ADDRESS BY SHRI K.R. NARAYANAN, VICE PRESIDENT OF INDIA, AT THE INAUGURATION OF THE SECOND CONSULTATION MEETING OF EXPERTS OF UNESCO MEMBER COUNTRIES OF SOUTH AND SOUTH-EAST ASIAN REGION FOR NETWORKING OF SPECIALISED INFORMATION SYSTEM ON CULTURAL HERITAGE
FEBRUARY 24, 1993
I am happy to be here at the meeting of experts of South and South-East countries engaged in the networking of specialised information system on the cultural heritage of the region. During the last six years the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts has been involved in this work with the support and encouragement of UNESCO. It is gratifying that UNESCO has taken special interest in uncovering and sharing important information on the cultural heritage of the region. It is an enterprise that deals with the past as well as the present, with tangible manifestation of culture like monuments, manuscripts and paintings, and its fluid expressions like music and dance and the life styles of peoples.
The cultural heritage of mankind is both an intensive accumulation of experiences and accomplishments through time, and an extensive dissemination of it over geographical space. For the study and understanding of this heritage, inter-linking of the past with the present, and net-working of both in their regional and global dimensions are required.
Jawaharlal Nehru likened India to "some ancient palimpsest on which layer after layer of thought and reverie had been inscribed, and yet no succeeding layer had completely hidden or erased what had been written previously." In varying degrees this may be true of other countries also having much simpler and newer historical traditions. Even in the age of primitive communications the winds of history had scattered cultural experiences not only in one's neighbourhood but across the world. Indeed what is amazing is how ideas and images were transmitted in those days on legs and in slow-moving boats leaving impressions of an indelible kind not only in terms of physical relics but in the life styles, thought-patterns and languages of peoples. Pilgrim routes, caravan routes, silk routes, ocean routes were the transmitters of knowledge, information, art styles and life styles.
The cultural heritage of no part of the world was insulated or isolated. This is the history of all ancient civilizations. UNESCO has taken up the task of reconstructing the dynamics of this interaction that took place in the past. To-day as a result of technological development, particularly modern communications, there is the possibility of instant transmission of information across national and geographical boundaries creating a global reservoir of knowledge accessible to all. However, compared to the past this spectacular dissemination of information across the globe is having a rather superficial impact on the minds and hearts of people, and much of the information remains unassimilated and unintegrated.
In our region the cultural dialogue and exchanges across national borders were seriously interruped for over 200 years in the recent past. During this period historical and cultural materials were fragmented and dispersed, and often undetected. In spite of the pioneering work done by oriental scholars in unearthing and bringing them together they exist in libraries and archives only in a very partial and disconnected way. The great collections in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, China and Japan, and to the West in Iran are treasure houses of cultual materials. But they are dispersed and fragmented, and often not complete in themselves. Though belonging to the heritage of particular countries, they have integral connections with other countries. In fact, it is not possible for any one country in the region to know itself without understanding its neighbours in cultural terms.
Often a manuscript written originally in one language, say Sanskrit, is no longer available in India, but can be found in its Nepali, Tibetan, Chinese or Japanese versions in other countries. There are cases in which fragments of a single monument are found in different parts of the region, and separate leaves of a single manuscript found in different parts of the world. New technologies, data bases, image-storage and retrieval systems have made it possible to reconstruct the originals and make them available to the new generation of scholars.
I understand that the quantum of the material available in respect of cultural heritage - be it in the form of unpublished manuscripts or books or paintings and art-objects - runs into millions. The collection of information on all this wealth in a manner that it can form the basis of modern databases is a challenging task. I am happy to know that the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts has made a beginning by developing a major database on the catalogues of unpublished manuscripts of Indic and Asian origin from all parts of the world. These first beginnings must be developed by evolving compatible databases in each of the separate libraries in the region. I also understand that Indonesia has done very valuable work in cataloguing its manuscripts. They have also begun work on the microfilming of these manuscripts. A similar effort has been made in Bhutan in the Cultural Archives.
The great collection of Nepal in the Royal National Archives has been microfilmed, but, there is so much else in Nepal. Iran has a wealth of material not only in its monuments but in its great manuscripts, paintings and art-objects. One could go on to speak of the collections in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Burma. One can visualize the day when each specialist will be able to share information and communicate with one another through a networking system.
I am aware of the great challenges that you will have to face in order to accomplish this. It will have to be a dialogue between the men of traditional knowledge and those of new science and technology. Not only are the barriers between geographical regions in different parts of the world disappearing but also between old knowledge and modern science and technology. To-day the methods of science, the tools of technology, and archaic knowledge and ancient wisdom and heritage are coming closer together. The South-East Asian region has been exemplary in this because, throughout history, while each of the countries in the region has demonstrated a unique distinctiveness, there has been a continuous interaction among them influencing and enriching each other.
I hope that through such gatherings and exchanges you will be able to establish a system of communication which will facilitate a meaningful dialogue among the countries of the region on our cultural heritage. It has been said of India that its culture has blossomed and flourished whenever it opened itself up and gave its cultural treasures to the rest of the world, and whenever it opened its doors and windows to receive them from elsewhere. This is true of every country in our region. I am sure that this meeting of experts will contribute in a concrete manner in understanding our cultural heritage and in networking our knowledge and experience of it through modern technological means. May I wish this Consultation meeting every success.
Thank you
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