The university’s Zakir Hussain Library has taken up the task of editing, translating and publishing Persian manuscripts in possession of the library since the inception of the university, in collaboration with Tehran’s Danishgah Payam-I-Noor, the headquarters of New Delhi’s Iran Cultural House.

The aim is to work upon at least 10 of the 1,100 manuscripts initially. The Danishgah Payam-I-Noor, as per the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two institutions, will then publish them.

S M Azizuddin Hussain, professor of history at Jamia, will edit the manuscripts, some of which date back to the 11th Century. He has set himself the target of editing at least four out of the ten proposed manuscripts in about a year’s time. “We are talking about a time when Hindustan included not just the present day India but also Persia and Afghanistan,” Hussain said.

Among the manuscripts he is editing are Rozanaamcha by Biharilal Brahman Qunnuji, an eyewitness account of Delhi in 1857, the Ahkam Al Adviya Al- Qalbiya by Bu Ali Sina, the first work in the world for curing heart ailments, the Tarikh-I-Deccan and Raag Darpan.

“Manuscripts lost in the 1857 loot and 1947 and Partition in India resulted in a lot of difficulty for research scholars, who had to refer to these monographs for their theses. Therefore, our basic aim is to make these manuscripts accessible to all by editing and translating them,” he said.

For preserving the manuscripts that date back to 1591 AD, the library is making use of the latest technology by coating the manuscripts in acetone and laminating them with chiffon. About 700 out of the 1,961 manuscripts have already been preserved.