Bholakumar Shrestha is an advisor for the National Library Association. The association’s website lauds him for his contributions to library modernisation efforts in Nepal. Shrestha is also the author of the recently published ‘Nepalma Pustakalya’.

The work, among other things, traces the history of libraries in the country, focusing mostly on Kathmandu, one of the oldest and richest cities in this region of the subcontinent.

The book opens: ‘Knowledge is everlasting, universal and relative. A book is a byproduct of knowledge and a useful tool for education. The cataloguing of books and education led to the birth of the library.’ Shrestha’s conception of the library as simply a byproduct of knowledge means that his detailing of noteworthy books in Nepal’s possession and the existence of libraries in their various forms, mostly beginning with the Licchavi age in Nepal, are supposed to convey the extent of high academic pursuit in Nepal.

Shrestha mentions the ‘sapukotha’ near the Bhaktapur Durbar Square as the first unofficial library in Nepal. 'Sapu' means 'book' in Newa, and 'kotha' means 'room' in Nepali. It is unclear who established the library or when. But Shrestha narrows it down to either King Bhupatindra Malla, somewhere between 829 and 837 BS or King Ranodip Malla in 1826 BS. The library is said to have had between 1,190 and 14,000 books.

Similarly, Nepal’s first official library is said to have been established by the boy king Girvan Yuddha in 1869 BS. Shrestha has included the ‘lalmohar’, a type of legally binding order issued by the then king. The order, among other things, appointed Pandit Kedarnath Jha as head librarian of the library located in the Basantapur Durbar Palace in Hanuman Dhoka. Pandit Jha was provided with two assistants, who were paid Rs70 annually, while Jha himself was paid Rs125 annually.

The Rana years saw continued efforts to preserve historic texts and artefacts. It saw the publication of Sylvain Lévi’s seminal, all-encompassing work on Nepal, Le Népal. It also saw the creation of additional libraries. One of these was the ‘Ghantaghar’ library. In the section on the cherished historian Satyamohan Joshi, Shrestha quotes Joshi, who subsequently reminds readers of the dark reality of Rana rule in Nepal.

Joshi shares that in his four years as a student at Trichandra, he never entered the ‘Ghantaghar’ library, in part because he would have required a permit from high up in the government.

There are other stories in the book that illustrate the 104 years of Rana autocracy and injustice, when the public had no access to education and opening schools or libraries was punishable. Other ideas about the truths of Rana rule have come up since the book fully dispels these notions.

In one instance, the author of the book ‘Makai ko Kheti’, Krishna Lal Adhikari, was sentenced to prison amid allegations that his work was allegorically critical of Chandra Sumsher and Bhim Sumsher. Adhikari would die three years into his 9-year prison sentence. Shrestha bemoans that, at a time when the rest of the world was experiencing rapid growth in education, Nepal was falling significantly behind.

After the revolution in 2007 BS, Nepal’s suppressed polity found its voice. Shrestha shares that the 10-year period following the end of Rana rule saw more growth in the country’s educational infrastructure than the last 30-40 years combined. In the Panchayat years, despite some censorship, there was a slower but steady growth in the number of educational institutions in Nepal.

Shrestha’s book is both critical and celebratory in its account of the journey Nepal’s libraries and other educational institutions have taken. At the bare minimum, it seems that in every era, Nepal’s rulers have been aware, to one degree or another, of the value in preserving artefacts. During much of the past, however, not enough was done, sometimes unknowingly and unfortunately at times, knowingly, to expand and enhance education and the institutions that promote it.

So what about today? Again, Shrestha finds cause for celebration and criticism alike. Unlike in the past, the Nepali state no longer seeks to deprive its citizens of education. Nor has the state sought to suppress certain ideologies. Shrestha decries how sad it is that, while Boy King Grivan Yuddha of medieval Nepal had decreed rudimentary rules for establishing a library in his time, modern Nepal today lacks the laws and regulations necessary to modernise its libraries.

Shrestha’s book is a full journey of Nepali history through the lens of the library. In discussing the history of libraries in Nepal, the book takes readers on a journey of the nation's cultural, political and religious histories as well. Towards the end of the book, the reader is reminded that it is not only access to education that Nepal’s constitution promises its citizens, but also access to community libraries, no matter how remote a part of the country one might be in.

At a time when so many Nepalis are continually leaving the country in search of better higher education, and even more Nepalis have no way to access higher education at all, Shrestha’s work tells readers where we came from, where we are, and, most importantly, where we ought to go.

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Nepalma Pustakalaya

Author: Bholakumar Shrestha

Year: 2026

Publisher: WeRead, Kathalaya