The Ministry of Culture informed the Lok Sabha that the Gyan Bharatam portal currently maintains records of manuscripts in its own database. The reply is relevant because it points to both the scale of manuscript holdings and the limits of cataloguing: recording a manuscript is not the same as establishing its historical period.
What the Ministry of Culture said
According to the written reply by Union Minister for Culture and Tourism Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the portal lists manuscript holdings by material. The ministry said the records presently include paper, palm leaf, birch bark, and parchment manuscripts.
The ministry also stated that each manuscript belongs to a different historical period and that ascertainment of time period is generally a matter for research and de-codification, which remains a continuing process.
Recorded holdings on the portal
The reply gives the following material-wise inventory of manuscripts available in the Gyan Bharatam portal:
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