Mahabharata, Arthashastra and Rajatarangini Added to UNESCO Asia-Pacific Memory Register

Three of India's most widely studied historical and literary works — the Mahabharata, the Arthashastra and the Rajatarangini — have been inscribed on the Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific (MOWCAP) Regional Register, a UNESCO programme that documents and preserves heritage of regional significance.

Union Minister for Culture and Tourism Gajendra Singh Shekhawat welcomed the announcement, describing it as a moment of pride for the country and a landmark recognition of India's documentary and civilisational heritage. In a post on X, the minister said the three works reflect long-standing traditions of historical inquiry, philosophical thought and statecraft, and that their insights continue to be relevant to contemporary debate.

The inscriptions cover texts that emerged from very different contexts and are written in different registers, but together they offer distinct and complementary views of intellectual life in the subcontinent.

The Rajatarangini, composed in Sanskrit by the 12th-century Kashmiri historian Kalhana, is widely regarded as among the most important historical chronicles of medieval India. It traces the history of Kashmir across successive dynasties, recording rulers, political developments and social change. Scholars value it for its chronological narration, its critical treatment of sources and its literary quality, which make it a key resource for understanding the region's political and cultural past.

The Mahabharata, one of the world's longest epic narratives, occupies a central place in South Asian literary, philosophical and religious traditions. Beyond its account of the conflict between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, the epic examines questions of duty, justice, morality, power, kinship and the responsibilities of individuals and rulers. Its philosophical sections, in particular the Bhagavad Gita, have influenced generations of thinkers and continue to inform discussions on ethics and human conduct across cultures.

The Arthashastra, traditionally attributed to Kautilya, also known as Chanakya, is a foundational text on governance, administration, economics, diplomacy and military strategy. Its detailed treatment of statecraft, taxation, law enforcement, intelligence networks and public administration offers insight into how ancient Indian states were organised. The text remains a standard reference for scholars of political and economic thought.

The Memory of the World Programme was launched in 1992 to protect documentary heritage from loss, deterioration and what UNESCO describes as collective amnesia, and to keep significant documents preserved and accessible to future generations. It works through international, regional and national registers. The International Register recognises documentary heritage of global importance, while regional registers identify collections of particular significance to specific geographical and cultural areas. The Asia-Pacific Regional Register is administered through MOWCAP.

India's engagement with the programme is coordinated by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), which was designated the country's nodal institution in 2014. It handles nominations, promotes archival awareness, supports manuscript conservation and runs capacity-building programmes.

India has previously secured recognition for documentary holdings including the Rigveda, Saiva manuscripts, Tamil medical texts, Kalachakra Tantra commentaries and the works of Abhinavagupta. Its entries on the Asia-Pacific Regional Register include the illustrated Ramacaritamanasa, the Sanskrit poetics text Sahrdayaloka-Locana and a rare 15th-century Panchatantra manuscript, inscribed in 2023.

The new inscriptions add to that list. The MOWCAP register is not a ranking of literary merit but a preservation instrument: inclusion directs attention to the physical documents, their condition and the need for conservation and access. For researchers, the practical value of the listing lies in the support it can bring for cataloguing, digitisation and the safeguarding of manuscripts that are vulnerable to neglect and decay.