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Tamil Nadu
A treasure trove for book lovers in Pudukottai
M. Balaganessin
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Library houses authentic and unabridged editions
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Gnanalaya founder B. Krishnamoorthy
PUDUKOTTAI: It was a humble beginning with 100 books about five decades ago. Today, the library caters to the needs of research scholars, book lovers and those in search of authentic and unabridged editions.
Rightly christened as ‘Gnanalaya,’ (Temple of Wisdom), the library is located in Palaniappa Nagar here.
Preserving them
Exclusively designed with an eye on aeration and lighting facilities for preserving books, the library was started by B. Krishnamurthy in 1959.
A retired teacher, his passion for collecting and cataloguing books is shared by his wife Dorothy.
50,000 titles
“Now, the library has a collection of 50,000 titles in Tamil and about 1,000 volumes in English,” he says.
The rare books include the first poem, Thanimai Irakkam, a sonnet written by Subramania Bharati and published in 1904 in a Madurai-based journal Vivekabanu by Mosur Kandasamy Kavirayar.
Rare collections
Journals such as Bala Bharathi of Va.U.Su. Iyer, A. Madhavaiyya’s Panchamirtham, Manjari (from 1947 to 1990), Sakthi, the first journal which introduced Russian literature in Tamil in 1939, the works of T.N. Seshachalam in Kala Nilayam between 1928 and 1937, a couple of copies of Harijan (1930) are available.
More so, the Bhagavad Gita collections, including those published in the 1950s, and the Bhagavad Gita Rahasyam penned by Bala Gangadara Tilak.
All first edition copies
As all titles are first edition copies, publishers and research scholars in search of original information without any abridged form, avail themselves of the services of the couple.
The husband-wife duo explain how the works of Na. Pitchaimoorthy, Ku.Pa. Rajagopalan, Pudumai Pithan and Chitti, all graduates, revolutionised Tamil literature through their novels, short stories and criticism which appeared in Manikodi are available at the library.
At present, they are working on a web site where all details of their collections will be available.
“It will take about a year to complete the process of data entry,” he says.
Details of the author of the book, subject and year of publication will be made available.
They purchase old books Contact no.04322-221059.
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