On 15 April 1859, Jaykrishna Mukherjee formally opened the first free Public Library in India (and perhaps in Asia as well). This library, known as the Uttarpara Public Library, was originally Jaykrishna’s personal collection and open to researchers as early as 1851. Influenced by Dwarkanath Tagore and in light of the Public Library Act of 1850 (in Britain), Jaykrishna wanted to do something to spread public education and increase scholarship in Bengal. In the August 1854, he submitted a proposal, for a public library at Uttarpara, to the Divisional Commissioner of Burdwan. He was willing to donate Rs. 5000 towards this. The proposal failed, and Jaykrishna went ahead and funded the entire library by himself. The library building, a palatial construction by the side of the Hooghly, started being constructed in 1856. The land area was one acre and the entire construction cost him Rs. 85000. The staff appointed was initially 7 people: a librarian, an assistant librarian, a clerk, two gardeners, one sweeper, and one durwan. He also appointed a group of Uttarpara citizens as curators of the library. To them he "has made over a landed estate yielding Rs. 1800 a year; but as more works of English and Sanscrit [were] yet to be added, he [had] made a separate provision for the same."
Initially, the library held around 3000 books and many periodicals: all from Jaykrishna’s private collection. He procured more books and periodicals from diverse sources: he bought them from the fund of the charitable Devottara trust formed by his father, bought rare collections from the Bengal Harkara Library, and he also bought books from the sellers at China Bazar. By 1865, the library had 12000 books in English and 2500 books in Bengali and Sanskrit. As of now, the library has 45000 old and rare books (most of them from the 17th to the 19th century); 65000 new books (both Bengali and English); 2500 old periodicals; 20000 new (and bound) periodicals; and 450 manuscripts. As Sir William Hunter had said, it is "a unique storehouse of local literature alike in English and vernacular tongues."
The library contains some old and rare volumes of periodicals in both Bengali and English: Dig Darshan, Sangbad Rasaraj, Somprakash, Tatvabodhini, Calcutta Monthly Journal, and Bengal Chronicle to name just a few. Apart from containing the early 19th century publications of pioneers such as William Carey, Marshman, Ward, Halhade, Rammohan, etc.; the library also contains The Holy Bible in Sanskrit, Dictionary of Chemistry, Sanskrit Grammar in Devnagri and Roman Letters by Max Muller, Reports at Westminster London (1658), Parliamentary Reports (1649), Charters of the East India Company, East India Pamphlets (1812), Reports on Public Instruction (1839), etc. Other documents include "Wellington’s dispatches, State Secret Papers, British Review, American Quarterly Review, Edinbourough Review, Travelogues, Dictionaries, Memoirs, Topographical and Geographical Accounts, Annecdotes, Almanacs, Law Reports, Gazetteers, and many more." All this aside from the 200 Sanskrit palm-leaf, plantain-leaf, and handmade paper manuscripts collected from Benaras, Kashmir, and the monasteries of Tibet. Most of the titles included in the Descriptive Catalogue of Vernacular Books and Pamphlets by Rev. James Long are from this library. Also available are Rammohan Roy’s Gaudiya Vyakaran, Mrittyunjoy Vidyalankar’s Rajabali, Madhusudhan’s Hectorbadh Kavya, Baidyanath Acharya’s Agyan Timir Nahak, Nrisinghadeb Ghosal’s Visvagyan O Brahmagyan, Brajendralal Vidyalankar’s Udvidvidya, Kalipada Mukhoadhyay’s Rasasindhu Premavilas, Pramanthanath Sharma’s Nabababu Bilas, Upendralal Mitra’s Bastu Parichay, and Gadhadhar Bhattacharya’s Shathik Muktibad.
Famous Visitors
Rather than being merely a library, the Uttarpara Jaykrishna Public Library was also a place where intellectuals met, and carried out their studies in peace while residing there. In 1866, Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar came to visit the library with the noted educationist Mary Carpenter. Consequently, in her book "Six months in India", Miss Carpenter spends a not insignificant amount of space speaking about the library. She informs us that "the lower storey of the building contains the library, and the upper rooms are reserved to accommodate respectable visitors, as well as to hold public meetings …." The list of these "respectable visitors" includes the names of stalwarts like Michael Madhusudan Dutta (who stayed there with his family for 2 months in 1869 and then, again, in 1873); Sir. William Wilson Hunter; John H. S. Cunningham; Rev. James Long; Sir Arthur Wellesley; Sir Ashley Eden; Sir Edwin Arnold; Sir Rivers Thompson; Marquis of Dufferin and Ava Dufferin; Surendranath Banerjee; Keshab Chandra Sen; Bipin Pal; and Swami Vivekananda. On 30 May 1909, Sri Aurobindo gave his famous ‘Uttarpara Speech’ on the grounds of the Library.
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