In Assam too, like every part of the world, different materials were employed for writing and painting purpose. Manuscripts of sanchipat (sheets made from agar or aloe tree (Aquilaria agallocha) following an elaborate procedure), tulapat or tulipat, talapatra, muga silk, bamboo-strip and other allied materials, form parts of manuscript collections in different parts of the state. Yet, sanchipat is the most common material used for this purpose and constitutes the major section of the stock that prevails at present in Assam. Apart from religious testimonies, these are also important as historical documents and treatises on ayurveda, shamanistic concepts, mathematics, astrology, science, literature, politics, etc.

Manuscripts constitute a major element of cultural life of Assam. Writing or copying manuscript has been considered a spiritual merit in satras and in Buddhist monasteries of the land. These manuscripts are still in vogue as these are worshipped in neo-Vaishnavite faith. Manuscript making and their preservation used to have royal patronage for a considerable period of time. The manuscripts are scattered throughout the state in various satras, namghars, Buddhist monasteries, museums and libraries as also in some households, apart from a few collections outside the state. The manuscript repositories in Assam can be broadly divided as under government control and under the control of individuals or societies.

The materials being organic in nature, high humidity and high temperature of the region, lack of awareness and religious ethos relating to these makes the conservation of the manuscripts a challenging task. The region being prone to natural hazards like flood, earthquake, etc too makes preserving these rare documents more challenging.

As the importance of these manuscripts is beyond question, safeguarding these are of vital importance. It enhances the need to know the present state of preservation condition of these treasures. A general survey was done recently to have an idea about the basic infrastructure and present norms adopted for conservation of manuscripts in the selected major manuscript repositories of Assam.

The study found that basic infrastructure was lacking in most of the manuscript repositories. In a number of cases, the building structure was found to be inadequate. One important reason for this is the fact that the agency involved in the construction of the building must have not heard about museology and hence, has no knowledge about the museum designing and architecture. Another factor is that most of the small museums in Assam do not have a permanent building. Moreover, most of the collections are in religious institutions and not in any reserved repository. In such cases, there is no separate building worth the name for preserving these collections.

Then again, no repository has any monitoring system for relative humidity, temperature and lighting. Although in some cases, measures are taken to optimizing these factors, in most of the cases, no means is applied. And in the repositories, wherever such measures are employed, monitoring does not conform to the standard norms. In some cases, the ventilation make way for polluted air and direct sunlight that are harmful to these manuscripts. Regular housekeeping is also not done in most of the repositories with the common excuse of lack of manpower.

In majority of these repositories, no copy is provided for use by the scholars. The repeated use of original manuscripts makes the condition of some rare manuscripts worse adding to their speedy deterioration. Repeated xeroxing of these manuscripts by the users also make these prone to faster decay. Disaster management plan has not also been employed to prevent deterioration of the collections, despite the state being prone to earthquakes and annual floods.

The study found that the museums in the region are facing manpower shortage and at the same time, the staff present needs training on new concepts and basic strategies of preservation. Another important point is that the eligibility criteria for applying to the museums are still a degree in history/ancient Indian history and culture/anthropology/museology. Hence, there is a high probability that the museum professionals may not have any knowledge in museum studies. Although there is provision for in-service training, it is not compulsory.

In case of non-government repositories, the condition is still worse. The responsibility in that case lies in the hands of religious gurus or other people having no knowledge of preservation. In the bygone days, although the religious obligations emphasized on good housekeeping of the same, at present those practices are forgotten or abandoned due to changing social ethos.

Different awareness generation programmes are being organized time to time by the National Mission for Manuscripts and other Central bodies, but much more needs to be done in this regard. In some repositories, some conservation treatments are given by some trainee conservators without constant supervision and monitoring by an expert. Some of these treatments, mostly the curative ones, are questionable to the life of the objects.

Again, in most of the repositories, whether it is under government control or other bodies, limitation of fund is an important constraint. Of late, the National Mission for Manuscripts has been helping in this regard, but it does not allow regular monitoring. This could have been overcome under extraordinarily efficient leadership in the field through moulding situation-based solutions which too is woefully lacking.

The present generation is not able to understand the language in which most of the manuscripts are written and they become an unnecessary property for them, but at the same time, most of the people are even not ready to transfer these to the authorities of manuscript collection as they feel these are their family treasures. Many a time some social taboo and orthodoxy are responsible for damage of these rare collections. In this connection, it is important to mention that the use of these manuscripts has been restricted with changing social situation and they have been lying neglected for a long period before their importance was being campaigned recently. The religious taboo and some superstitions lead draining of some valuable manuscripts to river water and dumping.

The need of the hour is to generate awareness about the importance of these rare manuscripts that throw light on our past civilization. A number of collections are lying in very bad condition and they need immediate attention before their complete disappearance. They are also prone to misplacement and theft, etc due to ignorance and lack of awareness of the owner.

It was evident from the survey that there are hardly any scientifically maintained archival sites in the state and the traditional methods followed in the bygone days, which are responsible for preserving these manuscripts for so long, are also discontinued with changing time. As a result of natural calamities, sheer neglect and lack of knowledge, the precious handwritten manuscripts, dating back to centuries, are slowly getting disappeared. Following measures can serve the purpose of safeguarding the important treasures:

• Awareness generation programme to cultivate among the people the sense of responsibility for preserving them.

• Some actions to be taken in policy-making level to change the criteria of recruitment of new professionals besides increasing manpower wherever necessary.

• Periodic training on preventive conservation to museum staff and persons responsible for looking after the treasures in different manuscript repositories and religious institutions.

• Implementing some locally available, economic and easy to implement means and measures for environment control.

• Continuous expert monitoring where trainee conservators are entrusted upon the task of treatments and that the latter should be restricted to only minimal interventions.

• Outsourcing expert consultation for museum design and architecture in building construction and some minor modifications in existing buildings.

• Encouraging research to find out methods of curative conservation on manuscripts of sanchipat, which is still not known.

Subhra Devi