When a scholar approaches us, saying that a particular script needs to be published, it doesn't happen immediately," says Sanghamitra Basu, head of the department of publishing at the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM). Formed in 2003 by the Ministry of Culture under the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government, the mission aims to do what hasn't been done in India before — to create a central collection of manuscripts of Indian heritage and digitise them, making them accessible to the public in general, and researchers in particular. But the process is quite meticulous. NMM, says Basu, the acting director in the absence of Dr (Prof) Ventaraman Reddy, currently on leave, has experts and committees across the country, who they consult when such requests come in. "Only if someone says this manuscript hasn't been translated and published, and is important, do we start work on it," she adds. Once a manuscript has been identified, however, the process of digitisation is a long one. Step one is conservation.

The team holds up a manuscript from its archives. It has digitised 2.3 lakh manuscripts until now. Pic/Imran Khan