E-Paper
Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal in Pune to digitise 250K rare documents
In a bid to preserve the past for posterity, the Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal in Pune, one of the oldest institutions in the city, has decided to digitalise nearly 250,000 (2.5 lakh) rare, historic documents, letters and other scripts written in Sanskrit, Marathi, Kannada, Persian and other languages that are housed in their library
In a bid to preserve the past for posterity, the Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal, one of the oldest institutions in the city, has decided to digitalise nearly 250,000 (2.5 lakh) rare, historic documents, letters and other scripts written in Sanskrit, Marathi, Kannada, Persian and other languages that are housed in their library.
The information is at least over 700 years’ old from the time of Chhattrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the Marathas, Peshwas and Shahu Maharaj and has been meticulously assembled and stored over the past many years from various parts of the country. While it has been carefully conserved till date, digitalisation will help researchers and historians take this wealth of knowledge into the future.
Senior historian and secretary of Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal, Pandurang Balkawade, said, “We have decided to digitalise all our rare documents and letters available at the library. It is a five-year project as the number of documents is huge with around 2.5 lakh rare historic papers and letters. The formal tender of this work is going to be finalised within one month and then the actual work will start. It will certainly help to take these historic documents forward to preserve them in digital format for researchers ahead and to find new things about our history.”
Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal was founded by historians V K Rajwade and Khanderao Mehendale on July 7, 1910. Its main building is located at Sadashiv peth next to Bharat Natya Mandir auditorium. Meanwhile, the renovation work of this over 100 years’ old building is also being planned by the management.
“The building has become old and needs to be renovated so we have decided to renovate it without hampering its historic value. Nothing new will be built, only the damaged parts and some minor changes and repair works will be undertaken. The budget for this renovation will be around ₹1 crore and we are working on finalising its tender,” said Balkawade.
