Kautilya’s Arthashastra has been honored by UNESCO (Representative image)
The manuscript was discovered at ORI in 1905 by scholar and librarian Rudrapatnam Shamasastry, who subsequently published the text in 1909.
“This recognition brings great honour to the institute, the University of Mysore and the entire Indian manuscript research community,” he siad. MYSURU: Kautilya’s Arthashastra, an ancient treatise on governance and statecraft, has been inscribed on Unesco ‘s prestigious Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific (MOWCAP) Regional Register. An original 16th-century palm-leaf manuscript of the text, preserved and digitised by Oriental Research Institute (ORI) at University of Mysore, is among the institute’s most prized collections. The discovery brought the ancient Indian treatise back to scholarly attention. The manuscript has since been digitised as part of the institute’s conservation efforts.