Indian Libraries in the 19th Century: Promoting Nationalism and Preserving Culture

Abstract

  The 19th century has been a time of stark change for the better with the establishment of public libraries and democratization of knowledge. Libraries were long perceived as vehicles accessible only to elite classes, but with the evolution of these institutions as centers of education and political consciousness, Calcutta was very much at the center. Innovators Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Maharshi Devendranath Tagore headed the way forward in ushering in extensive private libraries open to the public. But not for that reason was the new impetus lacking; the Librarianship Act, 1850 gave this a great boon, as the number of libraries and reading rooms multiplied around Bengal. A new interest in Western literature and modern ideas spread across the impressionable young Indian, influenced gradually but surely by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and Swami Vivekananda among many. These libraries worked for literacy and cultural awareness; they also spread political consciousness that catapulted the Indian nationalist movement into the limelight.