''Bhagavadgomandal'' (Gujarati: ભગવદ્ગોમંડલ) is officially the first

encyclopedia An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article (publishing), articles or entries that are arranged Alp ...

and dictionary entirely in Gujarati. Conceived by King Bhagvatsingh of Gondal (ગોંડલના ઠાકોરસાહેબ) in 1928, this dictionary spreads over 9500 pages in 9 volumes and includes the meaning and description of over a 281,377 words.

History

The motivation behind the creation of the Bhagavadgomandal, was mainly to create and preserve the treasure of Gujarati language for future generations, in a way similar to that of ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

'' for knowledge in the English language. This dictionary cum encyclopedia was created by Chandubhai Bahecharbhai Patel with the inspiration and active support from King Bhagavadsinghji. Both were concerned that the language had no major dictionary to speak of despite centuries of rich cultural and literary heritage. It took more than 27 years of effort to collect all the words of

Gujarati language Gujarati ( ; , ) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Indian state of Gujarat and spoken predominantly by the Gujarati people. Gujarati is descended from Old Western Rājasthāni, Old Gujarati (). In India, it is one of the 22 Languages with ...

and their definitions. The King and his team took an effort to collect the words not only from Gujarati, but also from the dialects spoken in various parts of Gujarat, such as Kutch,

Kathiawar Kathiawar (), also known as Saurashtra, is a peninsula in the south-western Gujarat state in India, bordering the Arabian Sea and covering about . It is bounded by the Kutch district in the north, the Gulf of Kutch in the northwest, and by the ...

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and South Gujarat. The whole project was supported by many literati, poets, historians, teachers and authors of that time. Three generation of Bhagavadsinhji continued their support for this mammoth task.

Features

The notable and unique aspect of ''Bhagavadgomandal'' is that it not only lists the spellings, grammar, usage and meanings of words, but it also provides historical facts and figures, diagrams, cross-references to other words and history of origin, wherever applicable. This feature expands ''Bhagvadgomandal's'' scope from a dictionary to that of an encyclopedia. The other interesting feature is that ''Bhagavadgomandal'' describes the life and contributions of famous people, up to the time of the creation of the encyclopedia.

Publications

The first edition of the dictionary was printed in 1940. It went out of print in 1958. A second reprint was printed in 1987 by Pravin Prakashan,

Rajkot Rajkot () is the fourth-largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the ...

. It was feared that people may not be interested in the encyclopedia anymore, but the response was really good, and that lead to the third reprint, that was printed in 2008.

Online Edition

In August 2008 the first online edition of ''Bhagavadgomandal''''Bhagavadgomandal'' Online was launched by Pravin Prakashan.

References

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External links