Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal

Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal, popularly known as Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal or just ‘Mandal’, is an Indian institute providing resources and training for historical researchers. It is located at Pune in Maharashtra state. The institute was founded in 1910 by the veteran Indian historian Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade and Sardar K. C. Mehendale.
Objective.
The main objective behind setting up the "Mandal" was to provide ready resources to the historians and researchers, to save their time and to motivate them. Rajwade conceived this idea long back but could not fulfill it until Sardar Mehendale met him and on his own expressed his readiness to support him for anything that he wished to do for the betterment of history.
History.
The "Mandal" was founded on 7 July 1910 by the veteran Indian historian Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade and Sardar Khanderao Chintaman Mehendale at Sardar Mehendale’s palace at Appa Balwant Chowk in Pune. To commence the activity Rajwade read an essay in the presence of the only listener Sardar Mehendale. Later on, the "Mandal" moved to its present building located in Sadashiv Peth area in the heart of the city. In March 1926 the short tempered Rajwade left Pune due to differences with the then Administrators of the "Mandal" and shifted to Dhule to form another institute which was named after him as ‘Rajwade Sanshodhan Mandir’. The "Mandal" at Pune, however, continued following on its mission to help researchers and contribute to the progress of historical study. It has since then been highly supported by the people and scholars by way of donations and bequests of books and papers. Rajwade’s disciples Datto Vaman Potdar, Ganesh Hari Khare and Vasudeo Sitaram Bendrey are believed to have played major role in prospering the "Mandal" and its activities.
Resources.
Presently, the "Mandal" maintains more than 1,500,000 historical papers and scripts mainly in Marathi, Modi, Persian, Portuguese and English. Moreover, it has also preserved over , and a few sculptures and inscriptions in its well equipped museum. The "Mandal"’s library keeps more than books written mainly in Marathi and English, which can be made available to the researchers for free consultation or, for a nominal fee, on ‘Take Home’ basis. These resources hold sizeable volumes on the history of the Maratha Empire, Maratha culture and Marathi literature. They also contain a large collection of the material on British Rule as well as Mughal Rule over India. The "Mandal" issues a Quarterly Journal called ‘Trai-Masik’ wherein essays and articles on new discoveries are presented. It has also published books written and edited by veteran historians and reports of annual conferences and historians' meets. The "Mandal" periodically organises lectures, workshops, training, seminars and study tours for the young researchers and historians.
Funding.
It was reported in 2004 that the "Mandal" was insufficiently funded to micro-film or digitise its collection. In 2009, as it entered its 100th year, it planned to create a permanent fund of Ten Million Rupees and use the interest from this fund to pay its expenses.