The voyage of Sree Chithira Thirunal Library

The voyage of  Sree Chithira Thirunal Library

Pooja Jayan

 

Sree chithira Thirunal library, an integral part of Trivandrum’s cultural heritage is nearing its Centenary. The man behind this venture was Sree Kesava Pillai. His passion for knowledge and the commitment he showed in setting up the library earned him the title “Vayanashala Kesava Pillai”. Initially Kesava Pillai setup a library in his house with the collection of a few books which later blossomed into the library which we see today. Now the library is at Vanchiyoor on a piece of land given by the royal family.

            The library was started in the name of Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, the last ruler of Travancore, when he  was just two years old, as a token of respect to the royal family. Many eminent personalities of the time such as C.V. Raman Pillai , Dr.Kunjan Pillai(chief secretary), M.Rajarajavarma (Devaswom Commissioner) and R.Krishnapillai(Head Translator) were instrumental in developing it into a full fledged library. At that time there were only a few libraries in Kerala. Those libraries were named after Lalalajpath Rai ,Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das , Swadeshabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai, A.R. Rajaraja Varma, Kerala Varma Valia Koyi Thampuran and so on. Today SCT library is being looked after by a nineteen member committee including a member from the royal family. Former chief secretary R. Ramachandran Nair is the present president and Kesava Pillai’s son Bhanuvikraman Nair is the secretary.

            With the proud collection of over one lakh books, in the library now, this library is a boon to research scholars, academicians and students across the country. One can delve into this   vast ocean of knowledge and pick up pearls of information, education and entertainment.

            Public libraries in Trivandrum ,Trissur, Kottayam  and Kollam may not have as much  Malayalam books as in Sree Chithira Thirunal library, says Haridas, Chief librarian.

            The library is a repository of palm leaf scriptures and old publications. The well preserved old publications include journals like Sudhrama, Lekshmibhai, Sarada and Vidya Vinodini. It has also publications in Hindi, English and Sanskrit. The library has a huge collection of ‘panchagams” which makes it distinct from other libraries. The library enables the present to communicate with the past and imparts the profound ideas of the doyens of the past.

            Another noteworthy factor of this library is its contributions to the Malayalam theatre. The tradition of writing a new drama every year and staging it on stage on the occasion of its anniversary celebrations continues to this day.

            Sree Chithira Thirunaal Library played a pivotal role in bringing women to limelight through its plays. Educated women were persuaded to perform on stage thereby creating a notable revolution in our cultural fabric. As elsewhere till then male actors used to do the role in Malayalam theatre. High court judge Anna Chandy, Collector Omana Kunjamma, Parvathy Mills owner B.Radhadevi, Government Secretary Aananthavalli Amma were some of the prominent women who used to act in those anniversary plays.

            The library is now passing through difficult days.  Need for more space for accommodating books and inadequate funds are two problems that require urgent remedy. With the advent of the much hyped internet boom there is a perception  that the future of libraries is bleak. Several academicians and industry pundits contribute to this perception. Will Sree Chithira Thirunal Library be able to withstand the onslaught of the internet revolution and its byproduct the e-book?