Rigvedic Manuscripts in UNESCO's 'Memory of the World' Register

Fun fact from 'Eaten by a Fish'

UNESCO launched its Memory of the World programme in 1992 with the objective of preserving and protecting the world’s documentary heritage, and making it “permanently accessible to all without hindrance.” The Memory of the World Register is part of this initiative and lists manuscripts and documents that are considered to be of universal significance.

The thirty Rigvedic manuscripts held by the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) in Pune were included in the Register in 2007.

Sometime after 1000 BCE, the hymns of the Rigveda were collected and arranged into ten books. The Rigveda collection was preserved and transmitted through Vedic schools or shakhas, all of which made minor alterations in the text. Ancient sources list at least five such schools. The Rigveda available to us today is that of the Shakala school, established by Shakalya, a teacher of the late Vedic period. All other recensions have been lost.

Each school produced a samhita text of the Rigveda, that is, a text which included sandhi, the euphonic combination of the final letter of a word with the initial letter of a following word, a feature characteristic of Sanskrit. Thus, in a samhita text, the hymns are in the form in which they would have been recited during a yajna. Shakalya also produced a padapatha text, that is, a text which restores the original form of the words before the application of sandhi. Of the thirty Rigvedic manuscripts held by BORI include nine are samhita manuscripts, of which five are complete, and five are padapatha manuscripts.

The remaining sixteen manuscripts are of Sayana’s commentary on the Rigveda. Sayana, a renowned Sanskrit scholar from Hampi, wrote his commentary on the Rigveda sometime in the second half of the 14th century CE, under the patronage of King Bukka Raya I (1342–1404 CE) of Vijaynagar. Sayana is credited with more than a hundred works, most of which are commentaries on the Vedas.

The oldest of the Rigvedic manuscripts held by BORI (MS No. 5/1882-83) dates back to 1464. Of these thirty manuscripts, twenty-nine are written on paper, in the Devanagari script. The remaining manuscript (MS No. 5/1875-76) is from Kashmir and is written on birch-bark in the Kashmiri Sharada script.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to determine whether the birch-bark manuscript is of the samhita, the padapatha or a copy of Sayana’s commentary. I would be grateful if any of my readers know. Please leave a comment below:

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‘MEMORY OF THE WORLD’ REGISTER

At the time of writing, a total of 527 items or “inscriptions” are listed in the Register, and of these, nine are from India. This is as per the statistics given on the UNESCO website.

The Register is organised alphabetically as well as by region and country. The full list can be accessed on UNESCO’s website here:
Full list of documentary heritage inscribed to the Memory of the World Register

The complete list of Indian manuscripts included in the Register may be found here:
Memory of the World: India

Given India’s great manuscript wealth, it is to be hoped that in time, India will feature more significantly on this list.

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