The achievement caps an initiative that ran from November 2025 to August 2026 and mobilized a multi-generational network of more than 50 volunteers. Many were young people learning to read their own ancestral script for the first time. Together they converted manuscripts held across four sites in the Kathmandu Valley, including private custodian collections and community temples in Patan, into open-access, machine-readable digital records on Wikisource.
The final event shared the project with the public through: a physical manuscript exhibition, a panel discussion among key stakeholders, and a live transcription showcase. Attendees had the rare opportunity to view original manuscripts up close, written in the Ranjana, Bhujimol, and Prachalit scripts, offering a tangible and emotional connection to centuries of Newa culture and history.
The event’s panel discussion, ‘Guardians of the Written Word: Digital Preservation of Newa Manuscripts and Collective Responsibility,’ brought together manuscript custodians Suresh Bajracharya, Shivesh Sharma of Bhimsen Mandir, and Nepal Bhasa script expert Nitu Dangol, moderated by Archive Nepal’s Director of Operations, Dristi Manandhar. The discussion and audience interaction offered a moment to look back on the project’s journey and a call to action, marking the close of this project phase. It also opened a broader conversation on the shared responsibility of safeguarding Nepal’s documentary heritage.
I would especially like to acknowledge the custodians who have protected these manuscripts over generations. Many of these documentary collections have survived because families, temples, monasteries, guthis and local institutions recognized their value and accepted the responsibility of caring for them, often under difficult conditions and with limited resources.
read more: https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/bringing-centuries-old-newa-manuscripts-online?hub=701
