48-823: Uttarpara Jaykrishna Public Library is a district library in Uttarpara , West Bengal , India , and is the first of its kind in Asia. Located in Uttarpara, a small town on the banks of the Hoogly river , this library was established by Babu Jaykrishna Mukherjee and opened to the public in 1859. At present, the library has been declared a Group ‘A’ Library by the West Bengal State Government. Efforts are being made to have it declared an Institution of National Importance. The Uttarpara Jaykrishna Public Library
96-659: A Glasgow manufacturer. He was the second of his father's three sons. In 1854 he started his education at the 'Quaker Seminary' at Queenswood, Hampshire , and a year later he joined The Glasgow Academy . He was educated at the University of Glasgow ( BA 1860), Paris and Bonn , acquiring a knowledge of Sanskrit , LL.D. , before passing first in the final examination for the Indian Civil Service in 1862. He reached Bengal Presidency in November 1862 and
144-587: A book in mid-August of the same year. In it, Hunter concluded that the majority of the Indian Muslim scholars rejected the idea of rebelling against the Government because of their opinion that the condition for religious war, i.e. the absence of protection and liberty between Muslims and infidel rulers, did not exist in British India; and that "there is no jihad in a country where protection
192-498: A glossary of dialects based mainly upon the collections of Brian Houghton Hodgson , which according to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition , "testifies to the industry of the writer but contains much immature philological speculation". In 1869 Lord Mayo , the then governor-general , asked Hunter to submit a scheme for a comprehensive statistical survey of India. The work involved
240-434: A group of Uttarpara citizens as curators of the library. To them he "has made over a landed estate yielding Rs. 1800 a year; but as more works of English and Sanscrit [were] yet to be added, he [had] made a separate provision for the same." Initially, the library held around 3000 books and many periodicals: all from Jaykrishna's private collection. He procured more books and periodicals from diverse sources: he bought them from
288-581: A library, the Uttarpara Jaykrishna Public Library was also a place where intellectuals met, and carried out their studies in peace while residing there. In 1866, Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar came to visit the library with the noted educationist Mary Carpenter . Consequently, in her book "Six months in India", Miss Carpenter spends a not insignificant amount of space speaking about the library. She informs us that "the lower storey of
336-476: A member of the governor-general's council, presided over the Commission on Indian Education; in 1886 he was elected vice-chancellor of the University of Calcutta . In 1887 he retired from the service, was created KCSI , and settled at Oaken Holt, near Oxford . He was on the governing body of Abingdon School from 1895 until his death in 1900. On 13 March 1889 Philip Lyttelton Gell the then Secretary to
384-573: A record-keeper in the office of the Collector of Land Revenue at Hooghly. During this time, several estates were put up for sale due to the agricultural depression caused by severe flooding. Jaykrishna Mukherjee bought these estates, notably those of the Singur Babus. With time, and further acquisition, Jaykrishna Mukherjee's reputation as a prominent landholder began to equal that of Dwarkanath Tagore . In fact, in 1838, when Dwarkanath established
432-475: A truer and wider knowledge of India in time to come. Its aim has been not literary graces, nor scientific discovery, nor antiquarian research; but an earnest endeavour to render India better governed, because better understood. Hunter contributed the articles "Bombay", "Calcutta", "Dacca", "Delhi" and "Mysore" to the 9th edition (1875–89) of the Encyclopædia Britannica . In 1882 Hunter, as
480-794: A weekly article on Indian affairs for The Times . But the great task to which he applied himself on his settlement in England was a history upon a large scale of the British Dominion in India , two volumes of which only had appeared when he died, carrying the reader barely down to 1700. He was much hindered by the confused state of his materials, a portion of which he arranged and published in 1894 as Bengal Manuscript Records , in three volumes. Hunter dedicated his 1892 work Bombay 1885 to 1890: A Study in Indian Administration to Florence Nightingale . His later works include
