Assam floods: Govt teams reach Satras to safeguard, digitise rare manuscripts

As Assam continues to recover from the devastating floods, the state government has stepped up efforts to protect the state’s historic manuscripts, with teams reaching out to Satras and individual custodians to safeguard and digitise the fragile heritage documents.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Wednesday, August 26, that preservation of manuscripts was a “quiet but vital” part of the state’s flood response.

Taking to X, Sarma said, “A quiet but vital part of #AssamFloodResponse: saving our manuscripts, and the timeless heritage they hold.”

He said government teams were reaching out to Satras and individual custodians to secure the manuscripts and digitise them so that their contents could be preserved for future generations.

The initiative is particularly significant for Assam, where Satras and other institutions preserve centuries-old religious and cultural manuscripts, including traditional handwritten texts that are vulnerable to water and moisture damage during floods.

The government’s move comes amid the extensive flood damage reported across several parts of the state this year. Besides protecting lives and property, the preservation of cultural and historical materials has emerged as an important part of the recovery effort.

Through the ongoing exercise, authorities are seeking to protect the physical manuscripts while creating digital copies that can ensure their contents survive even if the original documents suffer damage.

The initiative is expected to cover manuscripts held by Satras as well as those preserved by individual custodians across flood-affected areas of Assam.