Yaska's Nirukta with Durga's Commentary - With Nighantu (Volume II) - An Old and Rare Book

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In 1918 the Government of Bombay transferred to the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute the management of the Bombay Sanskrit and Prakrit Series, which was till then conducted by the Department of education. At that time liabilities of the Government in respect to the Series extended to sixteen works, out of which three, viz., (i) Tarkasamgraha, 2nd edition, (ii) Nirukta, Vol. I, and (iii) Dasakumaracarita, 2nd edition, had been carried to completion before the Institute finally took over charge of the Series. Since then the remaining works also have been published by the Institute from time to time and we have now great pleasure in fulfilling the last of the old Government pledges through the publication of this second volume of Nirukta.

It may be recalled that the edition of Nirukta in the Bombay Sanskrit and Prakrit Series was originally undertaken by Professor H.M.BHADKAMKAR. But even before the first volume of the work could be published the learned professor died unexpectedly on 26th May 1915. He had prepared the press-copy of the first volume and had even examined the proofs of the first 192 pages. Under these circumstances, his nephew, Professor R.G. BHADKAMKAR, readily offered to complete the work and thus pay off, so to say, the rsi- rna due to his illustrious uncle. He saw through press the remaining portion of the first volume, supplied the necessary references and prepared the Critical Note about the Mss. etc. The second volume, which is being published now, is entirely the work of Professor R.G. BHADKAMKAR. He has continued the work on the same lines as those prescribed by Professor H.M. BHADKAMKAR and it need hardly be added that he has scrupulously tried to keep up the high standard in editing set up by his learned uncle.

It will be seen from the Critical Note that the present editor has adopted several technical devices in order to make the text and the commentary easily intelligible to the readers. We hope that, in spite of many other editions of Nirukta which have been published since 1918, this edition will be found highly useful by all students of Veda.