DARBHANGA, July 8 -- The Bihar government has initiated the process for an institutional collaboration between the Mithila Sanskrit Shodh Sansthan (Mithila Sanskrit Postgraduate Studies and Research Institute) in Darbhanga and the Oxford Sanskrit Text Society (OSTS) after receiving a formal proposal from the UK-based organisation seeking collaboration in preserving, digitising and promoting India's rich manuscript heritage.

The proposal was submitted by Professor Diwakar Acharya, chair of founding trustees OSTS and Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics at the University of Oxford, in a letter to Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Kumar Jha, who has been spearheading efforts to revive the historic institute.

In the letter, Acharya descri...