A 152-year-old institution in south Mumbai is working to preserve rare Persian and Urdu translations of Hindu religious texts, along with old newspapers, manuscripts and other documents that offer a glimpse into India’s diverse cultural and intellectual history.
The Karimi Library, located inside the historic Anjuman-I-Islam institute near Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, is currently undergoing restoration and digitisation.
The library is home to more than 32 rare Hindu religious texts, including the Mahabharata, Ramayana, Bhagavad Gita and Shiv Puran. The books were printed between 1867 and 1896.
150-Year-Old Books Being Preserved
The library houses books and manuscripts in Sanskrit, English, Urdu, Persian, Marathi, Pashto and Arabic. Its collection covers subjects including history, philosophy, theology, literature and geography.
The archive also contains royal decrees from Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and newspapers dating back to 1875, including the Jaipur Gazette, Ambala Gazette and Cairo-based Al Kaira.
Padma Shri Dr Zahir Kazi, president of Anjuman-I-Islam, said the library was established in 1898 after merchant Kazi Abdul Karimi Porbandari donated around 4,500 valuable texts. The library was subsequently named after him.
“The books have become old and pages brittle. They need to be treated with special chemicals to weed out fungus and pests. Books that are not in good shape are pasted with special paper for preservation,” Kazi said.
More Than 100,000 Pages Digitised
The institution has brought in experts to restore and digitise the collection. The scanned pages are being uploaded to Anjuman-I-Islam’s cloud storage.
According to library in-charge Mohammad Ghalib Mulla, more than 100,000 pages of books and around 70,000 pages from newspapers and periodicals have already been digitised. Around 2,250 pages remain to be archived.
“These books reflect so much of tolerance. It is an eye-opener for Indians that the country’s heritage is very much there in this library,” Kazi said.
Mulla said the old newspapers provide valuable information about India’s social and political history and the early freedom movement.
“The newspapers give details about the initial days of the freedom struggle, the social and political situation of those times, how journalism was — pro and anti-British,” he said.
Library Linked to Freedom Movement
The source of some of the newspapers and periodicals is unclear. Mulla said they are believed to have been collected by Anjuman-I-Islam, which had functioned as an educational centre since its establishment and may have subscribed to the publications.
The Karimi Library itself is part of Anjuman-I-Islam’s heritage building and is also being renovated. The institution said efforts are being made to retain its historic appearance and atmosphere.
Kazi said several freedom fighters were associated with the management of Anjuman-I-Islam and that some of their meetings were held at the institution.
“We intend to reopen the restored library by October 2, subject to the completion of work. We also plan to host many national and international events in this library,” he said.
