CHAITANYA LIBRARY ... The Intellectual Hub in the midst of Theatre District !

The area is Chitpore, Mecca of Jatra Culture, the quintessential Bengali Folk Theatre form. The street is named after Utpal Dutt, the stalwart Bengali theatre personality. Next to the adjacent building situated the century old Minerva Theatre. But in the midst of this theatrical aroma, exists a literary society, serving the intellectual minds for over 125 years now. Chaitanya Library is among the earliest public libraries of Calcutta. Closely associated with Rabindranath Tagore, the organization was founded in 1889 under the name of CHAITANYA LIBRARY & BEADON SQUARE LITERARY CLUB.

The first instance of a literary society in colonial India dates back to the first half of nineteenth century when Madras Literary Society was established, followed by the Bombay General Library. But the former one was meant exclusively for the British people while the latter was for the Indians. Colonial Calcutta got its taste of literary hub in 1836 with the foundation of Calcutta Public Library (CPL), result of a collaboration between Indians and Britons. It was established in part to commemorate the Acting Governor General Charles Metcalfe's Act XI of 1835, popularly known as Metcalfe Press Law, abolishing the press restrictions and granting freedom of expression. Established on a public subscription basis, CPL's prime benefactors were the Indians, including Dwarkanath Tagore. The library eventually absorbed into it several smaller libraries and became the Imperial Library in 1903. With this formation it ceased to be a public circulation library and started to run on a reference and deposit basis. Post independence it was converted into the National Library of India in 1948.

Rather than being the only institution of its kind, CPL began to face competitions in the late nineteenth century. Societies like Burrabazar Family Literary Club (1857), Mahomedan Literature Society (1863), Hindu Literary Society (1876), Bagbazar Reading Library (1883) were some of the many new libraries and reading rooms serving Indian users exclusively that had began to flourish.

In this era of intellectual renaissance, Chaitanya Library was inaugurated on 5th February, 1889 on the auspicious occasion of Sri Panchami or Saraswati Puja (Hindu Goddess of Knowledge). Initially the idea of a library was from Gaur Hari Sen and his bosom friend Kunj Behari Dutta. Grandfather of Kunj Behari, Shri Ganganarayan Dutta was then a well-to-do person in the Beadon Street locality. Gaur Hari persuaded him to donate some money and a large room on the ground floor of his house to set up a library. The enthusiasts got hold of a cupboard and a few English and Bengali books. The subscription rates was decided to be two annas a month while a life member was required to pay Rs.10. The library started its operation at 83, Beadon Street with two periodicals, Bangabasi and Sanjibani and the daily, Indian Mirror.

At that time Reverand Alex Tomary used to stay at Beadon Street and was teaching English and History at Duff school on Nimtolla Ghat Street. Gaur Hari got hold of this missionary to join their fold. Reverend Tomary was so impressed by the dedication of the youth that he donated some English books and became a life member of the entity. The library caught the attention of the Calcuttans during 1889-94. Towards the end of 1893, it shifted to a two-storeyed building at 4/1, Beadon Street on a monthly rent of Rs.200 where it completed its 125th birth anniversary last year. The ground floor housed a free reading room and a lecture-cum-meeting place.

Controversey over Bankimchandra's Condolence Meeting -

Chaitanya Library was the witness of an interesting episode of Bengal literature. Rabindranath Tagore, a frequent visitor to this library addressed the crowd on many occasions. Once he spoke of his journey to Europe where the gathering was presided over by Rishi Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay later on. So their close associations with the society can be assumed from this fact. 

Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay died on 8th April, 1894. Three weeks after his death, a memorial meeting organized by the Chaitanya Library and the Beadon Square Literary Club was held at Star Theatre. It was decided that the speakers would be Rajanikanta Gupta, the famous historian; Haraprasad Sastri, notable scholar of Buddhism and Bengali literature and Rabindranath Tagore, then a young but already much acclaimed poet. Nabinchandra Sen, one of the most respected senior figures on Bengal's literary scene and a younger contemporary of Bankim in the civil service, was asked to preside. To the surprise of the organizers, Nabinchandra refused. In his place, Gurudas Banerjee, judge of Calcutta High Court, presided over the meeting. The address on Bankim delivered by Rabindranath that day went on to become something of a landmark essay in Bengali literary criticism. 

But here our concern will be the reasons for Nabinchandra's refusal to attend the meet. As Nabinchandra was known to have been close to Bankim, the reasons for refusal had nothing to do with great scholar, he objected to the very idea of a public condolence meeting !! 

"Imitating the English, we have now begun to organizing 'condolence meetings' ", he wrote, "As a Hindu I do not understand how one can call a public meeting to express one's grief... how many buckets have you arranged for the public's tears?" he is said to have remarked to one of the organizers. In Nabinchandra's opinion a public condolence meeting is indeed a atmosphere of a public entertainment, not a way of mourning for the dead according to the Hindu culture. 

Soon after the memorial meeting, Rabindranath Tagore wrote an essay published in the journal Sadhana titled 'The Condolence Meeting' mentioning the objection raised against the concept and discussing the need of accepting the change and why it was not a good reason for rejecting the European culture outright.

The controversy was certainly a remarkable one in those days.

Chaitanya Library has recently celebrated its 125th year and functioning from this white three storeyd structure at Beadon Street, just beside Minerva Theatre.

The Library Timing is

• 6am - 9.30am
• 4.30pm - 9.30pm

Acknowledgement:

• Hidden Calcutta by Rathin Mitra
• Article Two Poets and Death: On Civil and Political Society in the Non-Christian World by Partha Chatterjee.
• In Another Country: Colonialism, Culture and the English Novel in India by Priya Joshi