ANANTAPUR: The tiny village, Kowthalam in Adoni mandal of Kurnool district, has an exclusive library on philosophy — run by the Mantralayam Guru Sarvabhowma Dasa Sahitya project incharge and former TTD Dasa Sahitya Project special officer Dr Appannacharya.
There are more than 5000 manuscripts, some of them as old as 300 years, along with 10,000 more books on philosophy of Dwitha, Adwitha and Visista Adwitha in the library are a great attraction for scholars doing research in Indian Philosophy. The books are available in Sanskrit, Kannada and Telugu languages.
Kowthalam village, the native place of Sri Guru Jagannatha Dasaru, the famous Haridasa in Dvaita system who was a Sanskrit scholar, dedicated his life to Haridasa Sahitya.
Kowthalam is located about 30km from Mantralayam pilgrim centre. According to history, he originally had a short lifespan but gained the blessings for more years of life from Vijaya Dasa of Chippagiri in Kurnool district. Guru Jagannatha Dasaru, who was an ardent devotee of Raghvendra Swamy composed Harikathamrutha Sara in Kannada language. This was published by a British ruler.
K. Appannachar, former TTD Dasa Sahitya Project special officer, was a descendent of Sri Guru Jagannatha Dasaru. He continued the tradition and procured centuries-old manuscripts and books of philosophy. He initiated the renovation of the temple with the Harikathamruthasara project and library.
Briefing on the establishment of the library, Appanacharya told DC that the library has centuries-old manuscripts including the Garuda Purana of Guru Jagannatha Dasaru and Ravana Samhitha. “We have detailed the history of more than 300 Haridasas from Narahari Theertha of 900 years ago and the recent Sundara Vittala Dasa Haridasas Keerthanas and histories,” Appanacharya said.
He said three persons did their research in Haridasa Sahitya and got Ph.D from various universities so far.
The library has shelves that were set up in a special way to secure the old books and manuscripts. Each paper of the manuscripts was specially protected to provide spiritual knowledge to future generations of society.
He said the library invites philosophy lovers to come to it and stretch their knowledge horizons to a wider space.
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