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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
Tagores great Geetanjali.
Theres 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 ones 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
Trusts 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.
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