The fundamentalists claiming to preserve their cultures are often the ones responsible for torching them:
Protesters demanding the introduction of Manipur’s ancient Mayek script set fire to the Central Library in Manipur’s capital Imphal on Wednesday. Officials say many of Manipur’s most ancient texts were among the books destroyed by the fire… Analysts say… the library was burnt because almost all Manipuri books preserved in it were written in Bengali script.
The Cauvery riots, the Karnataka cinema shakedowns — language stirs intense passions in India. But wishing that history were different doesn’t make it so. I could close my eyes and wish away the British Raj. Open them, and there lies Victoria Terminus still.
Previous post here.
This happens quite regularly in India these days. Wasnt there an occasion a while back when a library was destroyed by some thugs protesting about a book written about the great Marathi warrior Shivaji?
It’s interesting to note that the thugs responsible for this incident were members of a far left group. When the Shivaji affair happened, the media was eager to pin the blame on the Hindutva brigade, but the actual group responsible were a low-caste Marathi nationalist group. It’s worthwhile to remember that brutish philistinism isn’t the sole domain of the far right.
Amba is absolutely right! The author of anti-Shivaji book (a firangi) was absolutely clueless that Shivaji was not a “upper caste” icon but was coronated to be one.
What happened in Manipur was done by a Communist Party Indian wing.
This is apparently a reaction to indian cultural imperialism.
“Meetei-Mayek is the script which was used to write Meeteilon (Manipuri) till the 18th century. The script nearly became extinct as a result of a mass burning of all books in Meeteilon ordered by Ningthau Pamheiba who ruled Manipur in the 18th century. The main person behind this atrocity was Shantidas Gosain who had come to Manipur to spread Vaishnavism, on whose instigation the king gave the order. The king embraced Vaishnavism, took the name Garibnawaz and made Vaishnavism the state religion. Subsequently, Bengali script was adopted to write the language and is being used till date. Recent research has resurrected this script, and it is now being given its due place.”