Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language. The inscriptions from the 13th century and manuscripts from 1012 CE of Marathi literature are available in various universities, monastic libraries, and private collections. Some of these Marathi manuscripts are rare and valuable, and many are yet to be published. Although the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute has a large collection of mainly Sanskrit and Prakrit manuscripts, some Marathi manuscripts are also preserved here. The work of descriptive cataloguing of Marathi manuscripts was taken up and completed within the stipulated time. A catalogue of 93 manuscripts was prepared. This descriptive catalogue will provide Marathi scholars with basic information about the manuscripts in this collection. It contains various types of manuscripts from different periods. All the manuscripts are written in Devanagari script.
A descriptive catalogue mainly contains information about the manuscript title, page number, paper size, paper type, special features if any, method of writing the page number, margin, and method of drawing the margin. In addition, the descriptive information includes the subject of the submitted manuscript, how many chapters or sections it contains, and the topic and number of verses in each section. The opening and closing texts of each manuscript are briefly noted. The condition of the submitted manuscript-pages incomplete or missing, if any is also recorded. The catalogue also includes the age of the manuscript and, if mentioned, the name of the person who copied it. Unfortunately, many manuscripts do not mention the date, and thus that column is kept blank. These manuscripts generally date from the 15th to the 18th centuries.
On reading many of these words, according to the current grammar rules, they will appear inaccurate, and in some places it will be suspected that there has been a misprint. All these entries have been faithful to the writings in the original manuscript.
Many of these manuscripts are based on the saintly works of poet-saints such as Jnyaneshwara, Namadeva, Tukarama, Ekanatha, Ramadasa, Amritarai, etc. There are also some Hindi abhangas. Some manuscripts are about important pilgrimages and Sthalamahatmya as well as biographies of the saints.
Medieval Marathi literature is rich in Pundit poetry. Pundit-poets composed their poetry in Marathi based on Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavata Purana, Raghuvansa, etc. This kind of poetry is known as Punditi Kavya. Manuscripts of Pandavapratapa, Harivijaya, Vivekasindhu, Shivalilamrita are in this collection. The collection contains more than one manuscript of one important composition, such as of Jnyaneshwari, Viveksindhu, Shivalilamrita, and Samashloki Gita. Apart from this, there are stories of many Vrat-Vaikylas, such as Vatasavitri Puja Vrat-Katha, Rishi Pancami Puja Katha, Anantavrata Katha, which have an important place in the cultural life of Maharashtra. Some texts on astrology are also available in the collection.
While looking at these manuscripts, many questions arise: why were they written? What was the purpose of copying them? What was the nature of language and its grammar in vogue in different cultural periods? This catalogue would provide the material necessary for seeking answers to such questions. Thus, there is an opportunity to study more about linguistic changes, linguistic development, changes in writing methods, differences in the nature of paper used, changes in composition patterns, social and cultural contexts, etc.
The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute has a large collection of manuscripts in Sanskrit, Prakrit as well as in Marathi language. The manuscripts are important from many angles as one can get a glimpse of the society and nature of various religious traditions, philosophy and several aspects of social dynamics.
It was felt necessary to prepare a catalogue of the Marathi manuscripts available at the Institute to facilitate researchers interested in studying these for whatever research questions they are interested in to pursue. Sunila Gondhalekar has taken up this work during her tenure at the Institute as Infosys Fellow under the Academic Development Programme supported by the Infosys Foundation.
I hope that this catalogue would provide necessary material to all researchers and save their time of searching the manuscripts they need for their work.
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