Ganapati M. Vedeshwar
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| Ganapati M. Vedeshwar | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 2, 1930 Gokarana, Karnataka India  |
| August 11, 2019August 11, 2019 | |
| 🏳️ Nationality | Indian |
| 🎓 Alma mater | Karnatak University |
| 💼 Occupation | |
| Known for | Bibliophilia, Bibliophilism, Bibliophiles Book collecting, Librarians |
Ganapati M. Vedeshwar (born 2 March 1930 - 11 August 2019) was an Indian bibliophile, known for his book collecting and for the creation of a Bal-Sangha (- a micro-library) and for evolving it and maintaining it into a full-fledged precious library at Gokarna[1], a sacred village in the south Indian state of Karnataka, that had a very small beginning in the form of a Bal-Sangha (- a kind of micro-library) which as a result of his obsession for books, lifetime passion, dedication and painstaking hard work over several decades culminated into a Study Circle Association of Gokarna which got evolved through different stages with different names like: the Study Circle library of Gokarna[2], the blue library of Gokarna[3], the heritage library in Gokarna[4], [5], the location library of Gokarana[6], the international library of Gokarna[7] and the Pandrata study circle library[8]. The library houses about one hundred thousand precious rare books that include a volume of Sanskrit literature, philosophy, mythology, the vedas, and more than 100 writings on palmyra leaves which are over 600 years old. The old books like Halegannada and Hosagannada (as it is called in old Kannada) (both of them were published originally in Mumbai (old name: Bombay) India, about 175 years ago), are part of his valuable collection. The Samhita, Brahman, Aranyaka, Rigveda and Sihina, published in Sanskrit by the Maharaja of Mysore can also be found here. Apart from these, the library houses several thousand rare precious books in 40 languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, English, French, German, Urdu, Gujarati, Marathi and Kannada, on subjects ranging from art, culture and philosophy to the Vedas, Upanishads, sociology and poetry. Some of them are manuscripts and palm-leaf books that are nearly 600 years old. In addition to all these books, his library even has a collection of 5,000 coins and stamps from around the world. The evolution process has played a very constructive role in the maintenance of the library created by Ganapati Vedeshwar which got evolved without any money from donations except in the form of books, stationary and furniture and the library is free and open to all. The library houses his collection of about one hundred thousand precious books including more than 4000 very old rare Sanskrit books.
Early life and creation of Bal-Sangha (- a micro-library)[edit]
Ganapati Mahabaleshwar Vedeshwar - an Indian bibliophile.[1], born in 1930, began the passion of his entire life at the age of ten. Obsessed with reading, he opened Bal-Sangha (- a kind of micro-library) at Gokarna, a sacred village in the south Indian state of Karnataka and it became his lifetime passion. Vedeshwar's first, informal circulating library was born out of his efforts among his schoolmates when he was around nine or ten. Back then, Gokarna was a backward village. Some of these books were bought by him from the money that he used to save throughout the year. Greedy for more, Vedeshwar urged his friends to not throw away any of their books but rather to hand them over to him so that everyone could access them. Thus, at age nine, Vedeshwar gave the village its first-ever library, a children’s library that came to be called Bal Sangha (- a micro-library). His first catalogue dates back to 1939 (while he was about 10 years old) and by the age 16, he founded the Study Circle Association of Gokarna[9]. He was inspired by great writers like Gourish Kaikini and took it as his mission to develop a good library at Gokarna. Through Kaikini, he came into contact with many great writers like Shivaram Karant, who donated their books to him. He also contacted universities and foreign embassies to collect books for his library[7],[5]. His passion, dedication and painstakingly hard work brought fruits and this association of Gokarna got expanded into a full-fledged Study Circle library of Gokarna. The library is also known by several names like the location library of Gokarna[6], the blue library of Gokarna[3], the heritage library in Gokarna[4], the international library of Gokarna[7] and the Pandrata study circle library[8]
From micro-library to the full-fledged library of Gokarna[edit]
Ganapati Vedeshwar having a passion for book collecting opened a Bal-Sangha (- a kind of micro-library) at Gokarna at the age 10. It was initially, an internal kind of library which had a small beginning as a micro-library however, it gradually got eveolved into a full-fledged library that now houses several thousand rare precious books in 40 languages, including Sanskrit, English, French, German, Urdu, Gujarati and Kannada, on subjects ranging from art, culture and philosophy to the Vedas, Upanishads , sociology and poetry. Some of them are manuscripts and palm-leaf books nearly 600 years old. These books are being collected and arranged in several bookcases and assorted boxes that house his collection of several thousand religious and secular texts. In addition to all these books, his library even has a collection of 5,000 coins and stamps from around the world. His library is free and open to all. His work of over seven decades has resulted from one small shelf to a 5,000-sq-ft building. This library is a one man’s lifetime-dedication to books and is the oldest and most complete library in Gokarna (- an Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka, atop an idyllic green hill overlooking Gokarna beach in Karnataka.
