"The 150-year-old horoscope belongs to Vijay Kelkar, a senior executive with Praj Company in Pune, who has a collection of several antique objects. It is made of hand-made paper and since it is getting damaged because of decaying, Kelkar has given it to our lab for preservation," said Varsha Rakesh, head of the conservation cell.

"When we examined the horoscope at our lab, we found that it was in a tattered condition and also had some stains. The ink on it is made from vegetable dye that is water-soluble. So we would be preserving and consolidating the horoscope by coating it with a special solution along with de-acidification and restoration process," she added.

"To avoid further damage, a special Japanese starch paste containing proteins and insecticides will be applied on the horoscope. Then using the cold lamination process, we would laminate the entire 120 feet long manuscript," she said.

Cold lamination process was developed specially for laminating archival materials. "However, laminating such a long document is a "challenging" and tedious task for us," she said.

IRDOS director Rakesh Dhawade said,"The manuscript is the marriage horoscope of Shivaji Pathak, who was also a resident of Pune. The horoscope is in Sanskrit language. It carries the personality details, major happenings and predictions about Pathak's life," he said.

Long back, there was a tradition of making such long horoscopes in Maharashtra, especially in Pune.

"Enthusiastic people from the wealthy families were involved in the activity," said Dhawade, who has worked as arms and armament consultant for Aamir Khan starrer Mangal Pandey - The Rising. He said he has not seen such a horoscope in any of the museums in the State.

Varsha said that the horoscope would be given back to Kelkar after the conservation process is completed within three months. IRDOS authorities appreciated Kelkar's initiative for preservation "such an unique document."