528-502: Is "a unique storehouse of local literature alike in English and vernacular tongues." The library contains some old and rare volumes of periodicals in both Bengali and English: Dig Darshan , Sangbad Rasaraj , Somprakash , Tatvabodhini , Calcutta Monthly Journal , and Bengal Chronicle to name just a few. Apart from containing the early 19th century publications of pioneers such as William Carey, Marshman, Ward, Halhade, Rammohan, etc.;
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#1732786712459576-700: Is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). Uttarpara is located at 22°40′N 88°21′E / 22.67°N 88.35°E / 22.67; 88.35 , within 10 km from Kolkata , the capital of the state of West Bengal. It is located along the Hooghly river , across from the Dakshineswar Kali Temple . Uttarpara is home to the Uttarpara Jayakrishna Public Library , Asia's oldest free public library. Uttarpara
624-497: Is afforded". In 1872 Hunter published his history of Orissa . The third International Sanitary Conference held at Constantinople in 1866 declared Hindu and Muslim pilgrimages to be 'the most powerful of all the causes which conduce to the development and propagation of Cholera epidemics'. Hunter echoing the view described the 'squalid pilgrim army of Jagannath' as with its rags and hair and skin freighted with vermin and impregnated with infection, may any year slay thousands of
672-471: Is also the home of numerous temples and is a destination site for tourists during Durga Puja for its majestic Balaka pandal. Uttarpara police station has jurisdiction over Uttarpa-Kotrung and Konnagar Municipal areas and parts of Sreerampur Uttarpara CD Block. The police station is under Chandannagar Police Commissionerate . William Wilson Hunter Sir William Wilson Hunter KCSI CIE (15 July 1840 – 6 February 1900)
720-416: Is at the southernmost part of Hooghly district . It is separated from Bally, Howrah by Bally Canal (Bally Khal). The old name of Uttarpara was "North Bally". A bridge was constructed in 1846 over Bally Canal to connect Uttarpara with Bally . As per 2011 Census of India Uttarpara had a total population of 159,147 of which 81,410 (51%) were males and 77,737 (49%) were females. Population below 6 years
768-463: Is capable of producing ultra-modern India-made aluminum metro coaches. The Hiranandani Group entered into an MoU in the state of West Bengal to set up logistics and hyperscale data center park in the region. The group signed an MoU to acquire a 100-acre land at Uttarpara, Kolkata from Hindustan Motors to set up an integrated logistics and hyperscale datacentre park by Hiranandani group companies GreenBase and Yotta respectively. The combined investment by
816-665: The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, Hunter "adopted a transliteration of vernacular place-names, by which means the correct pronunciation is ordinarily indicated; but hardly sufficient allowance was made for old spellings consecrated by history and long usage." Hunter's own article on India was published in 1880 as A Brief History of the Indian Peoples , and has been widely translated and utilized in Indian schools. A revised form
864-544: The Landholders' Society , Jaykrishna was elected as a member. An ardent social reformer and nationalist, Jaykrishna Mukherjee spearheaded the effort to establish a municipality in Uttarpara after the 1851 cholera epidemic there. As a result of his efforts, the Uttarpara Municipality was formed in the latter part of 1851. Jaykrishna also established many schools in Uttarpara, for both boys and girls, and
912-538: The 12th president of India, participated in the 150th year celebration of the library. Apart from forwarding the request for support to the Ministry of Culture of the Government of India, Smt. Patil also donated rupees 10 lakh towards the preservation of books in the library. Uttarpara Uttarpara or Uttarpara Kotrung is a city and a municipality of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal . It
960-801: The 200 Sanskrit palm-leaf, plantain-leaf, and handmade paper manuscripts collected from Benaras, Kashmir, and the monasteries of Tibet. Most of the titles included in the Descriptive Catalogue of Vernacular Books and Pamphlets by Rev. James Long are from this library. Also available are Rammohan Roy's Gaudiya Vyakaran , Mrittyunjoy Vidyalankar's Rajabali , Madhusudhan's Hectorbadh Kavya , Baidyanath Acharya's Agyan Timir Nahak , Nrisinghadeb Ghosal's Visvagyan O Brahmagyan , Brajendralal Vidyalankar's Udvidvidya , Kalipada Mukhoadhyay's Rasasindhu Premavilas , Pramanthanath Sharma's Nabababu Bilas , Upendralal Mitra's Bastu Parichay , and Gadhadhar Bhattacharya's Shathik Muktibad . Rather than being merely
