Context: Recently, the Ramcharitmanas, Panchatantra and Sah?dayaloka-Locana have been included in ‘UNESCO's Memory of the World Asia-Pacific Regional Register’.

• The decision was taken at the 10th General Meeting of the Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific (MOWCAP), which was convened on May 7-8 in Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar.

About Memory of the World Programme

• It is part of an international initiative launched by UNESCO in 1992 to safeguard the documentary heritage of humanity.

• It aims to recognise significant documentary heritage in a similar fashion to the way UNESCO’s World Heritage Convention and World Heritage List recognises significant natural and cultural sites.

The Memory of the World Programme (MoW) aims to:

• Facilitate preservation of the world's documentary heritage, particularly in areas affected by conflict and/or natural disaster

• Enable universal access to documentary heritage worldwide

• Enhance public awareness about the significant of documentary heritage among the wider public

• Governance: The International Advisory Committee (IAC) is the main body responsible for advising UNESCO on the planning and implementation of this MoW Programme as a whole.

• It comprises 14 members serving in a personal capacity, appointed by the Director-General of UNESCO, and chosen for their authority in the field of documentary heritage.

• Nomination for MoW: The call for nominations and inscriptions on the Asia Pacific Register is made every two years unless unexpected circumstances make this impractical. Nominations will normally be called for in the even-number years (to alternate with the International Register).

India’s 3 items included in Mow are:

Ramcharitmanas

• Authored by 16th century Indian poet Goswami Tulsidas, ‘Ramcharitmanas’ is an epic poem that narrates the life of Lord Rama.

• It is based on the Sanskrit epic Ramayana and is written in the Awadhi dialect of Hindi.

• The choice to write in Awadhi reflects the Bhakti movement’s emphasis on devotion and the effort to make religious texts accessible to a wider audience.

• The poem is divided into seven chapters, or Kandas, that tell the story of Lord Ram from his birth to becoming the King of Ayodhya.

• The poem is also called Tulsikrit Ramayan (literally, The Ramayan composed by Tulsi or, loosely, The Ramayan of Tulsidas).

Panchatantra

• The Panchatantra is a collection of folktales and fables that were believed to have been originally written in Sanskrit by Vishnu Sharma more than 2500 years ago.

• It is a book of Niti, the wise conduct of life, written in the form of a chain of simple stories. Each story has a moral and philosophical theme, aiming to guide the reader in attaining success in life by understanding human nature.

Sahrdayaloka-Locana

• The Sahrdayaloka-Locana is a Sanskrit treatise on poetics written by Jagannatha Pa??itaraja in the 17th century.

• It is considered one of the most important works of Sanskrit literary criticism.

• The text discusses the concept of “Sahrdaya“, which refers to a sensitive or discerning reader or critic.