Keeping alive works of Rumi

Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Kala Nidhi Division, organised launch of a book 'A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts and Editions of Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi's Works in India' by Professor S H Qaseami and Dr Ramesh C Gaur. This is the first such catalogue on Rumi's works in the country.

Ambassadors of Republic of Turkey Sakir Ozkan Torunlar and Dr Ali Chegeni of Iran along with Eric Falt, Director of UNESCO New Delhi Cluster office, and Dr Sachchidanand Joshi MS, IGNCA formally released the book. Ambassadors and diplomats from many other Asian countries and other dignitaries were also present on this occasion.

One of the all time great poet Rumi was born in Afghanistan and lived in Turkey. His writings are having great influence in Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstanan and many other countries. Published works of Rumi have also been declared bestseller in USA by New York Times.

This descriptive catalogue has list of over 800 works available in Indian libraries such as Rampur Raza, Khudabaksh Patna, AMU, DU, National Museum, and other libraries of Hyderabad, Chennai, Srinagar, Tonk, and many more.

The publication has been brought out in a record time of just four and half months. The works began with a request from Turkish National Commission for UNESCO to compile a list for possible joint nomination of Maulana Rumi's works in International register of UNESCO memory of the world programme.

Every speaker appreciated it and considered it a very valuable tool to preserve and access common shared heritage in Asia. In safeguarding documentary heritage identification is the first step. UNESCO Director suggested to further identify the status of preservation and access to these works. Ambassador of Turkey thanked IGNCA, Ministry of Culture and authors in responding to their request so promptly.

The request was for compilation of a list. This was my idea and initiative to convert that list in a descriptive catalogue. List could have been available with few institutions only. Now this catalogue is a permanent record for libraries. So this is the role, need and importance of libraries and librarians to bring such hidden treasures to its readers.