JALUKBARI, Jan 10 - The KK Handiqui Library of Gauhati University has received six old valuable manuscripts dating back to 1728 (Saka era), of which two are Krishna Gita written by Govinda Misra, one Mahabharata, one Kirtan Ghosha and two Bikramaditya Charitra. Four of the valuable manuscripts have been written on sanchipat (bark of the sanchi tree) and two on tulapat. These manuscripts are now about 209 years old.
The priceless manuscripts have been donated by Dr Chitendra Chandra Bordoloi of Jorpukhuri, Uzanbazar. It needs mention that Dr Bordoloi�s father late Prabodh Ch Bordoloi, who was fond of archiving such old treasures, preserved the manuscripts and passed them on to his next generation. Dr Bordoloi, with the passage of time, felt that the manuscripts needed to be preserved for the coming generations as vital sources of information and decided to donate the age-old manuscripts to the GU library, where manuscripts are properly preserved with modern techniques.
The manuscripts were received by Dhanjit Talukdar, archival assistant; Wooma Sankar Dev Nath, librarian, KK Handiqui Library and others associated with the library.
It is expected that the manuscripts donated by the Bordoloi family will not only enrich the collection of manuscripts, but will also help in future research.
Meanwhile, the people involved in the library�s manuscript archival section have appealed to all persons who have manuscripts at their disposal, to visit the KK Handiqui Library and learn the basic technique in preserving manuscripts with the help of locally available materials like neem leaves, citronela oil, etc.
The KKH Library has more than 4,000 valuable manuscripts written on sanchipat, tulapat, bamboo leaves and palm leaves, which are preserved in the manuscripts wing of its archival section.
