Kolkata: 118-year-old library to mark Raja Rammohun Roy's 250th birth anniversary

KOLKATA: Members of the century-old

Rammohun Library

and Free Reading Room are set to celebrate the 250th birth anniversary of

Raja Rammohun Roy

with a day-long programme on May 22, when a commemorative volume on the reformer will be launched. Reprints of Roy's writings-many of which have been known to only a handful of people-and his portraits by various artists will be part of the content.

Joint secretary of the

Rammohun

250-Year Celebration Committee Sunish Deb said, "There will also be articles by eminent personalities focusing on Roy's works in the fields of juridical sciences, press freedom and women empowerment. There will be writings on his composed songs, known as Brahma Sangeet."

The library will also publish a souvenir, which will have articles on the library's contribution over the years. A special postage stamp will be unveiled and an exhibition on Rammohun and Bengal Renaissance through postages will be held.

Many libraries in the city have vanished but this one, founded in 1904, seems to have stood the test of time, bearing the torch of reason and knowledge that

Roy

had endeavoured to inculcate in people's minds . "Many stalwarts, such as Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose, Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray, Sister Nivedita, Brajendranath Sil, Rabindranath Tagore, Dwijendralal Ray, Pramathanath Bandyopadhyay and Charu Chandra Bhattacharya, were associated with this library. After Tagore won the Nobel Prize, his first felicitation in Kolkata was held at Rammohun Hall here on February 1, 1914. Apart from Tagore, Jagadish Chandra Bose and Prafulla Chandra Roy delivered lectures here," said the library general secretary,

Shankar Bhattacharya

, adding it was one of the oldest halls that started functioning around 1913, and was contemporary to Town Hall and Albert Hall.

An illustrious seat of learning, the library and the hall, which is a treasure trove of rare books and documents, is languishing due to lack of funds. "The heritage conservation and restoration of the building and the hall and the preservation of resources, like rare periodicals, newspapers and documents, such as the entire collection on IPTA, 28 books donated by Tagore, will need more than a crore of rupees," said Deb.

The library members have collected signatures of Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, Justice Chittatosh Mookerjee, Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri, Kaushik Sen and Chandan Sen among others and appealed to book lovers, heritage enthusiasts and academics to help them raise funds.