Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library

In 1895, he was appointed Chief Justice of the High Court of Nizam's Kingdom. After staying there for almost 3 years, he returned to Patna again and started practicing. But soon he was suffering from paralysis and he limited his activity to the library only. Due to his illness, he could not complete his activities. Rs.8000 to pay debt and library secretary and Rs. 200 were sanctioned as pension. He could not recover from the paralysis and died on August 3, 1908.

The library finds its origin in the private collection of a bibliophile Muhammad Bakhsh Khan a famous Advocate and Zamindar of Patna who belong to the House of Bakhsh which is a Nobel family formerly affiliated with the Mughal Empire that still exists today. He was very fond of books. During his imprisonment after the 1st war of India's Independence movement the 1857 rebellion, he collected about 1400 manuscripts and books and established a private library called ‘Mohammadiya Library’. Muhammad Bakhsh, who had planned to build a large library, bequeathed to his son Khuda Bakhsh in the last days of his life. Muhammad bakhsh told his son to establish a public library dedicated to the people of India. On his death bed, he told "If you do this, my soul will be at peace". Following his father’s will, Khuda Bakhsh spent all his money on expanding the collection of books and in 1880 increased the number of manuscripts and books to 4000.[5] The Bankipur Oriental Library was formally inaugurated by the Governor of Bengal, Sir Charles Alfred Elliott, Governor of Bengal on 5 October 1891. During World War 2 Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj) which was led by Subhas Chandra Bose started attacking British occupied Burma from Eastern Front. INA conducted Air raids in the Bengal Presidency to cut the Military logistics support of the British Indian Army Since, the colour of the library's buildings was Red.it was bombed multiple times during Air Raid before that could happen Khan Bahadur Abdul Gafoor Khan shifted all the collection of the library to different Underground Bunkers in Patna. When the Dust was gone majority of the buildings were destroyed but the collections were safe due to being stored in various underground bunkers. After World War 2 the Government of India made multiple new buildings for the library and all the collections were shifted back. For this Generous act of Bravery Abdul Gafoor Khan was awarded the Honorary Title of "Khan Bahadur". After the partition in 1947, Dr. S.V. Sohoni and Khan Bahadur Abdul Gafoor played a key role in ensuring that the collections were retained in India.[6] In 1969 through a Federal Legislation, an Act of Parliament, namely 'Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library Act' (1969), the Government of India declared Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library a center of national importance and government took over the funding, maintenance, and development of the library. Today it continues to attract scholars from all over the world.[7]

The Past directors of the library include the family descendants of Khan Bahadur Khuda Bakhsh as well as Renowned Historians appointed by the Government of India - 2nd Director of the Library - Mr. Sillahduddin Khuda Bakhsh(Son of Khan Bahadur Khuda Bakhsh), 3rd Director - Khan Bahadur Abdul Ghafoor khan(Son of Khan Bahadur Khuda Bakhsh) Dr. Abid Reza Bedar, who after remaining with the Raza Library, came as Director to the institution in 1972 who remain as the director of the library for more than 25 years and did some important work towards reviving the library along with his successors Habibur Rehman Chighani and Dr.Imtiaz Ahmed. Presently the Director of the library is Dr. Shayesta Bedar (Daughter of Abid Reza Bedar), since April 2019. It is on its way to becoming the country's first library to computerize its handwritten collection for universal dissemination.,[8]