Pt. Pandurang Vaman Kane. The critical edition of the Mahabharata A long-term project under the auspices of BORI, started on 1 April 1919, was the preparation of a critical edition of the Mahabharata. V.S. Sukthankar was appointed general editor of the project on 1 August 1925 and he continued until his death on 21 January 1943. After his death, S.K. Belvalkar was appointed general editor on 1 April 1943. On 1 April 1961, P. L. Vaidya was appointed as general editor of the project on the retirement of S. K. Belvalkar. R. N. Dandekar was appointed as the joint general editor on 6 July 1957. To widespread acclaim, the completion for publication was announced on 22 September 1966, by Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, then president of India, at a special function held at the institute. The Shloka composition in the BORI critical edition of the Mahabharata Arjuna – 35% in the form of Anusthipchand (various names used as a glorification of the protagonist of the epic) Krishna – 19% Yudhisthira – 14% Bhishma – 10% Duryodhana – 8% Bhima – 6% Other characters represent around 10% of shlokas The critical edition was collated from 1,259 manuscripts. This edition in 19 volumes (more than 15,000 demi-quarto size pages) comprised the critically constituted text of the 18 parvas of the Mahabharata consisting of more than 89,000 verses, an elaborate critical apparatus and a prolegomena on the material and methodology (volume I), written by V.S. Sukthankar. Further work since the initial publication has produced a critical edition of the Harivamsa, a pratika index, a bibliography of ancillary materials, and a cultural index. The project of preparing a critical edition of the Harivamsa was inaugurated by the president of India, Rajendra Prasad, on 19 November 1954. The publication was completed in November 1971. The critical edition in two volumes consists of the four parvans of the Harivamsa. The pratika Index in six volumes consists of 360,000 verse quarters with appendices. Two volumes of the cultural index have been published so far. The constituted text of the critical edition has also been made available on the CD-ROM. Donation by Nizam and the "Nizam guest house" In 1932, there was a need for money for the publication of the Mahabharata. A formal request was made to the seventh nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan, who granted Rs.1000 /- per year for a period of 11 years and