An hour-and-a-half-long drive from Patna, alongside a gurgling canal and through dusty, colourful villages, brings you to Bharatpura.
In this nondescript rural setting, a white building with a deep blue dome, the Gopal Narayan Public Library, rises high amid green fields. It is built on a mound that was part of the Bharatpura fort, and fort ruins lie around it. A moat with water chestnuts frills one side of the building.
The Gopal Narayan Public Library was founded in 1912. | Photo Credit: Priyadershini S.
This moat with water chestnuts frills one side of the library building. | Photo Credit: Priyadershini S.
Founded in 1912, the library-cum-museum houses a private collection of books and artefacts from the Dharhara family of zamindars (landlords) — its most important collector being Gopal Narayan Singh, after whom it is named.
I drive 50 km from Patna, and on arrival climb two flights of stairs to enter a semi-circular foyer where Singh’s portrait hangs. His son Dhrupad Narayan Singh had dedicated his life to the library’s existence, upkeep and expansion until his death in December 2022.
The late Dhrupad Narayan Singh who was caretaker of the Gopal Narayan Public Library until his demise last December. | Photo Credit: Jayant Dhari Singh
A month before he passed away, I meet him at the library. Dressed in a starched white dhoti-kurta, the 86-year-old is bright and eager to show me around. A common ancestry and many summer vacations spent in Patna, we exchange memories as the intervening decades dissolve in the moment. Dhrupad launches into a long walkthrough of the library that takes an entire morning.
‘Sikandernama’, or The Book of Alexander the Great, by Persian author Nizami. | Photo Credit: Priyadershini S.
There are books in Persian, Sanskrit, Urdu, Hindi, English, and historical artefacts such as Firdaus’ Shahnama (977-1010 CE), an epic poem in early Persian; Nizami’s Sikandernama; the 11th century Muthal ul Hind, composed by Salmat Ali; the first edition of the works of Charles Dickens; rare coins; 400 idols, many of the Pala period; and 8,000 manuscripts, among others.
A list of donors of books mentions Dulhin Gulab Kuwari of Ousanganj as an important patron. The Shahnama (only two copies of this version supposedly exist in the world) is attributed as a gift of the Benaras State.
The library also houses the Chirag ul Gul, a torch used by Babur to light pathways; Buddha statues, a Shiva-Parvati idol from the Pala dynasty (750-1161 CE), and rare sun sculptures. Some of these antiques find mention in the 1944-45 Gazette of the Bihar government.
One of the museum’s most challenging moments was a theft on December 8, 1972, when the Shahnama, Sikandernama, Mutha ul Hind and Vasiliss (a book of calligraphy paintings) were stolen. An international search that involved the Interpol and the CBI finally traced pages of the books to Malabar Hill in Mumbai, with collectors in Dubai and California.
In safe custody now, and housed in the new building that came up in 2000, the private collection is at a crossroads. “We hope for a future where its vernacular identity is not lost, its collection grows. We hope to acquire modern technology to preserve and share its inventory,” says Mukesh Dhari, son of Dhrupad, and the newly appointed secretary of the administrative committee.
An artefact from the library-cum-museum’s collection. | Photo Credit: Priyadershini S.
During my visit, when Dhrupad guides me through the rooms, unfortunately poorly lit, it is obvious he knows the collection like the back of his hand. He points out several prized possessions: a letter from Mahatma Gandhi, written from Yerwada Jail in 1932, to his father; the Mahabharata in Brahmi script on palm leaves; a map of Patna by surgeon-surveyor-botanist Francis Buchanan-Hamilton; punch-marked Din-i Ilahi coins from Akbar’s time; a sculpted walking stick said to have been used by Shah Jahan; leather coins and more.
Along with the library in 1912, the Bansi Dhari Singh School was established by the family whose ancestors held important positions during the Mughal period. The richness of the library collection can be traced to the generation that lived in the late 1800s.
Madan Dhari Singh (1908-1973), cousin of Gopal Narayan Singh, was the library’s president for 48 years.
Madan Dhari Singh (1908-1973) was the library’s longest serving president, for 48 years. His daughter Ragini Singh recalls, “In 1934, when the earthquake destroyed the fort and the books were in danger of getting lost, he is said to have carried them to safety and preserved them in tents, where he took shelter, till they were shifted to the barracks.” It was in these barracks that the theft happened.
I wait impatiently to see the books. Anticipation builds as a protocol mandated by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is followed to showcase an antique. The time is noted, along with the reason for exposing the antique, and the procedure is recorded on CCTV.
The books lie wrapped in an ASI-marked manuscript protection vestment. The Sikandernama stuns with its calligraphy, the flashes of gold in the miniature art. “Three pages of the Sikandernama were torn in the theft. The Shahnama has 52 paintings, 11 were torn out and are loose, 41 have been mounted,” Dhrupad tells me, adding that the books were sold separately.
“There have been attempts to move the library’s collection to the Patna Museum and now the Bihar Museum, but we have resisted,” he says, adding that the precious collection belongs to Bharatpura and should be here.
priyadershini.s@thehindu.co.in
COMMents
SHARE