On the bank of the Hooghly, in a charming little town called Uttarpara in West Bengal, stands this imposing old library. Considered to be the first free public library in India, Jaykrishna Public Library was established in 1859 by Jaykrishna Mukherjee, a prominent zamindar.
Influenced by industrialist Dwarkanath Tagore, Mukherjee turned to the British Public Library Act, 1850, to realise his pioneering vision for and interest in public education. Sprawled over an acre, the palatial building has tall pillars and wide, hanging verandas. The architecture bears resemblance to that of the splendid Kolkata Town Hall.
An illustrious seat of learning, the library was visited by the luminaries of pre- and post- independence India. Sir William Hunter and Reverend James Long found the answers to many of their scholarly questions in the magnificent portals of this library. Educationist and social reformer Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar visited this library with noted English educationist Mary Carpenter in 1866.
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The iconic Bengali poet Michael Madhusudan Dutt stayed in the southwest upper storey room of the library for some three months on two occasions, in 1869 and in 1873. In 1909, Aurobindo Ghosh, after his release from prison, gave a speech on the grounds of the library.
From linguist Suniti Kumar Chattopadhyay to former chief minister of West Bengal Jyoti Basu, many eminent people have demanded that it be declared a library of national importance to honour its rich heritage and exceptional collection of rare and old books and manuscripts. More than 60,000 of the 1.65 lakh books in its collection are considered to be rare.
“Time present and time past/Are both perhaps present in time future,” wrote T.S. Eliot. A living, breathing establishment such as the Uttarpara Jaykrishna Library probably takes us a little closer to understanding the full import of these lines.