Himachal Pradesh is acclaimed for its natural beauty, flora-fauna and diversified culture. Centuries old life style, customs and traditions are the rich repository of this small hilly State’s enriched past. Several famous temples and pilgrimage and involvement of deities in day to day affairs of people of the State makes Himachal Pradesh a ‘Dev Bhoomi’ in true spirit.
Keeping in view the importance of archives, the State Government has set up Himachal Pradesh Record Management Committee, which is looking after the archaeological works to preserve cultural ethos of the State. With a view to preserve old languages and dialects of the state, so far cataloguing of one lakh 26 thousand manuscripts have been preserved and catalogued at the Manuscript Resource Centre set up at academy under the National Manuscript Mission Yojna. Last year alone 13,500 manuscripts were collected and catalogued in the State.
The State Government confers the writers and novelists with the ‘Shikhar Samman’ for their distinguished achievements. In the year 2015, three personalities were conferred with the Shikhar Samman by the Chief Minister, who is also Chairman of the Academy during the “Shikhar Samman Samaroh”. Folk and pahari musician of Himachal Pradesh S. Shashi was awarded for Bahori music, senior poet Sriniwas Shrikant for language and literature and renowned artist Professor B.N. Goswami was conferred with the ‘Shikhar Samman’ for his special achievements. Besides this, the academy also confers literary awards to distinguished writers of the State.
On 3rd April, 2014 on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Lalchand Prarthi, a State level function was organised at the historic Gaiety Theatre, Shimla. Writer’s conference and polyglot poet conference were the main attractions of this event. During writers conference the research paper on “Wajood-o-Adam” one of the works of Shri Prarthi was presented. In another research paper a power point presentation was made on the “right of women seeking equal share in ancestral property in the tribal areas”. Ten scholars presented their opinion through these research papers. In the polyglot poet seminar, 25 poets of the State recited their poetry in Hindi, Pahari, Sanskrit and Urdu languages.
During a two day Tribal seminar organised by the Academy, scholars of Pangi, Bharmaur, Kinnaur, Lahaul and Spiti presented research papers on the tribal art, culture, language and literature which was of utmost significance.
Temples are integral part of our tradition where from the prayers and other rituals are performed. The State Government has taken over the management of various temples which has improved the management and functioning of the temple for providing best facilities to the devotees.
The Academy publishes Hindi quarterly magazine “Somsi”, Pahari half yearly magazine “Himbharti”and Sanskrit half yearly magazine “Shamala” on a regular basis. These magazines are not only providing a platform to the writers but also providing authentic material to the researchers and readers. Besides this, a Sanskrit dictionary, Hindi- Pahari synonym dictionary are also brought out.
With a view to preserve the extincting scripts, the State has started a training centre of Pabuchi script at Nahan under “Guru – Shishya Yojna”. Annual training of Pabuchi script is being provided to five students in this centre. To encourage women writers a State Level Women Seminar is also organised in Shimla every year.
To encourage the writers andlitterateur, the department organises various events such as Lal Chand Prarthi Jayanti, Pahari Gandhi Baba Kanshiram Jayanti, Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar Jayanti. These symposiums go a long way in conservation of culture, traditions and pahari dialects of the State.
