Attention Bibliophiles! 2,500 rare books at Bhatkhande Lucknow to be available online on a click

With the whole world switching to Kindle and Ipad, Bhatkhande Lucknow is not far behind. Under the Smart City Project, connoisseurs of performing arts from across the world will soon have one-click access to the treasure trove of material on classical music, dance, culture and its history. Over 2,500 rare chronicles at Bhatkhande State Culture University will be transferred online. 

The project to digitize and renovate the university was among 20 projects that were approved during the 18th board meeting of the Smart City Mission at the state capital in December 2022.

According to Smart City officials, the almost 100 years old university, established in 1926 by Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande, possesses over 2,500 books in the library. The library constitutes books in Hindi, English, Marathi, Sanskrit, Urdu, Tamil, Bengali and Gujrati all relating to music, dance and culture.

Some of the rare gems at Bhatkhande library date way back to the 6th and 13th century like 'Brihaddeshi' by Matanga Muni and Sangeet Ratnaker by Sharangdev. Some are over 200 years old, hence their digitisation is a delicate work and required utmost attendance to wear and tear. The authorities are hopping to complete the process by June 30, 2023. 

Post digitisation, the collection will be uploaded on a special platform for people to look through. A large number of students, researchers, scholars, music and dance lovers will also get the chance to enhance their knowledge by having access to this golden collection.

Besides the whole digitisation initiative, the Bhatkhande University will also undergo renovation to prepend additional facilities for students. Infrastructure will be revamped at an approximate budget of ₹4.5 cores.

Also, as part of the renovation work, authorities will install air conditioning and put a false ceiling in the library. Besides, 10 smart classes will be set up and sign boards will be installed across the campus. Further, the girls’ hostels will also be repaired.