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Bhandarkar Institute to organise special course on 18 chapters based on “Critical Edition of Mahabharata”
‘Critical Edition of Mahabharata’ published by Bori in 1967 is a globally renowned publication when it comes to the textual study of Mahabharata. The critical edition takes into account various versions of the epic compiled over centuries, and it runs into 15,000 pages of a total of 19 volumes
The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune (BORI) has brought a golden opportunity for those who want to get familiar with the contents of the Mahabharata grand epic.
Through a special lecture series based on the ‘Critical Edition of Mahabharata’, 18 Parvans (Chapters) of the epic will be unfolded by the scholars.
‘Critical Edition of Mahabharata’ published by Bori in 1967 is a globally renowned publication when it comes to the textual study of Mahabharata. The critical edition takes into account various versions of the epic compiled over centuries, and it runs into 15,000 pages of a total of 19 volumes.
“This is one of its kind courses unfolding the 18 chapters in Mahabharata. This series will be of 20 lectures. Many people think that they know a lot about Mahabharata but most of the time that knowledge is not based on what is actually mentioned in the texts of manuscripts. Not all can read the original texts. So, we want to unfold the authentic version of Mahabharata based on the critical edition. Through this series, the listeners will also get to know how the famous episodes in Mahabharata which are popularly known are actually presented in the books. When Mahabharata is presented on-screen, the theatre’s creative liberty is exercised. It may be suitable for that media, but we want to talk about Mahabharata which is based on the actual authentic text of the critical edition,” said Dr Gauri Moghe, coordinator of the course and who leads the culture index project of critical edition at BORI.
Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, which was founded in 1917, and took up this herculean task in 1919 to create a ‘Critical Edition’ that, is a common account of Mahabharata. This project lasted for 48 years - from 1919 to 1966. For this project, many manuscripts were collected and collated from all across the country. They were in many scripts and languages. Each manuscript was analysed and compared stanza by stanza. In the final form, stanzas appearing in the greatest number of manuscripts were taken as the authentic account.
“The critical edition of the Mahabharata is the most cherished creation of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. It has been the most authentic source of reference for scholars around the world. We have been working on its cultural indexes. An index has been created for the natural sites such as rivers, mountains mentioned in the critical edition. We have also started work on the indexes of the characters mentioned in the epic. This entire work has been going on for 20 years and it will take many more years to get completed,” said Bhupal Patwardhan, executive chairman, Bori.
The course on the 18 chapters of Mahabharata will commence from July 1st and a pre-registration will be required.
“Distinguished scholars from the institute will conduct this course. We will announce the names of the speakers soon. A nominal registration fee will be levied because we do not have any other source of income to continue our research work,” said Patwardhan.
*What is the Critical Edition of Mahabharata?
The ‘critical edition’ is an common account of Mahabharata based on the numerous manuscripts collated from all across the country
The critical edition has more than 13000 pages across 19 volumes.
The work of the edition was started in 1919 and was completed in 1966 over the period of 48 years.
Three generation of scholars worked on it, and it is a result of a critical synthesis of 1259 Manuscripts
