Cotton University completes digitisation of rare sanchipat manuscripts

A CORRESPONDENT

BARPETA: In a significant step towards preserving Assam’s rich Vaishnavite heritage, the Assamese Department of Cotton University has completed the digitisation of all eleven rare sanchipat manuscripts preserved at the historic Jania Satra in Barpeta district.

Located about 10 kilometres west of Barpeta town, Jania Satra was established in 1598 AD by Purushottam Thakur, the grandson of Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva. The centuries-old satra houses eleven invaluable sanchipat manuscripts, including Namghosha, Na-Ghosha, Bhakti Ratnavali, Kirtan Ghosha, Rajasuya Kavya, Prahlada Charita, and the First, Tenth, Eleventh (two copies), and Twelfth Cantos of the Bhagavata.

Following Cotton University’s adoption of Jania Satra as an adopted village in 2025, the university initiated a project to digitally preserve these priceless manuscripts using modern technology. During the first phase on January 23, 2025, six manuscripts were digitised. The remaining five manuscripts were successfully digitised on Thursday, completing the preservation project. A meeting was held at the office of the Jania Satra Management Committee to mark the occasion. The programme was chaired by committee President Raben Das. Addressing the gathering, Dr Maheswar Kalita, Head of the Assamese Department at Cotton University, said that the digitisation initiative would ensure the permanent preservation of the manuscripts while making them accessible to researchers and scholars across the world. He noted that the use of digital technology would help safeguard these rare texts for future generations.

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