Context

The Ministry of Culture has taken up the project of reprinting of 108 volumes of Mongolian Kanjur under the National Mission for Manus, NMM.

About

• The first set of five volumes of Mongolian Kanjur published under the NMM was presented to President Ram Nath Kovind on the occasion of Guru Purnima, also known as Dharma Chakra Day, on 4^th July.
• It is expected that all the 108 volumes of the Mongolian Kanjur will be published by March 2022.

Mongolian Kanjur

• It is a Buddhist canonical text in 108 volumes and it is considered to be the most important religious text in Mongolia.
• In the Mongolian language ‘Kanjur’ means ‘Concise Orders’- the words of Lord Buddha in particular. It is held in high esteem by the Mongolian Buddhists and they worship the Kanjur at temples and recite the lines of Kanjur in daily life as a sacred ritual. The Kanjur is kept almost in every monastery in Mongolia.
• Mongolian Kanjur has been translated from Tibetan. The language of the Kanjur is Classical Mongolian. The Mongolian Kanjur is a source of providing a cultural identity to Mongolia.

National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM)

• It was launched in February 2003 by the Government of India, under the Ministry of Tourism and Culture.
• The mandate is documenting, conserving, and disseminating the knowledge preserved in the manuscripts.
• One of the objectives of the mission is to publish rare and unpublished manuscripts so that the knowledge enshrined in them is spread to researchers, scholars, and the general public at large.

Cultural Relations between India and Mongolia

• Historical interaction between India and Mongolia goes back centuries. Buddhism was carried to Mongolia by Indian cultural and religious ambassadors during the early Christian era. As a result, today, Buddhists form the single largest religious denomination in Mongolia.
• India established formal diplomatic relations with Mongolia in 1955. Since then, the overwhelming relationship between both countries has now reached a new height.
• Now, the publication of Mongolian Kanjur by the Government of India for the Government of Mongolia will act as a symbol of cultural symphony between India and Mongolia and will contribute to the furtherance of bilateral relations during the coming years.
  
  

  Dharma Chakra Day This day commemorates Gautam Buddha's First Sermon to his first five ascetic disciples at the Deer Park, Rsipatana in the present day Sarnath near Varanasi, UP. The day is also celebrated by Buddhists all over the world as the day of Dharma Chakra Parvattana or “Turning of the Wheel of Dharma”.