''Gujarati Vishwakosh'' ( gu, ગુજરાતી વિશ્વકોશ, ) is an encyclopedia in

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

, one of the

official languages of India There is no national language in India. However, article 343(1) of the Indian constitution specifically mentions that, "The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script. The form of numerals to be used for the official pur ...

, published by Gujarat Vishwakosh Trust,

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

, India. It can be considered the first full encyclopedia in the Gujarati language. Under the guidance of

Dhirubhai Thaker Dhirubhai Premshankar Thaker (27 June 1918 – 22 January 2014) was an Indian Gujarati writer, who was best known for creating the ''Gujarati Vishwakosh'', a 25-volume encyclopedia of the Gujarati language. Life Thaker was born on 27 June 1918 ...

, the work started in 1985 and ended in 2009 consisting of 25 volumes with 23,090 articles.

History

After the foundation of Gujarat state in 1960 on the linguistic basis, there was a need for literature available to the Gujarati speaking public. After years of efforts by

, the Gujarat Vishwakosh Trust was set up in December 1985 comprising many scholars and people of various disciplines. Work commenced to create this massive encyclopedia in 1985 under Gujarati writer Dhirubhai Thaker. The first concept was to create 20 volumes (with an additional introductory volume), but by its completion in 2009, the encyclopedia included 25 volumes, which comprised more than 23,000 articles. The first volume of ''Gujarati Vishwakosh'' was released on 2 December 1989; inaugurated by

Pramukh Swami Maharaj Pramukh Swami Maharaj (born Shantilal Patel; ordained Narayanswarupdas Swami; 7 December 1921 – 13 August 2016) was the guru and Pramukh, or president, of the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a major branch of t ...

. It contains 1474 titles in all, with 491 entries in

Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

, 437 in

Social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soc ...

and 488 in

Physical sciences Physical science is a branch of natural science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to life science. It in turn has many branches, each referred to as a "physical science", together called the "physical sciences". Definition Phy ...

and the rest on miscellaneous subjects. It has 53 monographs and 793 brief write-ups; the rest are articles of moderate size. It received co-operation of 365 contributors. The second was released on 7 October 1990. It runs into more than 1000 pages having 912 entries including 280 in Humanities, 285 in Social sciences an 347 in Physical sciences. It has 31 monographs of in-depth study. It received co-operation of 401 contributors. The 25th volume, last and final volume of Vishwakosh, was released on 15 December 2009. The project which has finally cost 25 million was funded by donors. Social worker Sakarchand Patel was among the first donors.

Content

The 25 volumes cover 23,090 articles written by 1,593 people. There are 7,965 articles on

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

; 7,935 on

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

; 7,190 on

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

. Of these 6,967 are biographies; 538 are large articles and 248 are translated articles. They also include 11,296 graphics and images. They totals more than 1,73,50,000 words. Each volume has more than thousand pages.

Reception

Kumarpal Desai Kumarpal Balabhai Desai is an author, critic, editor, journalist, columnist and translator from Gujarat, India. He studied and later taught at the Gujarat University. He is associated with several social and Gujarati literary organisations such ...

, managing trustee of Gujarat Vishwakosh Trust, told in 2010, "This was a noble task and a lot of hard work and dedication went into this enormous effort with support from hundreds of people. This is a 50th birthday gift to Gujarat."

References

External links

Official website
* {{Authority control Gujarati literature Indian encyclopedias Indian literature Gujarati encyclopedias 1985 non-fiction books 20th-century encyclopedias 21st-century encyclopedias 21st-century Indian books 20th-century Indian books