The Word is Sacred; Sacred is The Word: The Indian Manuscript Tradition sets out to demonstrate the wealth and diversity of India’s manuscript traditions and to communicate a lasting impression of India as a multifarious and multicultural society that holds knowledge and knowledge systems in high regard. Some one hundred precious manuscripts, books, and related documents introduced in this book span a timescale of almost two millennia of Indian cultural history. Often elaborately illustrated, the works come from the subcontinent’s most important public and private collections. The project was a presentation of India as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2006. An eponymous exhibition had been organised by the National Mission for Manuscripts, New Delhi and the Museum of Applied Arts, Frankfurt, on the occasion. The National Mission for Manuscripts was set up by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Government of India, in 2003 to document, conserve and provide access to the vast manuscript wealth of India spread in thousands of public and private repositories across the country and abroad. It received the Best Book Award, 2007, in Reference Category from the Federation of Indian Publishers.