Meerut (UP): A copy of the Urdu Ramayana published 103 years ago in Lahore has gone digital. The Chaudhary Charan Singh University (CCSU) in Meerut has digitised the Urdu version of the epic which will soon go online, sources in the university said on Thursday. According to professor JA Siddiqui, it will be available on the university’s website in five days. It was Siddiqui who helped the university procure the script, sources said.
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Rendered into Urdu by Mahatma Shiv Brat Lal 103 years ago in Lahore, it reached the Raja Mahendra Pratap Library of the university through a resident of Sardhana in Meerut, Muqarram Ali, six years ago. Siddiqui procured the script from Ali, a relative of actor Nasreeuddin Shah. Siddiqui quoted Ali as saying that a friend had given the script to him 60 years ago. Initially, Ali was not ready to part with it, but when he was pursued to gift the precious script to Raja Mahendra Pratap Library, he agreed to do that. As the pages of the book are very old, people open it with care, Siddiqui said, adding that it consists of 1,000 pages and pictures of Ram Durbar.