Gilgit Manuscripts: A National Heritage at Large

[WAJsal]

Syed Mujahid Ali Shah

According to United Nation Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the ‘Gilgit Manuscripts’ are the oldest of any written collection surviving in the Indo-Pak subcontinent. Numbered at between 3000 to 16000, they are birch leave pages written in 5th or 6th century A.D and comprise the historical knowledge of iconometry, folk tales, philosophy, medicine and several related areas of life and knowledge of the primitive ages.
According to Sir Aurel Stein’s report in The Statesman of 24th July 1931, Gilgit Manuscripts were found in 1931 by some local flock herding boys in the village of Napura situated in the foothills of southern rocky heights of Gilgit (now the capital of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan) where centuries old carving of Buddha sputa of Yachini is also located on the rocks.
The then Maharaja of Kashmir, as the occupying ruler of Gilgit, took the manuscripts from the then Gilgit Wizarat to Sirinagar in Kashmir.
Currently most of the manuscripts, numbered as 3, 366 are laminated in National Archives of India in New Delhi and other many in Srinagar. Some eleven manuscripts are in the British Museum taken by Sir Aurel Stein from local villagers of Napura, Gilgit in 1931 and only a few exist in the Department of Archaeology at Karachi.
Declaring Gilgit Manuscripts as assets of India in 2007 the Indian government submitted a nomination request in UNESCO to include them in “Memory of the World Register”. On whatever grounds the request was not recommended.

Gilgit Manuscripts are the rightful property of Gilgit-Baltistan and the national heritage of Pakistan. The Gilgit-Baltisan Legislative Assembly (GBLA) should table a resolution to bring back the historical assets of Gilgit and the Federal Government should take the issue to the United Nations so that the historical documents are returned to the place of their origin, from where they have been taken to elsewhere in the world.

Syed Mujahid Ali Shah is a Nagar based sociologist and nature conservationist.
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"Gilgit Manuscripts are the rightful property of Gilgit-Baltistan and the national heritage of Pakistan."
Nothing more to add...

@Joe Shearer ,@Kaptaan ,@Kambojaric ,@Arsalan ,@hellfire ,@HRK ...

 

[third eye]

Gilgit Manuscripts are the rightful property of Gilgit-Baltistan and the national heritage of Pakistan. The Gilgit-Baltisan Legislative Assembly (GBLA) should table a resolution to bring back the historical assets of Gilgit and the Federal Government should take the issue to the United Nations so that the historical documents are returned to the place of their origin, from where they have been taken to elsewhere in the world.

If the is were applied the India Office Records in London would become empty.

Why.. even the British library Asian & African Studies archive would not belong to them.

@ Subject, the territory is disputed. Depending on which side of the Radcliffe line you are on the views would differ . In any case those documents are going no where.

 

[WAJsal]

If the is were applied the India Office Records in London would become empty.

Why.. even the British library Asian & African Studies archive would not belong to them.

@ Subject, the territory is disputed. Depending on which side of the Radcliffe line you are on the views would differ . In any case those documents are going no where.

Stolen artifacts should be returned to their original places of origin, i think everyone has the same opinion on this subject. We can raise our voice, or we can't even do that?
regards

 

[third eye]

Stolen artifacts should be returned to their original places of origin, i think everyone has the same opinion on this subject. We can raise our voice, or we can't even do that?
regards

You can & you must.

The moot point is that The Maharajah Of Kashmir as stated in post No 1 took custody of the manuscripts when the region where they were found belonged to him.

He possibly chose to relocate them for safe custody. Later that region was taken away from him against his wishes hence the objection raised does not hold ground.

 

[Arsalan]

Can they read what is written there?
The article says that these texts are about iconometry, folk tales and medicine and philosophy!

I hope once day these will be relocated to the rightful owner, that is the GB people.

 

[WAJsal]

the objection raised does not hold ground.

By that logic The Egyptians, the sub-continent and other regions shouldn't be complaining to the British or other European countries? as they did nothing wrong, they just took something as they ruled the region. Please elaborate and correct me if i am wrong.
In my opinion, stolen artifacts should be returned to the region it belongs to. GB government should formally lodge a request to return this artifacts.

 

[Joe Shearer]

If the is were applied the India Office Records in London would become empty.

