A long term project under the auspices of BORI, started on 1 April 1919, was the preparation of a Critical Edition of the Mahabharata. V.S. Sukthankar was appointed general editor of the project on 1 August 1925 and he continued until his death on 21 January 1943. After his death, S.K. Belvalkar was appointed general editor on 1 April 1943. On 1 April 1961 P. L. Vaidya appointed as General Editor of the project on the retirement of S. K. Belvalkar.R. N. Dandekar appointed as the joint general editor on 6 July 1957. To widespread acclaim, the completion for publication was announced on 22 September 1966, by Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, then President of India, at a special function held at the institute.