Three of India's foundational classical works — the Mahabharata, Kautilya's Arthashastra and Kalhana's Rajatarangini — have been inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Asia-Pacific Regional Register, the register maintained by the Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific (MOWCAP), news agency ANI reported.

Source: ANI via Indian Economic Observer

The decision was taken at the 11th session of the MOWCAP register process held in Jakarta, Indonesia, and was announced on November 5 by Dr Sachchidanand Joshi, Member Secretary of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), which prepared the nomination dossiers for all three works. With the new inscriptions, India's total entries on the regional register rise to six.

Union Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat welcomed the decision on November 5, calling the inclusion of the three works a landmark recognition of India's documentary and civilisational heritage, The CSR Journal reported.

Source: The CSR Journal

Three pillars of classical Indian thought

The Rajatarangini, composed in Sanskrit by the 12th-century Kashmiri historian Kalhana, is regarded as one of the earliest systematic works of historiography on the subcontinent, chronicling the rulers and dynasties of Kashmir with critical evaluation of sources. The Mahabharata, among the longest epic poems in world literature at nearly 100,000 verses, anchors South Asian traditions of ethics, law and philosophy. The Arthashastra, attributed to Kautilya, also known as Chanakya, is a foundational treatise on statecraft, economic policy, diplomacy and administration.

UNESCO's Memory of the World programme, established in 1992, safeguards documentary heritage — manuscripts, archives and records — against loss and deterioration. The IGNCA has been India's nodal agency for the programme since 2014, overseeing nominations, preservation and capacity building. India's earlier Asia-Pacific regional inscriptions include the illustrated Ramcharitmanas, the Sanskrit poetics text Sahrdayaloka-Locana and a rare 15th-century Panchatantra manuscript.

Officials linked the recognition to the Gyan Bharatam Mission, the government's programme to identify, conserve and digitise India's vast manuscript heritage so it remains accessible to future generations.