Gowthami Grandhalayam or Sri Gowthami Regional Library was started by poet and social reformer Nalam Krishna Rao in 1898 in
Rajahmundry
Rajahmundry, officially known as Rajamahendravaram, is a city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and District headquarters of East Godavari district. It is the sixth most populated city in the state. During British rule, the District of Rajah ...
,
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
, India.
History
Initially named Sri Veeresalingam library, since it was backed by the nationalist Kandukuri Veeresalingam Pantulu, it was housed in Nalam Choultry in Innispeta with a very small collection.
Around the same time Addanki Satyanarayana established the Vasuraya Library.
Andhra Desa Grandhalaya Sangham secretary Pathuri Nageswara Rao suggested merger of the two libraries to get regional status.
Following the advice of the elite in the city, the two libraries were merged and named as Gowthami Grandhalayam and registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1920. Vavilala Gopala Krishnaiah and AB Nageswara Rao were successful in getting regional status to the library. In 1979, the government took over the library. With the increase in collections the library moved to the Town Hall in Rajahmundry.
The library enjoyed the patronage of persons like Maharaja Vikram Deo Verma of Jeypore State, Raja
Kanchumarthi Ramachandra Rao
Raja Kanchumarthi Ramachandra Rao was a zamindar of Dharmavaram. He is notable for the development of Rajahmundry. He was the son of Kanchumarthi Narasayya Naidu.
Personal life
Kanchumarthi Venkata Seetha Ramachandra Rao is the adopted son of ...
Chilakamarti Lakshmi Narasimham
Chilakamarti Lakshmi Narasimham (26 September 1867 – 17 June 1946) was an Indian playwright, novelist and author of short stories, who wrote in the Telugu language. He was a romantic and a social reformer in the tradition founded by Veeresal ...
, Bhamidipati Kameswara Rao,
Kasinathuni Nageswara Rao
Kasinadhuni Nageswararao, better known as Nageswara Rao Pantulu, (1 May 1867 – 11 April 1938) was an Indian journalist, nationalist, politician, businessman, and a staunch supporter of Khaddar movement. He participated in the Indian independe ...
,
Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy
Sir Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy (10 December 1880 – 24 February 1951), also popularly known as Sir C. R. Reddy, was an educationist and political thinker, essayist and economist, poet and literary critic. He was a prominent member of the Just ...
and Pathuri Nagabhushanam. It had the reputation of quenching the literary thirst of people from foreign origin as well.
Efforts
Later land was bought at Lakshmivarapupeta and a rich landlord Kanchumarti Seetaramachandra Rao constructed a building in memory of his daughter Babayamma (one of the first women to complete matriculation in
Rajahmundry
Rajahmundry, officially known as Rajamahendravaram, is a city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and District headquarters of East Godavari district. It is the sixth most populated city in the state. During British rule, the District of Rajah ...
) who died young. The Babayamma Hall, served as the library building until the 1970s and still exists, behind the new building. Kanchumarti Babayamma is the first women Municipal Councillor of
Rajahmundry
Rajahmundry, officially known as Rajamahendravaram, is a city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and District headquarters of East Godavari district. It is the sixth most populated city in the state. During British rule, the District of Rajah ...
.
With a good collection of both Telugu and English classics, including old editions of Shakespeare, the library was first managed by a committee elected by select lifetime members.
Mahidhar Jaganmohan Rao was the last secretary of the library under the committee.
Some of the rare books and manuscripts
* Books from the 12th century
* First 1771 published copy of the ''
Encyclopædia Britannica
The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...
''
* Col. Mackenzie (Telugu) manuscripts
* The 100 volumes of Gandhi’s words
* Writings on revolutionary Alluri Sitaramaraju at the IIC
* Silver coated stylus for writing on palm leaves
* Copper plates
* Palm leaf manuscripts
* 15,000 rare books. Of them, 1,500 books were published prior to 1900, around 8,115 books by 1923 and 5,000 books up to 1950.
Collection
As of 2020, the library holds 1.10 lakh books, including 71,130 of
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
, 21,974 of
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, 7,967 of
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
After the Tanjavur library in Tamil Nadu, the biggest in the region is Sri Gowthami Regional Library. By mid-2019, the construction of a new library building is scheduled to be completed.