Organized into 91 sections (kalams), it is an important source of information about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's life for modern historians.
[1] The original text was composed by Shivaji's courtier Dattaji Trimal, but is now lost: its extracts survive in later recensions.
[2] According to tradition, the 91 Kalmi Bakhar was written by Shivaji's courtier Dattaji Trimbak (or Trimal) Wakenavis (or Waknis), who was a member of his Ashta Pradhan council of ministers, and accompanied him to the Mughal court in Agra.
[5] Much of the text in this recension is about Khando's father Anaji Malkare, and these interpolations have rendered it unreliable.
[2] During British Raj, multiple modern scholars published various recensions of the text: In 1806, Lt. E. J. Frissell translated the Raigad manuscript of the bakhar into English; this translation was published in George Forrest's Selections from Bombay State Papers.