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The Union Home Minister inaugurated the first phase of the Museum of Word (Shabdalok) at the National Library campus, Kolkata.

About Shabdalok (Museum of Word)

Shabdalok is India's first immersive museum dedicated to languages, words, and the country's multilingual heritage. Developed by the National Library of India under the Ministry of Culture, the museum celebrates India's rich linguistic diversity by showcasing the evolution of language, s, literature, and oral traditions through modern interactive technologies.

The museum seeks to demonstrate how words shape language, language reflects culture, and cultural traditions are transmitted across generations.

Key Features

The museum offers an immersive, multi-sensory experience through visual, auditory, tactile, and digital exhibits, making India's linguistic heritage accessible and engaging for visitors.

Its galleries trace the evolution of language from Omkar, Panini's grammatical tradition, and the Shruti and Smriti traditions to inions, manus, the invention of the printing press, and modern digital archives.

The exhibits include:

• Dialects and folk traditions
• Copper plate inions
• Stone inions
• Bhojpatra (birch bark) manus
• Handwritten manus
• Printed books
• Lullabies and oral traditions
• Other linguistic artefacts from across India

About the National Library of India

The National Library of India, located in Kolkata, is the largest library in India by collection size. It originated as the Imperial Library during the British period and was renamed the National Library after Independence.

It functions as India's premier repository of books, manus, government publications, and other documentary heritage.