Though Vedeshwar founded Study Circle library at age 16, his first, informal circulating library was born out of his efforts among his schoolmates when he was around nine or ten. Back then, Gokarna was a backward village. Some of these books were bought by him from the money that he used to save throughout the year. Greedy for more, Vedeshwar urged his friends to not throw away any of their books but rather to hand them over to him so that everyone could access them. Thus, at age nine, Vedeshwar gave the village its first-ever library, a children’s library that came to be called Bal Sangha (- a micro-library). His first catalogue dates back to 1939 (while he was about 10 years old). His library has more than 4000 rare precious Sanskrit books. This collection includes a volume of Sanskrit literature, philosophy, mythology, the vedas, and more than 100 writings on palmyra leaves which are over 600 years old. The old books: Halegannada and Hosagannada (called in old Kannada) (both of which were published originally in Mumbai (Bombay) India, about 175 years ago), are part of his valuable collection. The Samhita, Brahman, Aranyaka, Rigveda and Sihina, published in Sanskrit by the Maharaja of Mysore can also be found here. Apart from these, the library boasts of books in Marathi, French, Hindi, German and 38 other languages. The library thus born is a home to a large collection of invaluable, precious rare books. The library got evolved through different stages and came to be known with different names, like: the Study Circle library,[2], the blue library of Gokarna[3], the heritage library in Gokarna[4] [10], the location library of Gokarna[6], the Pandrata study circle library[8] and the international library of Gokarna[7]. The evolution process has played a very helpful, constructive role in the maintenance of the library created by Ganapati Vedeshwar which got developed without any money from donations except in the form of books, stationary and furniture and the library is free and open to all. This library is a one man’s lifetime-dedication to books and is the oldest and most complete library in Gokarna - an Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka[1],[8],[11], housing his collection of about one hundred thousand precious books including over 4000 very old rare books of Sanskrit alone and several thousand coins from around the world.
External links[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Hindustan Times: 90-yr-old’s 1 lakh books in Karnataka a global hit [1]
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Study circle library (Z' shell-TeR Library): The oldest and most complete library in Uttara Kannada district is one man's life dedication to books [2]
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 The Hindu: The Blue library of Gokarana [3]
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Libraries Without Boarders: The Heritage Library in Gokarana [4]
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Times of India: French tourist reviving Gokarna's Oldest library [5]
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Location library at Gokarana (Z' shell-TeR Library): The oldest and most complete library in Uttara Kannada district is one man's life dedication to books [6]
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 The New Indian Express: The International library in Gokarana [7]
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 The Pendrata study circle library of Gokarana: Les associations "Pandrata circle" et "Study circle" donnent vie à une nouvelle bibliothèque et centre culturel à Gokarna en Inde du sud ouest...[8]
- ↑ the Study circle library (Z' shell-TeR Library): The oldest and most complete library in Uttara Kannada district is one man's life dedication to books [9]
- ↑ The Times of India: French tourist reviving Gokarna's Oldest library [10]
- ↑ ganpati ma. vedeshwar gokarna library[11]
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