For Your Information . ----- Original Message ----- From: "Narayanan Pydakula Thiruvengadam" <ptnv2000@xxxxxxxxx> To: <tiruvenkatam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2005 3:57 PM Subject: [t'venkatam] Persian Ramayana, Arabic Gita preserved > AN ARTICLE FROM DECCAN CHRONICLE FORWARDED FOR > INFORMATION PLEASE. > ptnarayanan > ---------------- > > > Persian Ramayana, Arabic Gita preserved > > > Hyderabad, Sept. 24: In this age of religious bigotry, > many Muslim organisations of the State are working > tirelessly to preserve rare Hindu scriptures. The > 117-year-old Dairatul Maarif treasures its copy of the > Arabic version of the Bhagawad Gita, probably the only > one of its kind in the world. Similarly valued is the > Persian Ramayana, estimated to be more than 600 years > old, which is kept in the library-cum-research centre > of the 132-year-old Jamia Nizamia. > > The Arabic Gita and the Persian Ramayana are merely > two among the 200-odd rare Hindu religious manuscripts > and books preserved in various Muslim research > institutes including madarasas. These organisations > take great care of such manuscripts. The organisations > use state-of-the-art methods to protect them for > posterity. Several manuscripts been digitised and the > CD versions are available for scholars of comparative > religion. > > The Arabic version of the Holy Gita, known as Al Kita, > is about 100 years old. The Jamia Nizamia, a deemed > university with international recognition, also > possesses a 500-year-old manuscript of the Mahabharata > in Persian. Both these documents have been laminated > and preserved by Nizamia. "They are invaluable," said > Syed Akbar Nizamuddin, chancellor of Jamia Nizamia. > "The Mahabharata manuscript is in bad shape and we > have now carefully hand-laminated it. We have also > micro-filmed and digitised the scriptures." > > Al Kita was published by Dairatul Maarif in the > beginning of the last century on the request of a > noble from Kolkata. Its pirated editions are available > in the Gulf countries. Another valuable possession of > the Daira is the Arabic version of Rabindranath > Tagore's great Geetanjali. > > "There's nothing comm-unal about knowledge," Mufti > Khaleel Ahmad, the grand mufti and vice-chancellor of > the Nizamia, told this correspondent. "Only people are > communal. Reading books of different religions > enha-nces one's understanding. No religion teaches > hatred," the Mufti said. > > Dozens of researchers visit these libraries to study > the rare documents. The Islamic Academy of Comparative > Religion also has in its possession score of Hindu > religious books, including 188 Upanishads, four Vedas, > Bhagawad Gi-ta, Valmiki Ramayana, Ma-nusmriti and > several Pura-nas. It also possesses 30 Bibles in > Hebrew, Arabic, Urdu, Telugu and Greek. > > "Luckily, our books are still in good condition," said > M. Asifuddin, president of IACR. "We have been taking > great care to preserve them." Another city Muslim > organisation labouriously preserving Hindu scriptures > is the Iqbal Academy. It has rare copies of the Gita > and Mahabharata. The Asafia Library and the HEH Nizam > Trust's Library have several Hindu scriptures in Urdu, > Persian and Arabic. "Study of different religions > will help prevent misconceptions, hatred and > mistrust," said secretary of the All-India Muslim > Per-sonal Law Board Abdul Rahim Qureshi. > > "We can eradicate social evils by promoting religious > values," Queshi said. Hafiz Shujath Hussain, a > research scholar poring over the Al Kita, said it was > heartening to see Muslim organisations preserve such > rare manuscripts. "We have to take care to keep them > safe for ever," he said. > > ------------- > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > > > > Namo VenkateshAya namah: > > > To Post a message, send it to: tiruvenkatam@xxxxxxxxxxx > > To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to: > tiruvenkatam-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxx > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/XUWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oppiliappan/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: Oppiliappan-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
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