Blaming a book, mob destroys invaluable pages of history

Snapping telephone lines, the mob tore books, rare writings and damaged artefacts and several framed paintings and photos. The departments of Mahabharatiya, manuscripts, publication, postgraduate teaching and research bore the brunt of the attack.The police showed up 45 minutes after the attack, citing ‘‘lack of information’’as the reason for the delay. So far, 72 people have been arrested.

The shocking incident comes in the wake of the December 22 incident when Shiv Sena supporters manhandled and humiliated historian Shrikant Bahulkar, named by Laine in the book’s acknowledgements.

Later, Sena leader Raj Thackeray apologised to Bahulkar, also a member of the Bhandarkar institute’s governing council.

The Bhandarkar institute, which attracts world scholars was established on July 6, 1917. By 1920, the then Bombay administration had handed over its entire collection of 20,000 manuscripts to the institute for indexing and preservation.

Today’s attack outraged the literary circle. Estimating the damage is going to be the first and most painful task. Says former institute secretary M G Dhadphale: ‘‘It’s difficult to even comprehened the extent of the loss. With the 1920s collection and books from Bhandarkar’s pesonal library damaged, where do we go from here?’’

‘‘Someone found a copy of Sanacharya’s commentary on the Rig Veda lying on the road. He was sensible enough to return it to me.’’ M A Mehendale, chief editor of the cultural index of Mahabharata, summed it up when he said: ‘‘Our entire life’s effort has been destroyed by these senseless people.’’