Scientific seminar on the topic “Ancient manuscripts and archival data on the history of Central Asia and Kazakhstan in funds in India”

December 21, 2023 Research Center “Written Monuments and Spiritual Heritage” al-Farabi KazNU  , together with the National Center for Manuscripts and Rare Books, organized a scientific seminar on the topic “Ancient manuscripts and archival data on the history of Central Asia and Kazakhstan in funds in India” in Astana.

The participants of the round table were the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Center of the Embassy of India in the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Research Center “Written Monuments and Spiritual Heritage” of al-Farabi Kazakh National University, National Center for Manuscripts and Rare Books, scientists from the L.N. Gumilyov Institute, representatives of the National Academic Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The purpose of the round table is to collect and study important historical documents relating to Kazakhstan and Central Asia in the archives of India.

During the seminar, a researcher at the Research Center “Written Artifact and Spiritual Heritage”, PhD Tuyakbayev Omir, presented the National Center for Manuscripts and Rare Books with copies of medieval Turkic medical treatises stored in the archives of the Republic of India. One of these medical treatises is the treatise "Dastur al-'ilaj" (Treatment with Medicine) by Sultan Ali al-Khurasani, who was the personal physician of the nomad Koshkinshi (or Kochim Khan, 1432-1530), and another was written by the Shibanid Khan Abdallatif Khan (1540-1551) - treatise “Zubdat al-kahalin” (“Eye Doctors’ Cream”) by Mullah Muhammad Yusuf, a private physician. In addition, the Director of the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Center of the Embassy of India in the Republic of Kazakhstan, Mr. Sanjay Vedi, donated copies of books identified from the Indian library collection of Patna, treatises in Persian language “Tarikh-i-Abul Khair Khan” and “History of the Mongols”.

Translated by N.N. Kairanbayeva a researcher at the Research Center “Written Monuments and Spiritual Heritage”