________________
Post Independence Activities of B. J. Institute Museum, Ahmedabad.
Vibhuti Bhatt
The Gujarat Vidya Sabha formerly known as Gujarat Venacular Society is a 150 years old Literary and Cultural Institution and has rendered pioneering service to the cause of the development of Gujarati Language and Literature, education, particularly female education, Journalism and social reform.
In 1938, the late veteran Savant Dr. Anandshankar Dhruv, the then president of Gujarat Vidya Sabha founded a post-graduate and research department in the 'Gujarat Vidya Sabha', where he invited eminent scholars in humanities to work in this department. The department was inaugurated by Sir Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan. This department was recognised as a postgraduate institute by the University of Bombay. In 1946, through a munificent donation from Sheth Bholabhai Jesingbhai, the department was named Sheth B. J. Institute of learning & Research, and it was inaugurated by Shri Balasaheb Kher on 4th Feb., 1947.
Shri Ganesh V. Mavalankar, the first speaker of Loksabha was the first Chairman of this Institute before and after independence. The Institute has a modest museum of antiquities, serving the needs of the research students who study Indian Culture. In the beginning the Institute had a meagre collection of about 600 atiquities. In course of time it collected manuscripts, sculptures and coins and the number raised in plenty. During the early twenties of the 20th Cent. A. D. about 600 Mss. were collected of which 150 were copied by special scribes. In 1946-47. this collection had about 3,000 Sanskrit Mss, about 1,700 Gujarati Mss with original documents, 108 Arabic Persian Mss, about 2,000 ancient and medieval coins which included the punch-marked Indo-Greek, Indo-sythian. Ksatrapa and Mughal Coins.
