An Open Day was organised on September 24, 2022, by the 200-year-old Deccan College of Postgraduate and Research Institute, Pune, when the scriptorium and the editorial room of the prestigious dictionary, namely An Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Sanskrit on Historical Principles, were opened for general public, so that public could witness the ongoing encyclopaedia of Sanskrit project. This distinct and encyclopaedic project demonstrates and promotes India’s intellectual heritage hidden in Sanskrit literature. It proves as a classic example of painstaking, patient, and relentless efforts of the exponents of Sanskrit for over 70 years.
Beginning of the Project
The project of compiling Sanskrit words for this encyclopaedia began just after independence in 1948, which is still going on. Moreover, the year of completion of this gigantic work is not known. However, the final word count of this dictionary is estimated to touch 20 lakh words. Hopefully, it would prove to be the world’s largest dictionary in Sanskrit language.
The project was started by linguist and Sanskrit professor, S.M. Katre, who was the founder of India’s oldest Department of Modern Linguistics in Deccan College. He was first editor of this dictionary. Later, the project was taken over by Professor A.M. Ghatage. At present, the work on this prestigious project is being handled by a team of 22 faculty and researchers of Sanskrit who are working towards publishing the 36th volume of the dictionary, consisting of the first alphabet ‘अ’.
More about the Project
Between 1948 and 1973, around 40 scholars read through 1,464 books spread across 62 knowledge disciplines. The search of words for the dictionary started from the Rigveda (approximately 1400 BC) to Hasyarnava (AD 1850). The scholars covered subjects such as the vedas, dassana, sahitya, dharmashastra, vedanga, vyakarana, tantra, epics, mathematics, architecture, alchemy, medicine, veterinary science, agriculture, music, inscriptions, in-door games, warfare, polity, and anthology, along with subject-specific dictionaries and lexicons.
In the non-digital era, each scholar noted the details of every new word on paper reference slips and signed on them. The details included the book title, context in which the word was used, grammatical category of the world, citation, commentary, reference, exact abbreviation, and the date of the text. These slips were collected, stored, and safely preserved in one-of-its-kind scriptorium of the college. Words which had multiple meanings depending on the context of use and books were drafted, proof-read, and reviewed by the general editor, before sending them to the press.
The first volume was published in 1976. With technological intervention and an exclusive software with a font named ‘KoshaSHRI’, the process has been accelerated. Presently, one volume is being published in a year with each volume incorporating 4,000 words in it. Till now, 35 volumes have been published as a part of this project which are accessible only in hard copy format. A total of 6,056 pages, comprising about 1.25 lakh words, starting with the first alphabet ‘अ’, have been published so far.
There are 46 letters in Sanskrit language. Therefore, several more decades of work have to be done to finish the project. The college administration is working aggressively towards making digital copies available within a year. The project ‘KoshaSHRI’, under which the website for online access to the dictionary would be made, also consists of a customised software which is presently under testing and development stage.
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