Rekhta collected all of these texts which were then reprinted, repainted and recreated for public consumption, âSaraf said. ÂMany of the texts received were tattered and torn due to neglect and mishandling. Lucknow’s Naval Kishore Press, founded in 1858 and arguably Asia’s oldest printing and publishing company, was a major contributor, producing some 2,000 books which included translations of the Mahabharata and Quran and rare manuscripts from the 17th century. Most of the books were obtained through camps organized by Rekhta in which several publications and private parties voluntarily donated centuries-old Urdu scriptures. Rare and out of print books which are totally inaccessible to the masses as they are stored in various libraries across the country which are prone to termite damage and destruction, water damage and fire are sought after, âSaraf explained. ÂWe continue to search libraries and private collections for more books that can be digitized and made available to readers around the world. The 90,000 eBooks – a staggering 19 million pages – are categorized into various categories including children’s literature, banned books, diaries, and translations and can then be viewed by students, academics, scholars, literati and language lovers anytime and anywhere in the world. “Without archiving, an ageless language with its long-standing recognition and respect would have died a long time ago, depriving our future generations of cherishing the rich heritage of Urdu,” added Saraf.
We then embarked on a journey to overcome the barrier of inaccessibility and lack of resources in learning Urdu and contacted various sources, public and private across India, mainly covering cities like Delhi, Lucknow, Rampur, Bhopal, Allahabad, Hyderabad, Aligarh, Patna and others, âportal founder, Noida-based entrepreneur Sanjiv Saraf, told IANS in an interview. ÂOur e-book project originated in 2013 after the idea of ââa virtual Urdu library was discussed by me and a few university professors when the lack of Urdu archives was felt collectively by all.
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