, it was felt that the younger generation needed knowledge and know-how of 'manuscript reading' which is an important skill for interpreting the manuscripts which are hand-written and most of which are several centuries old.

"Reading of manuscript is an important skill, as hand-written copies cannot be read without the help of experts. There are different types of writing styles, which makes this a tough task to understand and interpret. Hence we have decided to conduct this special workshop from next month, which will have twice a week classes," said the chairperson of Institute, Prof Ashraf Rafi.

Speaking to The Hans India, she said that this was part of efforts to protect and conserve the manuscripts which was one of the resolution made during the 3-day. Those who attended the programme put forward this proposal in the best interests of the protecting the centuries-old inheritance.

Another important resolution passed on 3rd day was to 'conduct a study' on the condition of Libraries across the State which house, Urdu, Persian and Arabic literary books, by the Institute's members. The results would be later presented to the concerned authorities requesting possible steps towards protecting these libraries. "The dates of the workshop are yet to be decided and shall be finalized after holding a meeting shortly," she said.

Prof Ashraf Rafi expressed satisfaction over the turnout of the 3-day workshop which included not only students, Professors, but officials from Archeology department, besides Universities faculty and Urdu lovers.

"In today's world the topic of Libraries appears to be dry, but students reflected keen interest and appeared to be very much enthusiastic about kinds of Libraries and types of books archived there," she added.