KHUDA BAKSH ORIENTAL PUBLIC LIBRARY

KHUDA BAKSH ORIENTAL PUBLIC LIBRARY

The Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library (KBOPL),located close to the banks of the Ganges, in Patna, holds a unique repository of 21,000 oriental manuscripts and printed books. This is a rare collection of books and manuscripts acquired over years by Khuda Bakhsh Khan, who donated his entire collection to the people of Patna by a deed of trust. The Indian government has declared the library, an Institution of National Importance by an act of Parliament in 1969. The library was opened to the public in 1891 by the son of Bihar Khan Bahadur Khuda Bakhsh with 4,000 manuscripts, of which 1,400 were inherited from his father, Maulvi Mohammed Bakhsh. This autonomous institution is being governed by a Board with the Governor of Bihar as its ex-officio Chairman and the responsibility of management of the library is entrusted to its Director. Its emblem is in gold and brown with a shield in the centre topped by a white banner and two borders at its bottom.