1008-600: The Delegates of the Clarendon Press , wrote to Hunter about a project which has been for some time under the consideration of the Delegates, to publish a series giving the salient features of Indian History in the Biographies of successive Generals and Administrators. Gell arranged the publication of the series by June 1889; with Hunter receiving £75 for each volume, and the author £25. Gell's experience of
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#17327867124591056-745: The Indian National Congress; his speech proposing Dadabhai Naoroji as president of the Second Indian National Congress (held in Calcutta in 1886) was much acclaimed. This is indicated by Mr. A. O. Hume describing Jaykrishna as "the Nestor of the Bengal conservatives". On 15 April 1859, Jaykrishna Mukherjee formally opened the first free Public Library in India (and perhaps in Asia as well). This library, known as
1104-611: The Treasurer of Charitable Institutions, but were unsuccessful. The attempt was repeated in 1953, but this was unsuccessful as well. Earlier, in 1949 and 1951, the board of curators had made proposals to the Government for a take-over of the Library. With no help in sight, the people of Uttarpara, especially the youngsters, tried to rescue this heritage institution. Organizations like Sri Madhusudan Sahitya Sangha and Uttarpara Sammilani (founded by Sri Amendra Nath Chattopadhyay) worked with
1152-702: The Uttarpara College. He donated Rs. 10,000 towards the establishment of the Bethune College (founded by the Honorable Drinkwater Bethune ) and Rs. 5000 towards the Calcutta University Library. Apart from conducting very many agricultural reforms, he was also socio-politically active. He was the first signatory of Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar ’s memorial for legalizing widow marriage. He was a member of
1200-521: The Uttarpara Public Library was taken over by the Government of West Bengal as a District Library by invoking the charitable Endowment Act of 1890. However, the library has not yet been declared an institute of national importance and, although it is helped financially by the state government (through annual grants and special grants from time to time), the library is in need of further modernization and financial help. Pratibha Patil ,
1248-691: The Uttarpara Public Library, was originally Jaykrishna's personal collection and open to researchers as early as 1851. Influenced by Dwarkanath Tagore and in light of the Public Libraries Act 1850 (in Britain), Jaykrishna wanted to do something to spread public education and increase scholarship in Bengal. In the August 1854, he submitted a proposal, for a public library at Uttarpara, to the Divisional Commissioner of Burdwan. He
1296-520: The board of curators to bring the library to the government's notice. In 1954, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, paid the library a visit and gave an assurance that he would do the needful. Although reform proposals were drafted and forwarded to the Chief Minister in June and, later November, 1955 there was no substantial change in the situation until 1958. In April 1958,
1344-784: The building contains the library, and the upper rooms are reserved to accommodate respectable visitors, as well as to hold public meetings …." The list of these "respectable visitors" includes the names of stalwarts like Michael Madhusudan Dutta (who stayed there with his family for 2 months in 1869 and then, again, in 1873); Sir. William Wilson Hunter ; John H. S. Cunningham; Rev. James Long ; Sir Arthur Wellesley ; Sir Ashley Eden ; Sir Edwin Arnold ; Sir Rivers Thompson; Marquis of Dufferin and Ava Dufferin; Surendranath Banerjee ; Keshab Chandra Sen ; Bipin Pal ; and Swami Vivekananda . On 30 May 1909, Sri Aurobindo gave his famous ‘Uttarpara Speech’ on
1392-461: The compilation of a number of local gazetteers, in various stages of progress, and their consolidation in a condensed form upon a single and uniform plan. There was unhappiness with the scope and completeness of the earlier surveys conducted by administrators such as Buchanan , and Hunter determined to model his efforts on the Ain-i-Akbari and Description de l'Égypte . Hunter said that "It
