Bhubaneswar/Bhadrak: As libraries across the country struggle to attract readers in the digital age, a modest institution in Bhadrak district tells a different story altogether. Built through the passion and perseverance of one man, Loknath Pathagara ‘o’ Sangrahalaya has evolved from a small village library into a treasure house of more than 35,000 books and priceless historical artefacts.
Bikash Kumar Satapathy, a postgraduate in Odia literature, founded Loknath Pathagara ‘o’ Sangrahalaya in 1990 in memory of his great-grandfather. Inspired by renowned library activist Dasharathi Pattnaik, popularly known as Dasia Aja, Satapathy started the institution with just 15 periodicals in a small village library.
Today, it has grown into one of Odisha’s most well-maintained privately managed libraries and museums, housing over 35,000 books and magazines along with thousands of rare manuscripts, historical artefacts and collectables. The museum’s treasure trove bears testimony to centuries of Odisha’s rich heritage.
Its collection includes more than 1,200 palm-leaf manuscripts, over 1,100 rare Indian and foreign coins, discontinued postal stamps, century-old radios, traditional lanterns, marine fossils, tribal weapons, antique weighing scales and numerous other relics that narrate the region’s cultural evolution. For Satapathy, preserving history is only half the mission.
Equally important is nurturing the next generation of readers. He has authored children’s books such as ‘Shukh ila Gachhara Dashti Patra O Dashti Phula’ and ‘Kau Koili’, besides launching the children’s magazine ‘Baichadei’ in 1996 to encourage reading among young minds. Operating from Ward No. 12 of Basudevpur Municipality, the library and museum remain open free of cost to students, researchers and visitors.
Satapathy also leads the “Mobile Chhada, Bahi Padha” (Leave the Mobile, Read a Book) campaign, travelling to schools and villages with free books and exhibitions of rare artefacts to inspire children to rediscover the joy of reading.
What makes the initiative praiseworthy is that it has grown without any government financial assistance. “Whatever I earn from performing puja-paath goes into buying books and maintaining the library,” Satapathy says.
“Books are not meant to gather dust inside cupboards. They should be read. My dream is to create readers and inspire children to fall in love with books.” More than a library or a museum, Loknath Pathagara ‘o’ Sangrahalaya has become a living archive of Odisha’s collective memory.