Alam Zeb Khan
ISLAMABAD: An Agreement between the University of Sydney, Australia, and the Department of Archaeology and Museums, National Heritage and Culture Division of Pakistan, was signed here in Islamabad on Tuesday.
The agreement was signed by Dr. Mark Allon, Chairperson of the Department of the Indian Subcontinental Studies, University of Sydney (Australia), and Dr. Abdul Azeem, Director General, Department of Archaeology and Museums, Islamabad (Pakistan), Secretary, National Heritage, and Culture Division, Mrs. Fareena Mazhar and Senior Joint Secretary, National Heritage and Culture Division. Abdul Sattar Khokhar also graced the occasion.
Gandhari was a princess of Gandhara and the wife of Dhritrashtra, the blind king of Hastinapura of the ancient Gandhara civilization. She was a mother to hundred sons and a daughter.
Buddhist manuscript
The agreement covers a five-year project for the conservation, housing, imaging, curation, scholarly access, and publication of an assembly and launching of ancient Gandhari Buddhist birch bark manuscripts. A laboratory for conserving ancient birch bark manuscripts will also be set up in the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Islamabad. The laboratory will also offer training facilities and capacity-building learning in Pakistan.
Addressing the ceremony, Dr. Mark Allon highlighted the importance of the project and the impact of ancient Buddhist civilization. He added that the project would have far-reaching effects in the field of archaeology and would further magnify the importance of the scriptures of Gandhara written on birch bark.
The ceremony and follow-up lecture were also attended by different scholars, professionals, and a large number of students of the Taxila Institute of Asian Civilizations, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.
