The main contribution of this project is the study of collections of valuable documents related to the image of India in Bulgaria. Digital repositories of selected samples are constructed using modern information technologies.
The results are presented in a virtual exhibition ‘The Image of India in Bulgaria:
from the late 19th to the late 20th century’

Atanasova, Violina

Bogdanova, Galina

Bulgarian Digital Mathematics Library at IMI-BAS

 Digital Presentation and Preservation of Cultural and Scientific Heritage, Vol. 3, 2013, ISSN: 1314-4006  Digitisation and Presentation of Historical Materials in a Virtual Exhibition ‘The Image of India in Bulgaria: from the late 19th to the late 20th Century’ Violina Atanasova1, Galina Bogdanova2 1Institute of Historical Studies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria 2Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria g.bogdanova@gmail.com Abstract. The main contribution of this project is the study of collections of valuable documents related to the image of India in Bulgaria. Digital reposito-ries of selected samples are constructed using modern information technologies. The results are presented in a virtual exhibition ‘The Image of India in Bulgaria: from the late 19th to the late 20th century’. Keywords: Historic Heritage, Collections, India, Digitisation, Metadata, Vir-tual Museum 1 Introduction As a part of a nation’s overall worldview on one hand and as a basis for forming the image of itself on the other, the image of other countries through adoption, interpreta-tion and symbolisation of foreign cultural forms and their conversion to stereotypes becomes a significant element of societies’ cultural traditions. The studies of the topic ‘The Image of India in Bulgaria: from the late 19th to the late 20th century’ show that from the Renaissance period, when the first reports of that country reach Bulgaria, to the end of the 20th century India has a permanent and tan-gible presence here. Despite the geographical distance, the interest towards India of-ten exceeds the strictly informative frames and grows into live emotional perception. The main reason for India’s popularity in our country during the second half of the 19th century may be G S Rakovski’s1 search for a connexion between India and Bul-garia in his hypothesis of the Indian origin of Bulgarians and the attempt to prove this connexion through the material in Veda Slovena2. Rakovski’s theses were declared groundless, and Veda Slovena proven a hoax, but they continued influencing the                                                           1  Georgi Stoykov Rakovski (1821-1867) was a figure of the Bulgarian Renaissance, the founder of organised national revolutionary struggle for the liberation of Bulgaria, a revolu-tionary democrat, publicist, journalist, historian and ethnographer. 2  Veda Slovena is a collection of folk songs published by the Bosnian Croat Stefan Verković under the title Veda Slovena: Bulgarian folk songs from the prehistoric and pre-Christian era. The collection was printed for the first time in two volumes in 1874 and 1881.  213  process of Bulgarians’ self-identification. After the late 1970s the ideas about simi-larities and ancient contacts between Bulgaria and India were revived and even found their way into official bilateral relations between the two countries. Under the changing conditions, the image of India underwent various transforma-tions, with different features becoming prominent at different times. At the same time, there is continuity in its reception and representation. It can be traced both in the manner of the country’s presentation – deeply sentimental, metaphorical, filled with romance, – and in the content: for example, India’s image as a focus of human wis-dom is widely popular throughout the period.  The aim of this study is to explore and choose collections of historical sources pre-senting the image of India and to develop digital archives and exhibitions using mod-ern technologies. 2 Historical Sources in Bulgaria Related to India The quick access to digital content and the creation of new content is a key to pros-perity in today’s world, and therefore the need for digitization of India-related histori-cal sources in Bulgaria is evident. The study brings together the effort of scientists from the Institute of Historical Research and the Institute of Mathematics and Infor-matics, BAS (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences). The team aims to carry out as wide a survey as the available funding allows of India-related historical heritage, with a view to the opportunities for digitization of the sources [4]. The digitisation of the India-related historical heritage in Bulgaria would contribute to its long-term preservation (studies done at the St Cyril and St Methodius National Library and in the library of the Academy of Sciences show that some of the materials are in an extremely bad state), provide an answer to the lack of space, and guarantee quick access to the sources The sources studied are heterogeneous (textbooks, periodicals, archival documents, popular fiction, travelogues, photos, pictures, letters, etc.). [1-3, 5-13]. Bulgarian text-books of Indian history (schools only teach the country’s ancient history within the course of Old World history, and mention her occasionally in