The first volume of the Upanisad Vakya MahaKosa or a Concordance of Upanisadic sentences is now presented to the Sanskrit knowing public. It will be interesting to noted here the circumstances leading to the publication of this helpful but voluminous work.
While working as a Shastri in some leading printing houses of Bombay, I was entrusted by the Gujarati Printing Press to prepare an edition of the Bhagavad Gita with eleven commentaries, mostly unpublished. In making an attempt to trace the original sources of the quotations from the Upanisads and the Puranas, I found Col. Jacob's concordance useful but not altogether satisfactory. This Concordance was compiled from forty-five Upanisads only, and is therefore by no means exhaustive, and consequently a large number of citations could not be traced with the help of Col. Jacob's work.
In the eleven commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita citations are made not only form the 108 well known Upanisads, but also from many others which are either not known or very insufficiently known. This naturally necessitated a patient search for further manuscipts in the archives of the manuscript libraries throughout the length and breadth of India.
The search which proved very successful showed the existence of no less than 223 Upanisads. These Upanisads were collected, and a list of sentences occuring in them was made out in an alphabetical order after a sustained labour of several years. It is hardly necessay to mention that this list proved very helpful in tracing the citations occuring in the eleven commentaries on Gita to their original sources. The edition of the Bhagavad Gita was ultimately published by the Gujarati Printing Press, Bombay.
By the time I finished the list of sentences in the 223 Upanisads in my collection, the number of sentences had already gone beyond forty thousand. Lest this labour of years may go in vain if it be not printed and published, I decided at the advice of my friends and well wishers to print the book as quickly as possible. Being already 72 years of age I was afraid I may not live to see the completion of the work unless I could make things move very fast.
But one thing was wanting, and that was finance. The estimate for printing the book in two volumes came to about six thousand rupees. Six thousand rupees in a staggering sum for a poverty stricken Shastri like myself. Feeling helpless I started for my Patron Deity at Garudeshwar. There I was inspired to approach the noble Prince. His Highness the Maharaja Pratap Sinh Gaekwar for patronage towards this expensive undertaking.
By the grace of God Anant, the Eternal, the help came, and 1 was granted half of the full cost of production, a sum of three thousand rupees without a moment's hesitation. It is by the bounty of this gener ous ruler that the first volume of the Upanisad Vakya MahaKosa sees the light of the day, to the infinite pleasure of Sanskrit scholars all over the world and the humble anthor. Officers of the Baroada State like Dr. S. M. Pagar, Dr. B. Bhattacharyya, Dr. S. S. Bhave, actively sympathised with my work, and I record here my deep appreciation of what they have done to further the cause of Indian scholarship.
It will not be out of place to mention here a few details of the life of my chief patron. His Highness the Maharaja Pratap Sinh Gaekwar to whose generosity this work owes its origin, and to whom this work is dedicated as a token of profound gratitude.
His Highness the Maharaja was born on the 29th June 1908 at the Motibag Palace in Baroda. He is the son of the late Prince Fateh Sinh Rao, and the grandson of the illustrious Maharaja the late Shri Sayaji Rao Gaekwar. In his early childhood, the young prince lost his parents, and it fell to the lot of his grandfather to replace them both and shoulder all responsibilities for the upbringing of the future king of Baroda.
The late Maharaja Sayaji Rao undertook this task with unparalleled thoroughness in order that the young prince may be well equipped and fitted for the great task of governing a first class State like Baroda.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
Astrology (112)
Ayurveda (102)
Gita (71)
Hinduism (1246)
History (141)
Language & Literature (1632)
Learn Sanskrit (26)
Mahabharata (28)
Performing Art (64)
Philosophy (415)
Puranas (120)
Ramayana (50)
Sanskrit Grammar (245)
Sanskrit Text Book (33)
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