The National Mission for Manuscripts has identified manuscripts with unique heritage value and designated them as Manuscript Treasures of India. Manuscripts are selected for their outstanding value to humanity and also for their contribution to Indian life, development of Indian thought and culture or simply for the history they may represent (local history of a region, perhaps).

The recognition seeks to sensitize archivists and collectors on the value of these resources and the need to preserve them.

The selection of manuscripts as treasures is by no means an exhaustive, but only an indicative exercise. While it does not aim to create a hierarchical status between those selected as treasures and others, the selection committee adopted the following criteria:

• Excellence as heritage
• Contribution to India’s intellectual history
• Vulnerability
• Belonging to ancient or medieval past

The most important consequence of such a declaration would be that these manuscripts would be given special protective measures including :

• Providing adequate space and infrastructure for their storage
• Taking up preventive and curative conservation
• Protecting the knowledge content through digitization
• Transcribing for more copies in the case of rare manuscripts
• Taking up critical editions, research and publication based on these manuscripts

The following manuscripts have been selected as ‘Vijñānanidhi – Manuscript Treasures of India’:

• Kubjikamata(The Asiatic Society, Kolkata)
• Maiteryavyakaranam (The Asiatic Society, Kolkata)
• Samputatika(The Asiatic Society, Kolkata)
• Kalachakravatara (The Asiatic Society, Kolkata)
• Rigvedasamhita (Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune)
• Chikitsasarasangraha (Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune)
• Upmitibhavaprapanchakatha (Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune)
• Bhagavatpurana (Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune)
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• Mahabhashya (Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune)
• Shaivagamatantra (Calcutta University, Kolkata)
• Astasahasrikaprajnaparamita (Calcutta University, Kolkata)
• Krittivasaramayana (Calcutta University, Kolkata)
• Shaivagama (Institut Francais de Pondichéry, Pondicherry)
• Shunya Sampadane (Kannada University, Hampi)
• Kurbararattamala (Kannada University, Hampi)
• Basavapurana (Kannada University, Hampi)
• Dhul wa (Kargon Gompa, Igoo, Ladakh)
• Gyad Stongpa (Kargon Gompa, Igoo, Ladakh)
• Diwan-i-Hafiz (Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, Patna)
• Tarikh-i-Khandan-i-Timuria (Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, Patna)
• Kitab al-Hashaish (Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, Patna)
• Kitab al-Tasrif (Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, Patna)
• Chitra Bhagavat (Krishna Kanta Handiqui Library, Guwahati)
• Ratnamalavyakarana (Krishna Kanta Handiqui Library, Guwahati)
• Uttaradhayanasutra (Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad)
• Shantinatha Charita (Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad)
• Aryabhadra-kalapika-nama-mahayana-sutra (Library of Tibetan Works, Dharamsala)
• Yumbanlol (Manipur State Archives)
• Subika (Manipur State Archives)
• Gilgit Manuscripts (The National Archives of India, New Delhi and Sri Pratap Singh Museum, Jammu and Kashmir State Government Department of State Archaeology, Archives and Museums, Srinagar)
• Baburnama (National Museum, New Delhi)
• Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri (National Museum, New Delhi)
• Arthashastra (Oriental Research Institute, Mysore)
• Natyashastra (Oriental Research Institute, Mysore)
• Sharadatilaka(Oriental Research Institute, Mysore)
• Saubhagyaratnakara (Oriental Research Institute, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati)
• Aryamanjushreemulakalpam (Oriental Research Institute and Manuscripts Library, Thiruvananthapuram)
• Gitagovinda (Orissa State Museum, Bhubaneswar)
• Chikitsa Manjiri, (Orissa State Museum, Bhubaneswar)
• Arsharamayana (Rajasthan Oriental Research Institute, Jodhpur)
• Dhvanyalokalochana (Rajasthan Oriental Research Institute, Jodhpur)
• Al-Quran-al-Majid (Rampur Raza Library, Rampur)
• Ramayana (Rampur Raza Library, Rampur)
• Kalila-wa-Dimna (Rampur Raza Library, Rampur)
• Sarvarogaharanagunagambhirata or Ashvaphala Prakash (Visweshvarananda Biswabandhu Institute of Sanskrit and Indological Studies, Hoshiarpur)