connexion with major events in European history) are a compilation of foreign textbooks—mainly Russian and German ones until the mid-20th century and Soviet ones afterwards. They reflect the ideological stereotypes officially adopted in Bulgarian education—the Eurocen-trism of western textbooks and the Marxist-Leninist theory of development dominant in the Soviet ones. It is noteworthy that although their positions are not challenged, they are far from dictating the formation of attitudes towards the country. The press and media, which focus mainly on the coverage of current events, consti-tute the most important source for the development of India’s political image and the contemporary attitudes and sentiments towards the country. Although the Bulgarian press has been publishing materials related to social relations, religion, customs, etc., as early as the Renaissance, they become most abundant after WWI, with the growth of the anti-colonial movement. There are many publications on India’s domestic and foreign policies during the period of independence. They bear witness of the new  214  dimensions acquired by the country’s image as well as its increasing importance for Bulgarian society. The archival documents and materials, including such as come from the personal archives of the Bulgarian intelligentsia, letters by Bulgarian citizens, etc., from the funds of CSA (Central State Archive), BAS and MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), are a valuable source of evidence of the Bulgarians’ ideas of India and their attitude towards it. They show examples of sincere admiration and homage to its ancient his-tory and are indicative of the dominant importance of its cultural image in Bulgarian society. Popular fiction and travelogues are also evidence of the Bulgarian society’s admi-ration of India. Apart from two books dedicated to Rabindranath Tagore, no such works by Bulgarian authors appeared until the mid-20th century. During the rule of the Bulgarian Communist Party, writers, artists and journalists travelled to India with the mission of acquainting the Bulgarian people with various aspects of that country’s life. Their books are an indication, on one hand, of the officially cultivated features of the image resulting from Bulgaria’s policy towards India, and on the other, of the gradual widening of the ideological frameworks stemming from the Marxist-Leninist approach to the interpretation of social development. 3 Digital Collection of Historical Materials ‘The Image of India in Bulgaria: from the late 19th to the late 20th Century’ The project ‘The Image of India in Bulgaria: from the late 19th to the late 20th century’ is part of the idea of digitizing and representing the historical heritage on the relations between India and Bulgaria. Within the overall study several stages are planned, some of which are already being implemented [4], while others are future tasks in need of additional funding: 1. Study of the India-related historical heritage of and the possibilities of digitising certain collections;  2. Digitising the samples from the chosen collections; 3. Creating a digital repository with added metadata and security;  4. Constructing the foundations of a Virtual Museum of Bulgarian–Indian relations (BIM) with galleries and exhibitions of digitised collections;  5. Expanding BIM with a basic exhibition of historical materials ‘The Image of India in Bulgaria: from the late 19th to the late 20th century’; 6. Expanding BIM with a 3D exhibition of chosen collections of 3D digital objects from the India-related cultural heritage. In connexion with the project for full digitization of the historical heritage relevant to the relations between India and Bulgaria a thorough study was made of the sources in Bulgarian archives, libraries, museums, etc. (section 2), and some of the results of Stage 5 are presented in the exhibition ‘The Image of India in Bulgaria: from the late 19th to the late 20th century’, which is BIM’s basic collection.  215  The main objective of Stage 5 is to explore and digitize samples related to India’s image of, which shall be stored in digital repositories. Tasks related to ‘The Image of India in Bulgaria: from the late 19th to the late 20th century’:  A study of the heterogeneous sources with a view to their digitisation;  Digitising, annotating and indexing the samples according to their type;  Creating digital text and photo archives of the collected samples;  Presenting the digitised objects in a virtual exhibition. Studies were carried out to select standards and requirements for the digitization of the historical heritage related to India’s image of in Bulgaria. With the help of modern information technologies the selected samples were digitized and annotated. The in-formation on the digitized objects includes historical information about the object, archival photos, digitizer, date, etc. Metadata are added to the digital objects for in-dexing and protection, to facilitate future research in this area and as a guarantee to preserve the information on this significant historic treasure. The contents get described and classified according to certain criteria. Description of digital resources supports activities such as searching, detecting, filtering, etc. of objects in a big resource array. The standard used is Dublin Core [14] and a technol-ogy of adding metadata, attached to the digital resource. Rules have been developed for access to and management of the digital collections, functions for fast access, reliable and long-term storage, protection of information with steganographic methods and maintenance of the archived information to prevent losses. A digital repository of information collected from sources was organized—text and photo digital archives with metadata and protection added to the digital objects.  