Tripura varsity holds workshop on preservation of manuscripts

From A Correspondent

Agartala, Jan 17 : The Mogs, an impoverished and margilised tribal community of Tripura have a rich treasure. In terms of money, it may not be treated as a costly material but to them it is of high value. These are very old manuscripts. According to an estimate the number of such manuscripts preserved by the Mogs is around two thousand. Many of these are few hundred years old and bear the testimony of the old heritage of these mostly Buddhist tribe. This was disclosed during a workshop on preservation of manuscripts organised by the History department of the Tripura University in its Suryamani gar complex.

The community members are so alert about their heritage and these rich treasure that they are not ready to part with it. But due to lack of knowledge about how to preserve these many of them are getting destroyed. The workshop expressed concern and stressed the need to train the owners how to preserve these.

Anjan Ghosh, vice chancellor of the Tripura University iugurated the workshop where a book titled ‘History of Tripura as reflected in the manuscripts’ edited by Professor Dr Satyadeo Podder was released. It was further disclosed that another mostly Buddhist tribal community the Chakmas also have over 1500 manuscripts in their hands. Though not as old as the Mogs these manuscripts also have Historical evidences.