India to Host First Global Conference on Manuscript Heritage

India will host its first-ever global conference on manuscript heritage from September 11 to 13, 2025, at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. Announced by the Ministry of Culture, this major event aims to protect, promote, and share India’s ancient manuscript knowledge with the world. The announcement was made on Guru Purnima, highlighting the country’s respect for its rich guru–śiṣya tradition and knowledge legacy.

A Global Effort to Preserve Ancient Wisdom

Titled “Reclaiming India’s Knowledge Legacy Through Manuscript Heritage”, the three-day international event will gather over 500 delegates, including 75 well-known scholars and cultural experts from India and abroad. The event will be conducted in a hybrid format—allowing both in-person and online participation—to ensure wide global reach.

India has more than 10 million manuscripts in various scripts and languages, covering areas like philosophy, science, medicine, literature, rituals, and arts. This conference is a step toward protecting this rare knowledge and making it more accessible to younger generations and global researchers.

A Tribute to India’s Global Vision

The event is also a tribute to Swami Vivekananda’s historic speech at the Parliament of the World’s Religions on September 11, 1893. That date was chosen for the conference as a reminder of India’s deep-rooted commitment to global peace and knowledge sharing.

The event will feature rare manuscript exhibitions, including works listed in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register, along with live conservation demos, cultural programs, workshops, and displays by startups focused on manuscript innovation.

Key Initiatives and Programmes

The conference will launch a special plan called the Manuscript Research Partner (MRP) programme, offering training, script labs, and hands-on workshops for young scholars. Another major outcome will be the New Delhi Declaration on Manuscript Heritage, which will guide future actions on preservation, translation, and digitisation.

There will also be sessions on modern topics like AI-based archiving, ethical conservation, digitisation, palaeography, and using manuscript knowledge in education. Interested researchers can submit their papers or case studies by August 10, 2025, on the official website: https://gbm-moc.in. Queries and full papers can be sent to gbmconference@gmail.com.