Alphabetical List of Manuscript in Oriental Institute Part 01

Author(s): Raghvan Nambiyar, Rajendra I Nanavati
Publisher: Oriental Research Institute Vadodra

Page 8

PREFACE
The first instalment of An Alphabetical List of Manuscripts in the Oriental Institute, Baroda is now presented to all lovers of Ancient Indian Culture as No. XCVII of the Gaekwad's Oriental Series. The volume covers 7,352 entries of manuscripts and is divided into 13 sections. It is prepared from the card index as it exists in the library of the Oriental Institute, with occasional corrections and modifications consequent on a closer examination of a few of the original manuscripts.
It will not be out of place here to recall the history of the manuscripts library at the Oriental Institute which, like all other cultural institutions in Baroda, owes its origin to the foresight and the innate love for oriental culture of the illustrious ruler the late Maharaja Sayaji Rao III Gaekwad. The manuscripts library came into being in an humble and unostentatious manner as a small but important section of the Central Library in the second decade of the present century. The section grew under the fostering care of the late Maharaja Saheb and his wise advisors until in 1915 the publication of rare and unique manuscripts in a special series, to be called the Gaekwad's Oriental Series, was added to the activities of the Sanskrit section which, till then, functioned as a mere repository of handwritten manuscripts and printed Sanskrit books. It was in 1916 that the Gaekwad's Oriental Series made its first publication with a charming and valuable work, the Kavyamimämsä of Rajasekhara who belonged to the latter part of the 9th century A. D. The book proved so popular that it went through three editions by the year 1934.
As a consequence of its growing importance the Sanskrit section was separated from the Central Library and made into an independent Oriental Institute in the year 1927, in order to extend to the institution opportunities for an autonomous development. Moreover, the rapidly growing activities of the section made the necessity of a separate administrative machinery quite obvious. The importance of the newly founded Oriental Institute was further augmented when by a special order of Government the publication of Marathi, Gujarati and Hindi books of the State was also entrusted to it in 1931.
When these lines are being written, the Gaekwad's Oriental Series has to its credit no less than 97 original works, covering many thousands of pages of original matter, throwing extensive light on various obscure branches of oriental learning and culture. The Series has thus served uninterruptedly since 1916 the cause of oriental scholarship under the active patronage of the late Maharaja Sayaji Rao III Gaekwad, and his worthy grandson and illustrious successor, the