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BORI’s Rigveda to be displayed at G20 exhibition in New Delhi
It will be on display at ‘Cultural Corridor’ exhibition to be held in the national capital ahead of the G-20 World Leaders’ Summit
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The ‘Cultural Corridor’ exhibition to be held in the national capital ahead of the G-20 World Leaders’ Summit will have on display a manuscript of the Rigveda from the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI), Pune.
“The Kashmiri birch-bark Rigveda, written in the Sharada script over five centuries ago, was procured from Kashmir by Georg Buehler in 1875. Supposed to be the most accurate among the older manuscripts of the Rigveda, it has been used vigorously for studies and publication,” said Bhupal Patwardhan, chairman, BORI executive board.
“The Rigveda is the oldest living text. It bears the thought of man’s welfare and the world at large. This thought is congruent with the motto of the G-20 Summit, ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (The world is a family). The Rigveda mentions ‘Sabha’, a committee of experts and ‘Samiti’, an assembly of people as the two bodies controlling the king. Thus, it stands as the first song of democracy,” Patwardhan said.
Each country participating in the summit is mandated to display two objects at the exposition. Accordingly, India’s second artefact on display will be a copy of ancient scholar, Panini’s Ashtadhyayi from the LBS Sanskrit University, Delhi. Similarly, the ‘Cultural Corridor’ exposition will showcase the Magna Carta from the UK, the US Declaration of Independence, the remains of prehistoric man from Africa, and other emblems of human inheritance.
Meanwhile, assistant curator Amruta Natu and research assistant Balkrishna Joshi were entrusted with the responsibility of handing over the valuable manuscript to the exhibition organisers in New Delhi. Anirban Dash, director, National Mission for Manuscripts, recently accepted the consignment from BORI on behalf of the exhibition organisers. The manuscript will be duly returned to the BORI after the exhibition.
