Bhagavadgomandal

Bhagavadgomandal (Gujarati: ભગવદ્ગોમન્ડલ) is a Gujarati Encyclopedia and Gujarati to Gujarati dictionary.Conceived by King Bhagavadsinhji of Gondal(ગોન્ડલ)in 1928, this dictionary spreads over 9500 pages in 9 volumes and includes the meaning and description of over a 281,377 words^{Citation needed}.

History

The motivation behind this Gujarati dictionary/encyclopedia, was mainly to create and preserve the treasure of Gujarati Language for future generations, much similar to that of Encyclopædia Britannica.

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 literaturey heritage.It took more than 27 years of efforts to collect all ^{Citation needed}the words of Gujarati language and their meanings.

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, Kathiyawaad, North and South Gujarat.

The whole project was supported by many literates, poets, historians, teachers and authors of that time. Three generation of Bhagavadsinhji continued their support ^{Citation needed} for this noble, yet mammoth task.

Features

The notable and unique aspect of Bhagavadgomandal is that it not only lists the spellings,grammer, 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, till the time of creation these volumes. (e.g. When searching for ટાગોર Tagore, it gives the glimpses of life and works of Rabindranath Tagore)

Publications

The first edition of the dictionary was printed in 1940, but soon became out of print in 1958.

Second edition was printed in 1987 by Pravin Prakashan [Pravin Prakashan] , Rajkot. It was feared that people may not be interested in encyclopedia anymore, but the response was really good, and that lead to the third edition, that was printed in 2008.

Online Edition

In August 2008^{Citation needed} the first online edition of Bhagavadgomandal [Bhagavadgomandal Online] was launched by Pravin Prakashan. Users can use an interactive keyboard to type the search keywords.

References

* Gujarati Language

* Pravin Prakashan (Pravin Publications) [http://www.pravinprakashan.com]

* Bhagavadgomandal Online [http://www.bhagavadgomandalonline.com]

* Nilesh Trivedi - Development Team Member of Bhagavadgomandal Online [http://www.pixngraphix.com]