Dated October 23, 2002
The Times of India

Quietly and efficiently, Mahratta and Peshwai history is being re-documented, with the help of a scanner and a few computers. The four-crore documents lying with the Pure being digitized, as a necessary step to protect and conserve these valuable documents penned in the Modi script. Most pertain to ownership of property in parts of Western and Eastern Maharashtra. Or, to be more specific, places where Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and the Peshwa rulers held sway and gifted land to sardars. "So far," Indu Rodge says, Assistant Director of the 111-year-old Archives, "these have been kept wrapped in cloth bundles or rumaals. There are 39,000 such rumaals. It is time, however, that technology was utilized for ensuring their longevity.

Trained by the Centre for Development of Advanced computing (C-DAC) a team of research assistants is now engaged full time in classifying, numbering and digitally storing records, so that details will be made available at the click of the mouse. There are two objectives. One the process of settling property disputes will be made easier and second research scholars will have information online, instead of having to sift through thousands of rumaals," says Rodge. The period covered here is between 1600 and 1890.

Apart from records of property given away as inam, the Archives has in its collection political and economical details of the Anglo Indian history in English. There are documents in Persian and Gujarati too, as well as original letters written by Shivaji. "So far, we have done a good job of preserving the documents by using chemicals like naphthalene and regular fumigation. But given the number of documents, it makes more sense to digitize them now," states Research Assistant N.A. Sargar. The project is being funded by the state government and was initiated around 15 months ago. There is, however, no saying when it will be complete. "It could take at least a couple of years more to finish the task," says Rodge.