Illustrated manuscripts of ancient Ramacharitamanas and the 15th century manuscript of the Panchatantra fables are among the 20 items from the Asia-Pacific which have been inscribed in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Regional Register for the 2024 cycle.
The decision was taken at the 10th General Meeting of the Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific (MOWCAP), which was convened during May 7-8, in Mongolia capital Ulaanbaatar, officials said here on Monday.
The illustrated manuscripts of Ramacharitamanas of Tulsidas, the manuscript of the Sahrdayaloka-Locana: a seminal text of Indian poetics, and the 15th century manuscript of the Panchatantra fables have been inscribed in this list, they said. The 10th General Meeting was hosted by the Ministry of Culture of Mongolia, the Mongolian National Commission for UNESCO, and the UNESCO Regional Office in Bangkok, the world body said in a statement on May 8.
This year, the MOWCAP Regional Register celebrates “human research, innovation and imagination,” it said. “Genealogical records were especially notable among 2024 inscriptions, with Mongolia’s Family Chart of Hereditary Lords of the Khalkha Mongols, the House of Genghis Khan; as well as the communities of Huizhou in China, and Kedah State in Malaysia, as testaments to the importance of collating regional family histories,” the statement said.
The 2024 cycle also celebrated science and literature, recognising Bangladesh’s sci-fi feminist author Rokeya S Hossain, who imagined both helicopters and solar panels before they had been invented in her 1905 utopian narrative, Sultana’s Dream. Also inscribed in 2024 was Australia and Tuvalu’s joint documentation on the findings of scientific expeditions investigating the formation of coral reefs, it added.
Documents recording significant innovations in business and industrial technology were also recognised, such as tea-drinking business entrepreneurship in China, as well as globally applied sugar research and regional cement production in Indonesia, the UNESCO said. “Regional literary traditions were celebrated through the recognition of Philippines’ Indigenous Hinilawod chants, the East Asian legend of the Nine Tripods found on the bronze bas-reliefs in Viet Nam’s Nine Dynastic Urns and the globally re-adapted Panhcatantra Fables of India,” it said.
Ramesh Chandra Gaur, dean (administration) and head of the department, Kala Nidhi Division, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), was present at the meeting when the inscription happened, officials said. “This inclusion (of three items from India) is a proud moment for India, a confirmation of the country’s rich literary heritage and cultural legacy.
It signifies a step forward in global cultural preservation efforts, highlighting the importance of recognising and safeguarding the diverse narratives and artistic expressions that shape our shared humanity,” a senior official of IGNCA said.
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