National Library of India
Encyclopedia
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
: ভারতের জাতীয় গ্রন্থাগার) at Belvedere, Calcutta is the second largest library in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
after the Anna Centenary Library
Anna Centenary Library
The Anna Centenary Library is a newly established state library of Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located at Kotturpuram in Chennai, Tamil Nadu India. Built at a cost of 1,720 million, it is the largest library in South Asia. It is named after the former chief minister of Tamil Nadu, C. N....
in Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
and India's library of public record.
It is under the Department of Culture, Ministry of Tourism & Culture, Government of India. The library is designated to collect, disseminate and preserve the printed material produced in India. The library is situated on the scenic 30 acre (120,000 m²) Belvedere Estate
Belvedere Estate
The Belvedere Estate consists of Belvedere House and the 30 acre grounds surrounding it, in which the National Library of India is housed. Its is located near the Alipore Zoological Gardens, in Calcutta...
, in Kolkata, formerly Calcutta City. The Library is the largest in India, with a collection in excess of 2.2 million books. Before independence, it was the official residence of Lt. Governor of Bengal.
The Calcutta Public Library
The history of the National Library began with the formation of Calcutta Public Library in 1836.That was a non-governmental institution and was run on a proprietary basis. People contributing Rs.
Indian rupee
The Indian rupee is the official currency of the Republic of India. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India....
300/- in subscription became the proprietors. Prince Dwarkanath Tagore
Dwarkanath Tagore
Dwarkanath Tagore , was one of the first Indian industrialists and entrepreneurs, was the founder of the Jorasanko branch of the Tagore family, and is notable for making substantial contributions to the Bengal Renaissance.-Childhood:...
was the first proprietor of that Library. Rs. 300/- at that time was a significant amount, so poor students and others were allowed free use the library for some period of time.
Lord Metcalfe
Charles Metcalfe, 1st Baron Metcalfe
Charles Theophilus Metcalfe, 1st Baron Metcalfe, Bt, KCB, PC , known as Sir Charles Metcalfe, Bt between 1822 and 1845, was a British colonial administrator...
, the Governor General
Governor-General of India
The Governor-General of India was the head of the British administration in India, and later, after Indian independence, the representative of the monarch and de facto head of state. The office was created in 1773, with the title of Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William...
at that time, transferred 4,675 volumes from the library of the College of Fort William
Fort William College
Fort William College was an academy and learning centre of Oriental studies established by Lord Wellesley, then Governor-General of British India. It was founded on July 10, 1800 within the Fort William complex in Calcutta...
, Kolkata to the Calcutta Public Library. This and donations of books from individuals formed the nucleus of the library.
Both Indian and foreign books, especially British, were purchased for the library. Donations were regularly made by individuals as well as by the government.
The Calcutta Public Library had a unique position as the first public library in this part of the world. Such a well-organized and efficiently run library was rare even in Europe during the first half of the 19th century.
Because of the efforts of the Calcutta Public Library, the present National Library has many extremely rare books and journals in its collection.
The Imperial Library
The Imperial Library was formed in 1891 by combining a number of Secretariat libraries in Calcutta. Of those, the most important and interesting was the library of the Home Department, which contained many books formerly belonging to the library of East India College, Fort William and the library of the East India Board in London. But the use of the library was restricted to the superior officers of the Government.Amalgamation of CPL and Imperial Library
In 1903, Lord Curzon of Kedleston, the Governor General of India, conceived the idea of opening a library for the use of the public.He noticed both the libraries—Imperial Library and Calcutta Public Library—were under-utilized for the want of facilities or restrictions. He decided to amalgamate the rich collection of both of these libraries.
The new amalgamated library, called Imperial Library, was formally opened to the public on January 30, 1903 at Metcalfe Hall
Metcalfe Hall
Metcalfe Hall is a heritage building situated in Kolkata, India, at the junction of Strand Road and Hare Street in the heart of the city's business district. The architectural piece is reflective of the British imperial architecture at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It was built between...
, Kolkata. Metcalfe Hall had earlier been the home of the Governor-General
Governor-General of India
The Governor-General of India was the head of the British administration in India, and later, after Indian independence, the representative of the monarch and de facto head of state. The office was created in 1773, with the title of Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William...
; Wellington, Cornwallis and Warren Hastings had lived in the building, and the last-named had fought a duel with a member of his governing committee on its grounds.
The Gazette of london reported, "It is intended that it should be a library of reference, a working place for students and a repository of material for the future historians of India, in which, so far as possible, every work written about India, at any time, can be seen and read."
Declaring the Imperial Library as the National Library
After the independence the Government of India changed the name of the Imperial Library as the National Library, and the collection was shifted from The EsplanadeEsplanade, Calcutta
Esplanade is an area in central Kolkata, earlier known as Calcutta, in the Indian state of West Bengal. This is not a conventional esplanade in the sense that the place is not exactly situated alongside a waterbody. However, the river Ganges, also known as the Ganga or the Hooghly, is located nearby...
to the present Belvedere Estate. On February 1, 1953 the National Library was opened to the public.
Discovery of hidden chamber
In 2010, the Ministry of Culture, the owner of the library, decided to get the library building restored by the Archaeological Survey of IndiaArchaeological Survey of India
The Archaeological Survey of India is a department of the Government of India, attached to the Ministry of Culture . The ASI is responsible for archaeological studies and the preservation of archaeological heritage of the country in accordance with the various acts of the Indian Parliament...
(ASI). While taking stock of the library building, the conservation engineers discovered a previously unknown room. The ground-floor room, about 1000 sq. ft. in size, seems to have no opening of any kind.
The ASI archaeologists tried to search the first floor area (that forms the ceiling of the room) for a trap door, but found nothing. Since the building is of historical and cultural importance, ASI has decided to bore a hole through the wall instead of breaking it. There are speculations about the room being a punishment room used by Warren Hastings and other British officials, or a place to store treasure.
As of November 2011, however, no further information on the chamber has been publicly released.
Visiting
The National Library is located at the Belvedere Road in Alipore, Calcutta. It is open during 9 am–8 pm on all working days and 9.30 am–6.00 pm on Saturdays, Sundays and Government of India holidays.Access to the National Library main reading room (Bhasha Bhavan) is strictly controlled. The visitors need to have an approved Reader's pass to reading hall. For that they need to fill in an application form (available on the National Library website) and get it attested by a Government Gazetted officer. The reader's passes are issued only between 11:00-13:00 and 15:00-16:00, Monday to Friday, excluding a string of National and State holidays.
Library statistics
- Over 2,270,000 books
- Over 86,000 maps
- Over 3,200 manuscripts
- Over 45 kilometers of shelf space
- Reading rooms can accommodate over 550 people