Gowthami Grandhalayam or Sri Gowthami Regional Library was started by poet and social reformer Nalam Krishna Rao in 1898 in

Rajahmundry Rajahmundry ( ), officially Rajamahendravaram, is a city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and district headquarters of East Godavari district. It is the fifth most populated city in the state. During British rule, the district of Rajahmu ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

, India.

History

Initially named Sri Veeresalingam library, since it was backed by the nationalist

Kandukuri Veeresalingam Kandukuri Veeresalingam (16 April 1848 27 May 1919) is a social reformer and writer from the Madras Presidency, British India, current Andhra Pradesh . He is considered as the Father of the Telugu Renaissance movement. He was one of the earl ...

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 Jeypore Estate or Jeypore Zamindari was a Zamindari estate of the Madras Presidency and later of Orissa Province in British India. Historically it was a kingdom known as Jeypore Kingdom, located in the highlands of the western interiors of the ...

, Raja Kanchumarthi Ramachandra Rao of Dharmavaram Estate,

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 Veeresa ...

, 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 indepen ...

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 Jus ...

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

) 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 woman Municipal Councillor of

. 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 is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

'' * Col. Mackenzie (Telugu) manuscripts * The 100 volumes of

Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ...

’s words * Writings on revolutionary

Alluri Sitaramaraju Alluri Sitarama Raju (4 July 1897 or 1898 – 7 May 1924) was an Indian revolutionary who waged an armed rebellion against the British colonial rule in India. He led the Rampa rebellion (1922–1924) which was borne from rising discontent t ...

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 South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

, 21,974 of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

, 7,967 of

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

, 372

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

books, 667 other books, 411 palm leaf manuscripts, six copper plates and 40 unpublished manuscripts. 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.

References

{{East Godavari district 1898 establishments in India Buildings and structures in Rajahmundry Education in East Godavari district Libraries established in 1898 Libraries in Andhra Pradesh