The archive management include the services of data management (store, view, sort and organize all objects), meta-data management, data security management and data preservation. This ensures that data are well-managed in the present, and pre-pared for preservation in the future.  The functionality of the repository was developed with regard to the methods of storage, access to and management of the digital components, design, support, com-pression and optimization. Functionality of the archive allows standard operations with objects such as input, editing, reviewing and removing objects, indexing of digi-tal resources, also adding and maintenance of metadata, searching the archives. It offers a quick find in the digital array by certain indications and classifications; op-tions for selecting and creating different web collections of objects of the archive (for licensed users with administrative rights); protection of the information in the archive using steganography and other methods; functions of maintenance of the digital ar-chive. The collection will be presented in Bulgarian and English. The overall digital repository will be available to libraries, institutes, museums, schools and other organizations. The digital information will be made accessible on the Internet as a virtual exhibition of historical materials ‘The Image of India in Bul-garia: from the late 19th to the late 20th century’ (a basic exhibition in BIM [4]) in  216  order to promote the historical heritage of the relationship between India and Bul-garia. Table 1. A sample of part of the metadata on digitised objects 1 and 2 (Fig.1 and 2)  Object 1 Object 2 Title A picture by Iliya Pet-rov. Madras A letter by Indira Gandhi Description A picture from Iliya Petrov’s book A Journey to India, Sofia, 1964 A letter by Indira Gandhi to a Bulgarian girl who was named Kamala after Mrs Gandhi’s mother Original Book Letter from a personal archive Rights St Cyril and St Metho-dius National Library Kamala Rasheva, Vratsa Digitiser scanned by an official Kamala Rasheva Date 29.07.2012 02.2011 Type and method Image (scanner) Image (scanner) For-mat/horizontal resolution JPG /600 dpi JPG /300 dpi 4 Conclusion This work illustrates the practical application of the digital representation and preser-vation of historical heritage. Valuable collections of documents related to the image of India are digitized and presented. The digital repository and BIM are constantly replenished with new collections. References 1. Arnaudov, M.: Verkovich and "Veda Slovena" Contribution to the History of Bulgarian Folklore and Bulgarian Revival in Macedonia. – Sbornik za narodni umotvoreniya I naro-dopis, kn. LII, Sofia (1968) 2. Atanasova, V.: India Shared – Istorichesko Budeshte. 1-2 (2010) 3. Atanasova, V.: Highlights of the Bulgarian Cultural Policy towards India (60s-70s of the XX Century). – Istoricheski Pregled, 1-2 (2011) 4. Bogdanova, G., Atanasova, V., Todorov, T.: Information Technologies for Presentation of Bulgarian-Indian Cooperation in a Virtual Museum. In: DIPP’2011. International Confer-ence. Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria, 111-116 (2011) 5. Joshi, R.: Bulgarska Dnevnitsa: A Bulgarian Responce to the Uprising. – Insurgent sepoys. Europe Views the Revolt of 1857.  6. Konev, I.: Bulgarian Renaissance and Enlightenment (Our present for Austria, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, India, China, Japan, America). V. III, P. I. Sofia: Akad. Izd. Prof. Marin Drinov (1998)  217  7. Mihalcheva, I. Boris Georgiev. S.: Bulgarski hudozhnik (1987) 8. Penev, B., Arnaudov, M., Stoilov, A. P., Rakovski, G. S.: On the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of his Death. 1867-1917. Sofia: Aktsionerno d-vo “Kniga” (1917) 9. Roboli, D.: The Concept of Otherness in the Literature of Romanticism from the XIX Cen-tury. – Literaturna misal, 1 (2000) 10. Traikov, V., Mukerjee, G.: Georgi Stoikov Rakovski. A Great Son of Bulgaria and Great Friend of India. New Delhi: Northern Book Centre (1987) 11. Traikov, V.: Bulgarians and work of Jawaharlal Nehru. – Istoricheski pregled. 2 (1991) 12. Traikov, V.: Renaissance on India. – Svetilnik, 5, 42-48 (2003) 13. Vij, S. K.: Rakovsky and Indian Revolt of 1857. – Problemi na kulturata. 3 (1987) 14. http://dublincore.org/groups/education - Dublin Core Metadata Initiative.  Fig. 1. Iliya Petrov. Madras          218   Fig. 2. Indira Gandhi’s letter to young Kamala       

Digitisation and Presentation of Historical Materials in a Virtual Exhibition ‘The Image of India in Bulgaria: from the late 19th to the late 20th Century’

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Digitisation and Presentation of Historical Materials in a Virtual Exhibition ‘The Image of India in Bulgaria: from the late 19th to the late 20th Century’

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