Gyan Bharatam: Reclaiming knowledge legacy

Organised by the Ministry of Culture, it brought together scholars, conservators, archivists, technologists, and legal experts to discuss preservation, documentation, and integration of India’s vast knowledge systems

The Gyan Bharatam International Conference on Reclaiming Knowledge Legacy Through Manuscript Heritage, held from 11–13 September 2025 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, marked a historic step in restoring the country’s manuscript traditions to the center of contemporary scholarship.

The three-day conference, organised by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, brought together scholars, archivists, legal experts, conservators, technologists, and experts in the cultural domain to deliberate on one of Bharat’s most pressing responsibilities, i.e., the preservation, documentation, and integration of vast and largely undocumented knowledge systems.

Prime Minister’s Participation: A National Commitment

A defining moment of the conference was the participation of the Hon’ble Prime Minister of Bharat in a special session on 12 September. In an unprecedented move, the Prime Minister joined the conference as a participant, listening to the deliberations and engaging with panelists and researchers. This symbolic gesture underscored the priority of democratising cultural policymaking, where the highest leadership partakes in dialogue rather than remaining at a distance. The Prime Minister emphasised that reclaiming the manuscript heritage is more than an academic pursuit; it’s a civilisational imperative. He said that manuscripts hold the essence of Bharat’s intellectual, scientific, and spiritual traditions, ranging from Ayurveda, mathematics, astronomy, metallurgy, and linguistics to philosophy, law, and governance.

Why Gyan Bharatam Matters

The country has an estimated five million manuscripts, preserved in libraries, temples, monasteries, private collections, and family archives. A large proportion of these remain undocumented, scattered, and vulnerable to damage. Many traditions, particularly oral or community-based, are yet to find a place in structured archival systems.

The Gyan Bharatam conference was a unique initiative to initiate a discussion on bridging the gap in documentation, approaches in scientific conservation, technology innovation in the entire process, and ultimately dissemination mechanisms.

The conference included working group paper presentations and extended expert discussions with technological solutions. The discussions included survey and metadata standards, critical to ensuring that manuscripts, whether palm leaf, birch bark, or paper, are indexed and digitally accessible.

The sessions on conservation and restoration underscored the urgency of preventing bio-deterioration, environmental damage, and neglect. The views of experts on AI, OCR, and IIIF (International Image Interoperability Framework) protocols were highlighted as tools to digitise and disseminate Indic manuscripts globally.

The discussions explored how manuscripts can serve as instruments of soft power, connecting Bharat to global knowledge traditions. The panels examined how undocumented heritage and traditional knowledge can be integrated into national and international legal frameworks to prevent misappropriation.

A major strand of the conference revolved around legal and ethical frameworks for manuscript preservation and access. The experts recommended Codifying Custodianship by establishing clear legal guidelines on ownership and responsibility for manuscripts in private and institutional collections. There was also mention of Strengthening IPR Mechanisms by expanding the ambit of the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) and linking it to global patent offices to safeguard against misappropriation.

The experts felt the need to balance scholarly research with ethical considerations of community ownership. There was also discussion on leveraging initiatives like the Memory of the World Programme to internationalise manuscript heritage.

Decoding manuscripts is a major challenge, as experts in deciphering are just a handful. There is a dire requirement to skill young scholars and create career opportunities in the field. By embedding traditional knowledge within national and international legal structures, a country can ensure both protection and rightful recognition of its cultural wealth.

Preserving the Undocumented Heritage

The conference also highlighted the vast corpus of oral and community traditions which are not yet documented. From tribal medicinal knowledge to performing arts, much of this heritage is transmitted orally. Preserving this undocumented legacy requires Community-Centric Documentation, which calls for the engagement of local custodians, gurus, and practitioners in recording knowledge systems, ensuring authenticity and continuity. To document the oral and community traditions, it is important to have indigenously developed parameters and frameworks.

Discussions included the monetisation and creation of open-access repositories for oral histories, rituals, and performances alongside manuscripts. More importantly, approaches to include indigenous knowledge systems in school and university curricula under the NEP 2020 framework were discussed.

There is an immediate need to train conservators, legal experts, and scholars to handle fragile manuscripts as well as oral traditions with equal rigor. This massive task requires Public Participation, encouraging families and communities to bring forward undocumented material for preservation before it is lost.

Traditional knowledge is a repository of solutions for modern-day challenges and needs attention from the Government and civil society.

Preserving and integrating undocumented traditional knowledge into legal and institutional frameworks ensures that Bharat’s civilisational legacy is not only safeguarded but also contributes to global well-being. From Ayurveda to astronomy, from oral traditions to digitised palm-leaf manuscripts, Gyan Bharatam is building bridges between the past and the future, reaffirming Bharat’s role as a Vishwa Guru.

(The writer is a Creative Economy Expert)