1440-550: The earlier unsaleable Sacred Books of the East and financial constraints forced the Rulers of India to end at 28 volumes in spite of Hunter's disappointment about the same. Hunter himself contributed the volumes on Dalhousie (1890) and Mayo (1891) to the series. He had previously written an official Life of Lord Mayo , which was published on 19 November 1875 in two volumes with a second edition appearing in 1876. He also wrote
1488-658: The fund of the charitable Devottara trust formed by his father, bought rare collections from the Bengal Harkara Library, and he also bought books from the sellers at China Bazar. By 1865, the library had 12000 books in English and 2500 books in Bengali and Sanskrit. As of now, the library has 45000 old and rare books (most of them from the 17th to the 19th century); 65000 new books (both Bengali and English); 2500 old periodicals; 20000 new (and bound) periodicals; and 450 manuscripts. As Sir William Hunter had said, it
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1536-414: The grounds of the Library. It was Jaykrishna's desire that the library would be managed by a board of curators after his demise. He expired in 1888, and the library was involved in a series of financial problems and litigations. This magnificent building and its remarkable collection suffered from a lack of care and maintenance. In 1911, the Library management Trust tried to get the institution assigned with
1584-787: The group and their customers is estimated to cross Rs 10,000 crore. State Highway 6 / Grand Trunk Road (G.T. Road) passes through Uttarpara. Uttarpara railway station is situated in the Howrah-Bardhaman main line . It is part of the Kolkata Suburban Railway system. Uttarpara boasts of a rich cultural heritage. The town once boasted of sylvan peace, beautiful buildings, epitome of great architectural works and steeped in cultural heritage. Bengali poet Michael Madhusudan Dutt spent his last days in Uttarpara Joykrishna Library. Uttarpara
1632-792: The library also contains The Holy Bible in Sanskrit, Dictionary of Chemistry, Sanskrit Grammar in Devnagri and Roman Letters by Max Muller, Reports at Westminster London (1658), Parliamentary Reports (1649), Charters of the East India Company, East India Pamphlets (1812), Reports on Public Instruction (1839), etc. Other documents include "Wellington’s dispatches, State Secret Papers, British Review, American Quarterly Review, Edinbourough Review, Travelogues, Dictionaries, Memoirs, Topographical and Geographical Accounts, Annecdotes, Almanacs, Law Reports, Gazetteers, and many more." All this aside from
1680-401: The library was awarded the status of an ‘Area Library’ (a partial fulfilment of the take-over demand) with the sanction of Rs. 64000 as an annual maintenance grant. There was a further deputation by the board of curators to the then chief minister Sri Prafulla Chandra Sen in 1963. As a result, on 8 May 1963, the library building came to be requisitioned by the government. At last, on 15 June 1964,
1728-456: The most talented and beautiful of our age in Vienna, London, or Washington. He embarked on a series of tours throughout the country, and he supervised the A Statistical Account of Bengal (20 volumes, 1875–1877) and a similar work for Assam (2 volumes, 1879). Hunter wrote that Under this system, the materials for the whole of British India have now been collected, in several Provinces
1776-431: The nine volumes of The Imperial Gazetteer of India , which was published in 1881. The Gazetteer was revised in later series, the second edition comprising 14 volumes published between 1885 and 1887, while the third comprised 26 volumes, including an atlas, and was published in 1908 under the editorship of Herbert Hope Risley , William Stevenson Meyer , Richard Burn and James Sutherland Cotton . Again according to
1824-476: The novel titled The Old Missionary (1895, described on the title-page as "revised from The Contemporary Review "), and The Thackerays in India (1897). John F. Riddick describes Hunter's The Old Missionary as one of the "three significant works" produced by Anglo-Indian writers on Indian missionaries along with The Hosts of the Lord (1900) by Flora Annie Steel and Idolatry (1909) by Alice Perrin . In
