Descriptive Catalogue of Marathi Manuscripts in the Deccan College Library

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The Descriptive Catalogue of Marathi Manuscripts in the Deccan College Library is an annotated catalogue of the 565 Marathi manuscripts containing 703 works. This serves as a complete manual of Marathi manuscripts for those who wish to make a study of hagiography and the history of Marathi literature. The introduction section has a series of elementary hints on the arrangement of a catalogue and a brief description of the contents of selected manuscripts. The plethora of literature available reflects the contribution of poct-saints of Maharashtra in dispersing knowledge from the late medieval period.

Dr. Trupti More, Librarian, has been serving in the Deccan College library for the last 27 years. She has co-authored Library Science textbooks for standard 11 & 12" and has published a dozen research papers in peer-reviewed journals. She is a member of the Subject Committee (Library Science), Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production & Curriculum Research.

The Deccan College Post-Graduate & Research Institute (Deemed to be University) is popularly known as the 'Deccan College', which is the third oldest college in India established in 1821. Its library has a rich and rare collection of manuscripts. The original government collection of about 17,000 Sanskrit manuscripts deposited in the Deccan College during the 19 century was transferred to the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute when it was founded in 1917. When the College was revived in 1939 as a research Institute, the acquisition of a new collection started, primarily through gifts received from the individual collections and to a certain extent through the search initiated by Dr. S.M. Katre. former Director and Dr. R.G. Harshe, the first Registrar of Deccan College. This collection now contains over 11,170 paper and palm-leaf manuscripts in Sanskrit. Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, and Telugu languages. Apart from this around 600 Sanskrit, Hindi, Dakhini Urdu, Persian, and Arabic paper manuscripts are also available in its collection, which has yet to accession. In between these, there are some illustrated or special types of manuscripts available in the collection. These manuscripts cover subject areas like Veda, Vedanta, Upanishad, Shrauta, Kavya, Dharmashastra. Itihasa, Purana, Jyotisha, Nyaya, Vyakarana, Yoga. Ganita, Kosha, Nataka. Ayurveda (Vaidyak Shastra), Mallashastra, Mimamsa, Subhashita, and Guhyasutra, etc. The College has brought out descriptive catalogues of Sanskrit manuscripts in three volumes separately, viz. Vol.1: Veda by M.A. Mehendale (1964), Vo.2: Kavya by N.G. Kalelkar (1965), and Vol.3: Dharmashastra by M.M. Patkar (1966). Besides these, a descriptive catalogue of Sanskrit manuscripts from Vinayak Mahadev Gothe collection by R.G. Harshe (in Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute, Vol. 4, No. 1, 1942, pp. 1-49) is also been brought out by the College. The entire collection of manuscripts is digitized and put on the intranet for access by the Deccan College Library. The present descriptive catalogue of Marathi manuscripts by Dr. Trupti More is going to be beneficial as a standard tool for resource sharing.

The library of the Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute (Deemed to be University) has a rich and rare collection of over 11.170 manuscripts in its possession. Out of this, 1214 manuscripts (ie. 11%) have been classified subject- wise and catalogues of the same have been brought out between the years 1964- 1966. There is a need to publish the descriptive catalogue of the entire collection of manuscripts to make people aware of the availability of specialized manuscripts in the collection. It needs to be classified according to subject and language for easy arrangement and accessibility of manuscripts Further, these are required to be catalogued considering all physical and bibliographical aspects of manuscripts. It needs to be classified according to subject and language for easy arrangement and accessibility of manuscripts. Further, these are required to be catalogued considering all physical and bibliographical aspects of manuscripts. It has been 55 years since the last catalogues of Veda, Kavya, and Dharmashastra manuscripts are published. After careful evaluation keeping the volume of work to be carried out in mind, it is preferred to bring out catalogues covering a different category of specialized manuscripts, to begin with. This compilation of a descriptive catalogue of 565 Marathi manuscripts containing 703 works is the first step towards the same. The present descriptive catalogue has been prepared for two main purposes. firstly, it is meant to be a complete guide to Marathi manuscripts in the collection of Deccan College Library and, secondly, it is meant to serve as a manual for those who wish to make a study of hagiography and history of Marathi literature through manu-scripts. To help such scholars, I have added to the introduction a series of very elementary hints on the arrangement of catalogue and the brief description of the contents of selected manuscripts. The plethora of literature available in these manuscripts reflects the contribution of poet-saints and patrons of Maharashtra in dispersing the knowledge in the late medieval and colonial periods.

**Contents and Sample Pages**