Chennai: A copy of the March 1964 edition of National Geographic magazine, featuring a cover story on the man’s moon-landing plan; a Mandarin learning guide; epics in Tamil and English from the 1900s. The shelves of Ranade Library might appear dusty, but they are a treasure trove of rare books and periodicals encompassing religion, politics, economics, public policy, philosophy, the freedom movement and popular fiction and classics too. Situated on Luz Church Road, Mylapore, the small building could easily be missed, as the nondescript nameboard says, ‘South Indian National Association; Ranade Library – Srinivasa Sastri Hall’. Originally, the library was situated at R K Mutt Road and was shifted to the present location in 1928. The land belongs to the Mylapore Kapaleeswarar Temple, and is on a 99-year lease.Founded in 1905 by Diwan Bahadur Ragunatha Rao, V Krishnaswamy Iyer and P R Sundara Iyer, the library was named after Mahadev Govind Ranade, a Maharashtrian social reformer and a co-founder of the Indian National Congress. His writings inspired Gopalakrishna Gokhale and M K Gandhi. “During the early 1900s, the library was a hub of discussions on the freedom movement, and the formation of the Congress,” says Hemanth Kumar, current secretary of the South Indian National Association, which runs the library. In its heyday, visitors included C Rajagopalachari, Rajendra Prasad and Jayaprakash Narayan.In the centennial memoir from 2005, M Narayanaswamy writes, “Biophysicist G N Ramachandran and Arnold Toynbee delivered lectures here, besides Alladi Krishnaswami Iyer, who once addressed a crowded hall for two days, defending the Indian Constitution against British lawyer Ivor Jennings. On his return from a visit to China as the leader of a delegation, C P Ramaswamy Iyer gave a scintillating account of the Red Star over China.”Despite containing at least 8,000 books, the library is in a state of disrepair now, with the shelves locked and many books strewn around, as lending was discontinued 10 years ago. There is no information on which books are the rarest or oldest, as the librarian who worked here for decades is no longer a part of the institution. The library is more of a reading room now, mostly frequented by senior citizens and a few researchers. Funds from renting out the Srinivasa Sastri Hall upstairs, which was built in 1955, support the library.“The hall is rented out for Carnatic concerts during Margazhi. But parking has been blocked due to Metro work, and we get only a couple of programmes a month now,” says the secretary. “Most of the books here were donated or gifted, as there are names and signatures of the donors. But nobody is interested in borrowing them anymore. We might start lending again if we see an interest among readers.”