Why.. even the British library Asian & African Studies archive would not belong to them.

@ Subject, the territory is disputed. Depending on which side of the Radcliffe line you are on the views would differ . In any case those documents are going no where.

The British Museum? The Elgin Marbles? The British Imperial Crown?

Stolen artifacts should be returned to their original places of origin, i think everyone has the same opinion on this subject. We can raise our voice, or we can't even do that?
regards

You can and you must.

And I'm going to lie across the entrance to block the reversion. This is anthropological gold.

By that logic The Egyptians, the sub-continent and other regions shouldn't be complaining to the British or other European countries? as they did nothing wrong, they just took something as they ruled the region. Please elaborate and correct me if i am wrong.
In my opinion, stolen artifacts should be returned to the region it belongs to. GB government should formally lodge a request to return this artifacts.

I agree, in an ideal world, these should be returned. Who goes first?

 

[Talwar e Pakistan]

I agree, in an ideal world, these should be returned. Who goes first?

Then why does India keep demanding artifacts "stolen" by the British.

 

[Joe Shearer]

Then why does India keep demanding artifacts "stolen" by the British.

What is ours is ours.

What is yours is negotiable.

I'm just kidding. It's lovely how you turn from cream to pink to mauve to light red to scarlet to purple.

 

[third eye]

By that logic The Egyptians, the sub-continent and other regions shouldn't be complaining to the British or other European countries? as they did nothing wrong, they just took something as they ruled the region. Please elaborate and correct me if i am wrong.
In my opinion, stolen artifacts should be returned to the region it belongs to. GB government should formally lodge a request to return this artifacts.

The Egyptians are correct because the British have no territorial claim to the land of the nile therefore what was taken away belonged to the Egyptians.

In this case , the manuscripts belong to a region that is India & disputed too.

They therefore are with their rightful owner.

 

[Spectre]

I agree, in an ideal world, these should be returned. Who goes first?

As @third eye said, India has a territorial claim on GB therefore even ethically there is no reason for India to release them until that claim is resolved.

Anyway to the connoisseurs it is the provenance which is interesting not the possession. A manuscript in New Delhi, Karanchi or London is still the same manuscript with same point of origin.

Most which can be done when ties improve is that India loans them for Display in Pakistan for sometime. We don't do this enough - we have a treasure trove gathering dust in National Archives which is hardly visited by the masses. People sadly forget that for all intent and purposes NA is essentially the foundation stone of India, not the hallowed halls of Parliament which represents just the current political structure

 

[Nair saab]

By that logic The Egyptians, the sub-continent and other regions shouldn't be complaining to the British or other European countries? as they did nothing wrong, they just took something as they ruled the region. Please elaborate and correct me if i am wrong.
In my opinion, stolen artifacts should be returned to the region it belongs to. GB government should formally lodge a request to return this artifacts.

Ok agreed ... But why the hell is script that is with you is in Department of Archaeology at Karachi???

It belong's to GB people and you have the territory and its population... it belongs them why have you deprived it of them ???

These Manuscripts are Buddhist in Nature like the article mentions ... how much Buddhist population does Pakistan Have ??? nil ... How much Buddhist Population doest India have ??? lot more than what Pakistan has ... Is these Buddhist Population a part of Jammu and Kashmir Region??? Yes they are indigenous people of J & K ...

Was Dogra King of J , K , GB a British, Arab, Chinese or any other Foreigner ??? No ... he was Kashmiri and indigenous person... Then why do you still consider him foreigner ??? Because he was not a Muslims and as per your logic everything which is not related to Islam in J,K & GB is foreign ... But with that logic, the manuscripts which is Buddhist in nature is also foreign to GB...

 

[Sneaker]

Ironic.. you kickout the people but want their books because that would give you some "recognition" over the place where those people moved to?

 

[Arsalan]

What is ours is ours.

What is yours is negotiable.

I'm just kidding. It's lovely how you turn from cream to pink to mauve to light red to scarlet to purple.

I was thinking that is this put this to good use this ability can really be an asset.

 

[punit]

What is ours is ours.

What is yours is negotiable.

I'm just kidding. It's lovely how you turn from cream to pink to mauve to light red to scarlet to purple.

u actually know which color is mauve!