Saraswata Niketanam to celebrate centenary on Oct 8

Chirala: The Saraswata Niketanam, one of the oldest libraries in India and rich with a rare collection of palm leaf and paper manuscripts written in Sanskrit, Hindi and Telugu is celebrating 100 years this Vijayadasami.

The Centennial Celebration Committee is making all arrangements to make the event a remarkable and rememberable in history. The Hindu Yuvajana Sangham, a group of youth from Vetapalem, who are actively participating in social service and encouraging locals towards the Independence movement in 1910, have decided to educate people through literature and help the people drive towards the freedom movement and started the library in a thatched house.

Philanthropist Utukuru Subraya Shreshti and other members started the library with two dailies, three weeklies and a set of 100 books on October 15, 1918, the Vijayadasami day.

After four years, they shifted the library to a tiled house and get inaugurated it by the ardent follower of Mahatma Gandhi, Seth Jamnalal Bajaj. As a token of the services of Subraya Shreshti, the locals recommended Bajaj to name the tiled house as, Subraya Mahal.

As the library become a centre for the exchange of thoughts and motivational centre for the freedom struggle, the committee members see a need to construct a new spacious building. In his tour to Madras Presidency, Mahatma Gandhi visited the Saraswata Niketan on April 18, 1929, and laid the foundation stone for the building. During this visit, the walking stick of Gandhi was broken into two pieces and he left it in the library as memorabilia as per the request of the locals.

The new building was inaugurated by Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu, after its completion. After visiting the library for multiple times, the then AICC president Babu Rajendra Prasad said that it is the temple of Saraswati and erected a Dhwajasthambham on the premises on November 22, 1934.

The Saraswata Niketanam was developed and extended into new buildings in the tenures of Subraya Shreshti, his wife Kamalamba and her brothers Kakaraparti Jwala Narasimham and Kakaraparti Subbarao along with the library committee chairmen Utukuru Jayaramadasu and Kakaraparti Durgamallikharjuna Rao.

Adusumalli Srinivasa Rao Pantulu, who is the secretary of the committee for nearly six decades has devoted his life to the library and is instrumental in fortifying it with various manuscripts, books and rare editions.

At present, the library houses 64,250 Telugu, 30,150 English, 5,000 Hindi, 1,000 Sanskrit, 3,000 other language books along with around 50 manuscripts of ancient books written on thatched leaves.

In-charge librarian P Srivalli said the celebrations start from October 1 with Kalasa Sthapana by Saraswata Niketanam Mahilamandali, Vanitha Vaishnavi and Vasavi Mahila Sangham of Vetapalem. TTD Annamacharya Project will conduct a Bhaktisangeetha Vibhavari. On October 2, Wednesday, as part of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the children will organise a rally.

Noted journalist Nagasuri Venugopal and freedom fighter TC Rajan will participate in the Mahatma Gandhi Birth Anniversary celebrations. October 3, a session on 'Effect of libraries on society' will be held while Kalkura Chandrasekhar, Dr Kolakaluri Enoch and Ravi Sarada participate in it.

A commemorative postal cover on the Saraswata Niketanam will be released in the event. On October 4, a pravachanam was scheduled by Dwisahsravadhani Garikapati Narasimha Rao.

On October 5, the centennial celebrations meeting will be inaugurated by Vidyaswarupanandagiri Swamy, presided by KVD Mallikharjuna Rao while retired chief justice Jasti Chalameswar, Padmabhushan Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad and Bommidala Srikrishna Murthy participate in it.