History

Sarastwa Niketanam Library, established on 15th October 1918, is one of the foremost research oriented libraries in Andhra Pradesh, rendering dedicated service to the cause of education and research for almost a century.

Influenced by the library movement that was just gaining ground in the South, some enthusiastic young men in Vetapalem, under the inspiring leadership of the late Vutukuri Venkata Subroya Shreshty established a small reading room cum library in the name of “Hindu Yuvajana Sangham” on the auspicious day of VIjaya Dasami on 15th October 1918 in a rented premises.

After functioning for five years, the institution was on the verge of closure due to high indebtedness. Then, Shri Shreshty came to its rescue by clearing the debts, providing a reserve fund and endowed some land for its maintenance and took over the management, changing the name of the Library to “Saraswata Niketanam”.

He endowed a tiled house in the heart of the village and shifted the Library into the same. Seth Jamalal Bajaj opened it on 10/01/1924, ushering a new era in the functioning of the library.

Sri VV shreshty devoted his time and energy for the development of the Library. Many rare books were added and the collection was built up rapidly. Shri VV Shresthty was one of the examiners in Ananda Bharathi Theertha home university. This institution used to conduct examinations and confer degrees to candidates. After his untimely demise in 1935, his wife Kamalamba got the tiled house re-modelled into a beautiful spacious building, in which the Library is situated today.

In recognition of the services of VV Shreshty, the building was named after him as “Subroymahal”. The library soon became very popular and grew in strength and stature, necessitating the expansion of the building. The father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi who was touring the Andhra region at that period of time, laid the foundation stone of a new wing (annex) on 19/04/1929. The building was later opened by “Andhra Kesari Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu”. The library became a temple of learning in the true sense of the word with the laying of a “dhwaja sthambha” in its premises by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the president of the Indian National Congress in 1935, symbolic of a temple of learning.

After the untimely demise of the founder VV Shreshty in 1935, V Jairam Das took over as president and trustee and served the institution with great devotion and zeal until his death in 1974. Sri Aadusumalli Srinivasa Rao Pantulu, a close friend and associate of the founder Sri Shreshty and honorary librarian from 1927, took over as honorary secretary and nurtured the institution with loving care until he breathed his last in 1981. A man of ripe wisdom and mature thinking, he was a source of inspiration to the research scholars visiting the library, who used to benefit by his expert guidance. He was mainly responsible for developing the Library into what it is today.

Shri KVD Mallikarjuna Rao and RV Seshagiri Rao, the present president and honorary secretary respectively since 1981, are doing their best to keep up the high traditions set up by their illustrious predecessors.

As early as in the year 1929, Sarawasta Niketanam was recognized as the district central library and was already an acknowledged leader of the library movement in the district.

The services rendered by the Library were multifaceted: it encouraged literacy among women by organizing a mobile library and supplying books to the womenfolk at their doorsteps and by keeping the library open exclusively for women one day in a week.

The institution worked for the propagation of Hindi by organizing a “Hindi premi mandali” and holding Hindi classes.

Saraswata Niketanam was one of the earliest to adopt an inter-library loan system. Books that were not available in the library were borrowed from great libraries such as “Cannemara Public Library” in Madras and made available to local readers.

The institution organized adult education teachers’ training classes in 1947 and produced two batches of qualified teachers a librarian Shri Anjaneya Sharma, became qualified as a teacher, conducted adult education classes in the village during night-time on behalf of the Library. An adult education conference at an All India level also took place in the library once.

Regular classes in journalism were held for a month in the library and certificates were issued to participants. Shri Vavilala Gopal Krishnayya acted as principal for the classes.

The library organized a “Grandhamala”. Many books and Pamphlets were published on behalf of the institution. The library also maintained a printing press for some time for this purpose. The library used to organize talks, lectures and cultural activities by eminent men of art, literature and drama on important festive occasions and events of national importance.

The history of the institution was closely connected to the freedom movement. Many eminent national leaders, poets and scholars visited the library and continue to do so till this day.