Bangalore, 12th December, 2022 – Murty Trust, the family foundation of Mrs. Sudha Murty and Mr. Narayana Murthy, announced a grant of INR 75 million to the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) to preserve and promote research on rare books and manuscripts in Sanskrit and Prakrit. The grant covers the construction of the Murty Centre of Indic Studies, an 18,000 sqft heritage-style, academic and research building with a 200-seater classroom capacity, a state-of-the art auditorium to conduct lectures, and an audio-visual studio to digitise ancient books and manuscripts. The Bhoomi Pooja for the building was conducted with Mrs. Sudha Murty laying the foundation stone of the building.
Speaking about the new initiative, Mrs. Sudha Murty stated, “BORI is a 105-year-old institution and a key pillar of India’s cultural heritage. It has produced a plethora of intellectual research papers and books. Every professor at BORI is a great scholar. I was mesmerised by the intellectual work of two books, ‘critical addition of Mahabharata’ and ‘Kane’s Dharmashastra’, both of which are very dear to my heart. As times have changed, audience want online classes to learn more about our culture and would like to interact with the staff. Hence, the Murty Trust has decided to support BORI with a new and modern building that will be dedicated to celebrating India’s cultural heritage.”
Mr. Bhupal Patwardhan, Chairman, Executive Board of BORI also spoke about the institution’s plans for the Murty Centre of Indic Studies. “Hon’ble Sudhatai has given funding for academic projects, and now the Institute has approximately 40 scholars working on different subjects from Indian philosophy to Kathak, and from Ayurveda to astronomy. The upcoming Murty Centre of Indic Studies can accommodate more than 60 scholars. At the same time, the Institute has now entered into education as well. So, the classrooms can accommodate up to 200 students for different courses and as this Murty Centre shall have a studio, we can generate good online content which will be offered on our platform ‘Bharat Vidya’. The Institute has 28,000 manuscripts and old books. To support these books the new building will provide a conservation laboratory. This is going to be a big leap for the Institute and its future. With this facility, the different subjects from Indic culture can be disseminated all over the world. So, we are extremely grateful to the Murty Trust”.
Bhandarkar Institute of Oriental Research (BORI)
The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI), Pune, founded in 1917, has one of the largest collections of rare books and manuscripts spanning over 1,25,000 books and 28,000 manuscripts in several languages such as Sanskrit and Prakrit. The Institute is partially supported by the Maharashtra Government. It has also received grants from the Government of India and the University Grants Commission for specific research projects. The Institute is credited with producing scholarly projects of world-class excellence like the multi-volume ‘History of Dharmashastra’ and the ‘Critical Edition of the Mahabharat’.
