As my 5 years tenure as Governor of Maharashtra was coming to a close towards the end of 1997, my wife Ackama and I felt that it would be useful to leave behind a small brochure on the Mumbai Raj Uhavari for the benefit of those interested in its history and in knowing more about its 19th century buildings. its precious portraits, elegant furniture, ete. Such a brochure was published in August 1997. We had also published at the same time a 108-page book on the flora and fauna of the Mumbai Raj Bhavan prepared with the valuable assistance of the Bombay Natural History Society. The brochure and the book evoked a lot of public interest and we received several requests that a more detailed history covering all the Raj Bhavans of Maharashtra should be published.
I had the privilege of receiving a second term of 5 years as Governor in 1998 and thus becoming the Governor with the longest period of residence so far in the Mumbai Raj Bhavan.. In fact, the Mumbai Raj Bhavan in which we have lived from January 1993 is the residence where I have had the longest continuous stay in my life after my student years. The Mumbai Raj Bhavan therefore has a special place in our life and we felt that the least we should do before finishing my tenure as Governor here was to publish a comprehensive history of the Raj Bhavans of Maharashtra. The Governor of Maharashtra has three official residences known as Raj Bhavans, one each at Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur and a fourth smaller residence in the hill resort of Mahabaleshwar, all inherited from the British days and each having a fascinating history of its own. The history of these Raj Bhavans is an important part of the history of Maharashtra as will be clear from the text that follows and we thought that the public would be interested to know about it.
The main problem was to find a suitable person with adequate knowledge and interest in history and a flair for writing to undertake the task of preparing the story of the Raj Bhavans and we could not have found a more qualified person for this than Shri Sadashiv Gorakshkar, the gifted and highly respected former Director of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai, previously known as the Prince of Wales Museum. He has done extensive research into the history of different Raj Bhavans in Maharashtra and has brought out a very interesting account of the residences and also of some of the personalities who had played an important role in their establishment. I wish to convey my deep appreciation and gratitude to Shri Gorakshkar for his Valuable Services.
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