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UNESCO adds three Indian literary works to Asia-Pacific register
Ramcharitmanas, Panchatantra, and Sahṛdayaloka-Locana have been inscribed in the 2024 Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific Regional Register.
Ramcharitmanas, Panchatantra and Sahrdayaloka-Locana were nominated by India and later accepted by MOWCAP. / UN India Digital Library
UNESCO's Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific recently added three Indian literary works — Ramcharitmanas, Panchatantra, and Sahṛdayaloka-Locana — to its regional register.
The Ramcharitmanas, Panchatantra, and Sahṛdayaloka-Locana were authored by Goswami Tulsidas, Pt. Vishnu Sharma and Acharya Anandvardhan, respectively. The timeless works have deeply influenced Indian literature and culture, shaping the nation's moral fabric and artistic expressions.
India nominated the works, which were then approved during the 10th meeting of the Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific (MOWCAP) held from May.7-8 in Mongolia.
The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) played a vital role in securing this historic moment for India. At the 10th meeting of MOWCAP, IGNCA advocated for these three Indian nominations.
“This milestone accentuates IGNCA's dedication to preserving and promoting India's cultural heritage, reaffirming its commitment to global cultural preservation and the advancement of India's literary legacy,” a Government of India statement said.
UNESCO's South Asia Regional Office director Tim Curtis congratulated India for the achievements, saying, “It is a significant achievement in recognizing and safeguarding the diverse and artistic expressions that shape humanity. These literary treasures will enlighten and inspire generations to come.”
While Ramcharitmanas is a revered epic that is read extensively across Southeast Asia, Panchantantra includes fables that teach universal moral lessons. And, Sahṛdayaloka-Locana is a 15th-century scholarly work penned in Kashmiri that is often praised for its aesthetic appeal.
The list of 17 other works that are currently inscribed into the register include: Funafuti: The Edgeworth David 1897 expedition documents (Australia and Tuvalu); Sultana’s dream by Rokeya S Hossain (Bangladesh); Archives relating to the Chengdu traditional teahouses, Huizhou genealogy archives and printing blocks housed at the Derge Printing House (China); Indarung I, the first cement plant in Southeast Asia, Indonesian sugar research institute’s archives and the Tambo Tuanku Imam Bonjol manuscript (Indonesia); Al-Tarikh Salasilah Negeri Kedah and the royal correspondence of Baginda Omar (Malaysia); family chart of hereditary lords of the Khalkha Mongols, the house of Genghis Khan and Mongolia’s first postage stamps (Mongolia); a Christian doctrine in Spanish and Tagalog, and Hinilawod epic chant recordings (Philippines); images of Khorezm oasis and Turkestan album (Uzbekistan) and lastly, Bas-reliefs on the Nine Bronze Urns in Huế Imperial Palace (Vietnam).
Since 1992, UNESCO’s Memory of the World (MoW) Programme has been striving to prevent loss of collective human memory by protecting the world’s documentary heritage in all its forms, along with democratizing access and raising awareness of the need to maintain these significant works.
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