Hardayal Library in Delhi
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| Hardayal Municipal Public Library |
Recently, when travelling around Old Delhi in a rickshaw (with eyes shut), LOL, I spotted this fascinating old building and decided to do some research on it.
It is called Hardayal Library, Delhi and has a very interesting history.
Originally, the Library was set up in 1862 with no name. In 1912, while passing on an elephant, Viceroy of India, Lord Harding escaped a bomb attack.The Library was shifted to larger premises and named after him to commenorate his survival.
The interesting change occurred after India's independence. The Library's name was changed to Hardayal, after the freedom fighter who led the attack on Harding!
The Library subscribes to 19 daily newspapers,and is home to 170,000 books in Hindi, English, Urdu, Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit and Pakrit.
The oldest book is "Relation of some years" written in 1634 by Travaile Begvenne.
The day we peeped in, there were no women library users, which we found odd.
Wendy
Photo credit: Flickr user "Varanshiv"
Wendy
Photo credit: Flickr user "Varanshiv"
