Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library

Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library is one of the national libraries of India,[2] located in Patna, Bihar.[3] It was opened to public on 29 October 1891 by Khan Bahadur Khuda Bakhsh with 4,000 manuscripts, of which he inherited 1,400 from his father Maulvi Mohammed Bakhsh. It is an autonomous organization under Ministry of Culture, Government of India, and is governed by a Board with the Governor of Bihar as its ex officio Chairman, and is known for its rare collection of Persian and Arabic manuscripts. It also hosts paintings made during the Rajput and Mughal eras of India.

Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library
CountryIndia
TypeNational library
Established29 October 1891 (1891-10-29)[1]
LocationPatna, Bihar, India
Collection
Items collectedManuscripts, books, journals, newspapers, magazines, sound and music recordings, patents, databases, maps, stamps, prints and drawings etc
Size2,082,904 (printed books)
31,253 (manuscripts)
(5,000,000 total items)
Legal depositYes, Institution of National Importance by Act of Parliament, 26 December 1969
Access and use
Access requirementsOpen to anyone with a genuine need to use the collection
Other information
DirectorShayesta Bedar, (since January, 2019)
Websitehttp://kblibrary.bih.nic.in/

It is also a designated 'Manuscript Conservation Centre' (MCC) under the National Mission for Manuscripts.[4]

History

Maulvi Khuda Bakhsh

The person

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.

History of the Library

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]

Collection

Some of the notable manuscripts are Timur Nama (Khandan--Timuria), Shah Nama, Padshah Nama, Diwan-e-Hafiz and Safinatul Auliya, carrying the autograph of Mughal Emperors and princes and the book of Military Accounts of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Apart from it the library also has specimens of Mughal paintings, calligraphy and book decoration and Arabic and Urdu manuscripts, including a page of Quran written on deer skin.[7][9]

There are 31,253 manuscripts in the library of Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Turkish and Pashto languages and 14,000 Small Manuscripts as well.[10]

The library also has a manuscript of Sahih al-Bukhari hand-transcribed by Shaykh Muhammad ibn Yazdan Bakhsh Bengali in Ekdala, eastern Bengal. The manuscript was a gift to the Sultan of Bengal Alauddin Husain Shah.[11]

See also

References

  1. "Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library (Historical Perspective)". kblibrary.bih.nic.in. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  2. "Destinations :: Patna". Archived from the original on 18 September 2014.
  3. "Patna's Khuda Bakhsh library continues to draw foreign scholars". 10 May 2019.
  4. Manuscript Conservation Centres Archived 6 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine National Mission for Manuscripts.
  5. https:/medium.com/lessons-from-history/why-does-india-want-to-demolish-the-130-year-old-khuda-bakhsh-library-733c4f310f30
  6. Godbole, Sanjay (31 March 2002). "Nirapekśa Samśodhaka (निरपेक्ष संशोधक)". Lokasatta (लोकसत्ता) (Mumbai), Lokaraṅga supplement (लोकरंग पुरवणी). p. 3.
  7. "Islamic knowledge house, Khuda Bakhsh Library retains glory". Outlook. 8 July 2005. Archived from the original on 31 January 2013.
  8. "Pride of Patna".
  9. "Ahluwalia, wife visit Khuda Bakhsh Library". The Times of India. 19 November 2009. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012.
  10. "Khuda Baksh Oriental Public Library, Patna | Ministry of Culture, Government of India".
  11. Mawlana Nur Muhammad Azmi. "2.2 বঙ্গে এলমে হাদীছ" [2.2 Knowledge of Hadith in Bengal]. হাদীছের তত্ত্ব ও ইতিহাস [Information and history of Hadith] (in Bengali). Emdadia Library. p. 24.

Further reading

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