RigVeda in UN Heritage List

Some of you may already be aware of this: “Thirty manuscripts of the ancient Hindu text Rig Veda dating from 1800 to 1500 BC are among 38 new items that have been added to the United Nations heritage list (Memory of World Register, UNESCO) to help preserve them for posterity.”

The “funny” thing is that although the manuscripts are clearly “ancient”, IBNlive in its report mentions them as “The medieval Indian manuscripts“. Curiously, the IBN report link returns a page with error but you cant hide on the Internet – the report is also on Yahoo! India’s site !

In a bland statement on this, “Culture and Tourism Minister Ambika Soni welcomed the move and said India’s cultural heritage “always brought happiness to all the countrymen” – What about pride?

Thanks to the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune which sponsored and prepared the nomination (sadly, their website appears to be down).

Image courtesy: UNESCO;  Copyright: © Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute