Hyderabad: Iranian ambassador releases farmans of Nizam VII Osman Ali Khan

Hyderabad: Iranian ambassador to India Dr. Irajllah released the chicket book of farmans of Nizam VII Mir Osman Ali Khan in Hyderabad. On Friday, the ambassador visited Telangana State Archives and Research Institute along with Mehdi Shahrokhi, Council General of Iran at Hyderabad.

The institute in Telangana has joined hands with Noor Microfilm International Centre (NMIC) in New Delhi, for the digitization, conservation, and cataloging of old archival records, particularly in the Persian language.

An MoU was signed between Telangana State Archives and Research Institute and Noor Microfilm International Company, Government of Iran, in the presence of IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao.

"The relationship of Iran with India has always been friendly and there are many cultural exchanges between the two countries. Persian is our national language and we are eager to save this heritage of India. It was once the national language of this country too", said Dr.Irajllah.

He later visited the unit set up on the premises with state-of-the-art equipment and specialized manpower in the field of conservation and digitization. He witnessed the demonstration of the conservation method of treating old historic documents by using herbal ingredients and was very much impressed.

NMIC Director, Dr. Khajapiri said that it has already rendered its services to major government institutions of India including the National Archives of India, Jamia Millia Islamia, Rampur Raza Library, and other 25 big institutions. As Iran is famous for the herbal treatment of paper and cloth, its conservation method for archival paper is very rare.

He told the Ambassador that works relating to three lakh pages of the old Persian records about Daftar-Darul Insha, treaties, manuscripts (handwritten), Awarjaas (ledgers), Baba Shah Musaafir (a Sufi saint of Hyderabad) & Inayat Nama (letters), Farmans (royal orders) of Nizam VI and VII have been completed. Repair of the brittle documents has also been done.

The cataloging of the ornamental Persian records is also being done simultaneously. There were 14 'daftars' of the Nizam government which were all taken up for conservation apart from farmans, muntakhabs, old maps, and gazettes.

Dr. Zareena Parveen, Director of State Archives, said, "The records of the institute date back to 1406 A.D. As they are not confidential and largely in ornamental Persian language till 1885, the NMIC was entrusted with the work to safeguard very fragile records."

"The records are centuries-old and getting delicate and brittle day by day despite routine maintenance and need professional curative treatment by experienced hands. After the conservation of the said records, their longevity may increase and the glorious and precious history of Hyderabad Deccan may be secured for posterity", she added.

The institute has further requested that all the 355 chicket (bounded books) of Farmans of Nizam VI & VII and other necessary books can be made into facsimile copies for the usage of the scholars and others.