A proud possession

More than a century old Gurukula Kangri University of Haridwar houses a rare collection of world literature and the ancient scriptures. This inestimable treasure of the country has a collection of approximately one lakh forty thousand books on various subjects as Sanskrit Literature, Vedic literature, history, literature of religion, philosophy and culture. Apart from these a good assembly of books on linguistics, science, management, science, IT, arts and architecture is an asset to the students.

Recently the university procured a copy of the 1930 trial proceedings against Bhagat Singh from Lahore, Pakistan. As intimated by the head librarian, Dr. Jagdish Vidyalankar, this document collection is now part of the other 1500 rare collections in Urdu stacked by the University museum. Some of the collections are even 150 to 200 years old in the university library and museum.

This 1400 page document containing original trial proceedings of the martyr in Urdu was received through post by the University after a long proceeding by the Vice Chancellor, Swatantra Kumar. Each page of this document is attested by the high court of Pakistan. Expressing his gratitude to the Government of Pakistan, Swatantra Kumar informs, "I had sent a written appeal to the high court of Pakistan to send this document during my last visit to Lahore on August 16, 2009 and they sent me by post. Nearly 2500 rare documents like this, including history of Sikhs, original manuscripts are carefully preserved by the Punjab Public Library, Lahore."

Discussing about his future moves, VC says, "Gurukul Kangri Library houses such rare manuscripts of importance in Arabi and Persian languages which the Govt. of Pakistan might be interested in acquiring. This university started from Gujranwala in Lahore.I am working on a mutual agreement through which both the governments can benefit each other through exchange of these valuable historical documents."

The library has preserved 'Satyarth Prakash' by Swami Dayanand published in 1882 and 'Arya Patrika Patra' collection published in 1890 from Lahore. Some of the rare Pandulipis and manuscripts of the eighteenth century like First Preamble of East India Company and Charak Sushrut are conserved in their original form. Nearly forty thousand have been confined to the reference section in which about seven thousand are of the rarest of rare category.

The university released a book a year before to commemorate the centenary of the launch of Satyagaraha Movement by Gandhi. This book named "Mahatma Gandhi aur Gurukula" with 600 pages compiles the original letters written by the Mahatma to students and Acharyas of Gurukul.