In order to bring awareness on the study of history and literature through the use of hand-written documents, a workshop on manuscriptology (reading manuscript) was conducted at the department of Cultural Studies of Tezpur University recently.
The workshop was organized by the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM), Manuscript Conservation Centre (MCC) of Tezpur University.
“The purpose of the workshop was to bring awareness on the importance of ancient Assamese scripts among people. Old knowledge base is stored in the form of manuscripts among others, and thus the knowledge about the old scripts and language becomes very necessary for safeguarding the heritage,” stated Dr. Rajeev K. Doley, chairperson, Media Cell, Tezpur University.
Dr Doley also stated that the workshop was organised with the aim of imparting basic knowledge on old Assamese scripts and techniques of deciphering the manuscripts.
The participants were mainly the people who were directly or indirectly associated with the field of Assamese language and manuscripts.
“The workshop started with general discussion on script and historical background of evolution of Assamese language. It was then followed by identification and comparison of old and new number systems; where the participants were given specific materials for reference to conduct the exercise,” informed Dr Doley.
Later, resource person BhaskarBordoloi, who has been working in this field for a long time, discussed the alphabets used in old Assamese scripts and the practical exercise was repeated. The workshop ended with the certificate distribution ceremony.
Apart from the faculty members and staff of Tezpur University, Dr. Amia Pator, head of thye department of Assamese, Nagaon Girls College and Rajiv Kairi, cultural development officer, JyotiBharati, Tezpur attended the workshop.
A total of 15 participants from Tezpur University, Nagaon Girls College, Nagaon and Tyagbir Hem Baruah College, Jamuguri participated in the workshop.
The workshop was coordinated by Dr. Subhra Devi, coordinator, NMM, MCC, Tezpur University.