1872-930: The population is under 6 years of age. The following Municipalities and Census Towns in Hooghly district were part of Kolkata Urban Agglomeration in 2011 census: Bansberia (M), Hugli-Chinsurah (M), Bara Khejuria ( Out Growth ), Shankhanagar (CT), Amodghata (CT), Chak Bansberia (CT), Naldanga (CT), Kodalia (CT), Kulihanda (CT), Simla (CT), Dharmapur (CT), Bhadreswar (M), Champdani (M), Chandannagar (M Corp.), Baidyabati (M), Serampore (M), Rishra (M), Rishra (CT), Bamunari (CT), Dakshin Rajyadharpur (CT), Nabagram Colony (CT), Konnagar (M), Uttarpara Kotrung (M), Raghunathpur (PS-Dankuni) (M), Kanaipur (CT) and Keota (CT). Languages spoken in Uttarpara Kotrung city (2011) Uttarpara
1920-464: The work of compilation has rapidly advanced, and everywhere it is well in hand. During the same period the first Census of India has been taken, and furnished a vast accession to our knowledge of the people. The materials now amassed form a Statistical Survey of a continent with a population exceeding that of all Europe, Russia excepted." The statistical accounts, covering the 240 administrative districts, comprised 128 volumes and these were condensed into
1968-425: Was 11,760. The total number of literates in Uttarpara Kotrung was 133,610 (90.65% of the population over 6 years). As of 2001 India census , Uttarpara Kotrung had a population of 150,204. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Uttarpara Kotrung has an average literacy rate of 79%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 82% and female literacy is 76%. In Uttarpara Kotrung, 8% of
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2016-475: Was a Scottish historian, statistician, a compiler and a member of the Indian Civil Service . He is most known for The Imperial Gazetteer of India on which he started working in 1869, and which was eventually published in nine volumes in 1881, then fourteen, and later as a twenty-six volume set after his death. William Wilson Hunter was born on 15 July 1840 in Glasgow , Scotland , to Andrew Galloway Hunter,
2064-475: Was appointed assistant magistrate and collector of Birbhum , in the lower provinces of Bengal , where he began collecting local traditions and records, which formed the materials for his publication, entitled The Annals of Rural Bengal , which influenced the historical romances of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay . He also compiled A Comparative Dictionary of the Non-Aryan Languages of India ,
2112-418: Was founded by Jaykrishna Mukherjee, a prominent Bengali landlord (zamindar) and social reformer. Born in 1808 in Uttarpara, Jaykrishna was the son of a clerk and businessman, Jagan Mohun Mukherjee. He travelled with Jagan Mohun to Meerut at the age of 8, and was enrolled in a regimental school there. In the latter part of 1824, he participated with his father in the campaign against Bharatpur. In 1830, he became
2160-492: Was home to India's first car factory, Hindustan Motors , which produced the legendary Ambassador cars . The plant was closed in 2014 when production of the Ambassador was scrapped. Titagarh Wagons is considered one of the leading wagon manufacturer in India. After the acquisition of sick Italy-based Firema Trasporti, the company encouraged the modernisation of its coach making plant at Uttarpara, which in present scenario
2208-411: Was issued in 1895, under the title of The Indian Empire: its People, History and Products . Hunter later said that Nothing is more costly than ignorance. I believe that, in spite of its many defects, this work will provide a memorable episode in the long battle against ignorance; a breakwater against the tide of prejudice and false opinions flowing down upon us from the past, and the foundation for
2256-524: Was my hope to make a memorial of England's work in India, more lasting, because truer and more complete, than these monuments of Mughal Empire and of French ambition." In response to Mayo's question on 30 May 1871 of whether the Indian Muslims are "bound by their religion to rebel against the Queen" Hunter completed his influential work The Indian Musalmans in mid-June 1871 and later published it as
2304-469: Was willing to donate Rs. 5000 towards this. The proposal failed, and Jaykrishna went ahead and funded the entire library by himself. The library building, a palatial construction by the side of the Hooghly, started being constructed in 1856. The land area was one acre and the entire construction cost him Rs. 85000. The staff appointed was initially 7 people: a librarian, an assistant librarian, a clerk, two gardeners, one sweeper, and one durwan. He also appointed
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