History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c97.8

v7.c97.8

Dr. R. G. Bhandarkar had expressed a desire to donate his large library of thousands of books to some Institute that would properly house them, take care of them and make it a centre of Sanskrit studies. Dr. Belvalkar, Dr. Gune and several others supported the idea and about thirty people including myself contributed Rs. 500 each for the purchase of a big vacant plot of 30 acres in Poona and, after setting aside nearly half of the purchased plot for the Institute to be named after Dr. R. G. Bhandarkar, distributed the rest among the original contributors as plot-holders. The public and Govt. supported the Institute and the famous Tatas donated money to construct a suitable building. The first project undertaken was the publication of the critical edition of the Mahābhārata. Govt. made grants, transferred the Bombay Sanskrit Series to the Institute, the Chief of Aundh promised a lakh of rupees for the Mahābhārata edition with pictures and later the Nizam of Hyderabad contributed a large sum for building a guest-house for scholars from India and abroad