According to their website, the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, was founded on July 6, 1917 in the honor of the work of Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarakar, the foremost pioneer of scientific Orientology in India.
The Institute is a public organization registered under Societies Registration Act 1860 and Bombay Public Trusts Act 1950.
The institute holds a large collections of rare books and manuscripts spanning over 140,000 books and 28,000 manuscripts collected in a period of 90 years. This collection covers several language and scripts such as Sanskrit, Prakrit, Indian regional languages, Classical, Asean and European languages.