National Library A Treasure Trove Of Knowledge

Joydip Sur

Once the abode of sahibs, the sprawling estate at Belvedere now houses one of the nation’s greatest institutions, namely, the National Library. In this edition of Calcutta Chronicle, we take you on a journey back in time; both of the oldest library in the country and the edifice that treasures it.

The early antecedents of the National Library can be traced to the setting up of the Calcutta Public Library in 1836 at Esplanade Row. The library was a non-government institution and run on a proprietary basis. People contributed a princely sum of Rs 300 as subscription to become proprietors; not surprisingly, Prince Dwarkanath Tagore was the first proprietor of the Calcutta Public Library.

Lord Metcalfe, the then Governor General, shifted 4,675 volumes from the library of the Fort William College to the Calcutta Public Library. This, along with donations of books from several individuals formed the nucleus of the library. Both Indian and foreign books, especially British, were also purchased for the library. The library received donations from both individuals and government.

The Calcutta Public Library held a unique position as the first public library in this part of the world. Such a well-organised and efficiently run library was rare even in Europe during the first half of the 19th century. It was only due to the efforts of the Calcutta Public Library that the present National Library has so many extremely rare books and journals as a part of its collection.

The Imperial Library was set up 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 libraries of East India College, Fort William College and that of the East India Board in London. But the use of the library was restricted to the superior officers of the government.

In 1903, Lord Curzon, conceived the idea of opening a library for the use of the public. He noticed that both the libraries—Imperial Library and Calcutta Public Library—were under-utilised and decided to amalgamate the rich collection of both the libraries.

The newly amalgamated library, called Imperial Library, was formally opened to the public on January 30, 1903 at Metcalfe Hall which had earlier been the home of several Governor-Generals including Warren Hastings, Cornwallis and Wellington.

A notification in the Gazette of India read: “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.”

After independence, the Governor of Bengal, C Rajagopalachari suggested that the Belvedere estate which once belonged to Warren Hastings and later, went on to become the official residence of the lieutenant governors after the East India Company brought the property, should house the Imperial Library, renamed as National Library. It doors were formally thrown open in 1953 by the Education Minister, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. Since the first public library in India was opened in Calcutta in 1818, it was apt that the honour of having a National Library should rest with the city.

Coming to the architecture of Belvedere Estate, the grand entrance opens into a spacious park peripherally wooded with subtropical trees. The basic structure of the house painted in white with green doors and windows, was kept intact during its adaptation as a library.

The original pillars of the stack room located in the basement hold up the superstructure and some of the offices are still equipped with fireplaces. The basement storey is occupied by movable stacks for storing a rich collection of books. The main reading room, once the banquet hall for viceroys and their guests, is thirty-four metres long. The off-white ceiling is held up by classic Roman beams and brick vaulting and supported by Corinthian pillars. The pillars at the periphery of the room prop up a mezzanine gallery which is now used as carrel.

Alcoves underneath the gallery now are used to store reference works such as District Gazetteers. An ancient London-made grandfather clock is another relic of the Colonial past apart from the dining table that was used by Warren Hastings. The National Library Staff Quarters has eaten into the southern part of the estate, just north of the Agri-Horticultural Gardens, which too, was a part of the property of Warren Hastings.

For almost two decade now, the daily operations of the National Library have shifted to the newly constructed state-of-the-art Bhasa Bhavan.