Pennington Library: A 150-Year-Old Treasure for Rural Readers in Tamil Nadu Faces Uncertain Future

Beyond the famed gopuram of Srivilliputtur’s Andal temple in Virudhunagar (a symbol featured in the state govt emblem) and its iconic GI-tagged palkova lies a library, little known to the rest of Tamil Nadu, but one that has long nurtured local readers.

Established in 1875, the Pennington Public Library marks its 150th anniversary this year. Tucked away in a narrow bylane of Library Street, its facade is covered by trees, under which readers, mostly women, eat their lunch.

“This library gives me the calm and resources I can’t find at home,” says Akshaya, who travels from Kallupatti, an hour away, to prepare for the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission exams. Many like her flock to the library from rural pockets of Sivakasi, Rajapalayam and beyond.

India has a long history of public libraries, the earliest ones established by the British in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. Among them are the Madras Literary Society, established in 1818, and the Connemara Library, which celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2020. Founded in 1890, it was opened to the public in 1896. Pennington Public Library is the state’s oldest ‘private’ public library.

The 1860 Societies Registration Act gave people the right to form associations and participate in local governance. In 1875, public-spirited citizens — A Ramachandra Rao, T Ramasamy Iyer, T Krishna Rao, Muthu Iyengar, T Saravana Muthu Pillai and P Muthusami Pillai — used this provision to set up a library with the support of Tirunelveli collector J B Pennington (1880-1883).

Over time, the founding group became known as the Pennington Committee. “Pennington helped identify land and do the construction. That’s why the founders named the library after him,” says V Muthu Battar, the committee’s vice-president. To honour Pennington’s legacy, the Virudhunagar collector continues to serve as an ex-officio committee member. Today, the committee has 12 members.

To ensure financial independence, Pennington also acquired land near the library and developed it into a market complex. Today, the Pennington Market, which houses 150 shops on both sides of Rajaji Road, supports the library.

With more than 80,000 books and 190 periodicals, it is accessed by about 400 people every day. It has more than 3,500 members. It also has a separate section for children. All nine employees here are women. About ₹2 lakh is allocated annually to buy books (usually from the Chennai Book Fair).

“It is one of the few libraries in the state that has state gazettes published from 1953,” says librarian R Jeya Kiruba. To preserve its books, the library makes its own herbal powder, a mix of pepper and clove, to keep insects away.

Personalities who visited the library include former President A P J Abdul Kalam. The library played a vital role in the formative years of Kariamanikkam Srinivasa Krishnan, co-discoverer of the Raman Effect (which won his mentor C V Raman the Nobel Prize in 1930).

However, recent developments around the market have cast a shadow on the library’s future. The market complex, near Srivilliputtur bus stand, has been earmarked for relocation by the municipality to ease traffic congestion. The district administration plans a rent hike, eviction of defaulters and demolition of “dilapidated” structures in the market. Committee members say they have got a stay order from the Madras high court.

This is not the library’s first legal hurdle. Over the years, many tenants have defaulted on their rent, resulting in several civil suits, some of which are still pending. In 2009, the municipal department demanded 15% of the market’s gross rental income. The committee sought a waiver, stating that the funds were used in the public interest. In 2017, the Madurai bench of Madras HC ruled in the library’s favour.

Besides maintaining the library, the Pennington committee also runs Pennington Public School for classes I to V, says Muthu Battar. “We have plans to open an IAS academy and to digitize the collection of books.”

Even after 150 years, the committee has yet to find a photograph of Pennington, the man whose name the library bears. “Pennington appears to have shunned publicity. We tried to trace his descendants in England but found nothing,” says Battar.

“Even if a library is privately owned, if it is open to all, it is a public library. The govt should not interfere with a self-sustaining institution that is serving the people,” says writer and library activist Ariaravelan. “A library, after all, is defined by its access, not ownership.”

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Pennington, the people’s collector

J B Pennington served as Tirunelveli collector for three terms: first, between Oct 6, 1868, and Oct 20, 1868; second, between May 25, 1877, and March 17, 1880; and third, between June 18, 1880, and June 28, 1883.

Besides the library, Pennington also showed a great interest in launching St John’s Orphanage in 1878, which is now in Tuticorin.

During his period, the British proposed building reservoirs at Srivaikuntam and the Papanasam lower hills to control floods in the Tamirabharani River. “Penningon proposed increasing the capacity of the existing tanks and constructing new tanks for protecting the valley from drought,” writes Arivalagan Murugeshapandian, assistant professor, department of folklore, St Xavier’s College, Tirunelveli, in his book ‘Signs of Water’. In the 1881 Proceedings of the Madras govt, Pennington said, “The district had the extraordinary enterprise of the people: only provide water and the people will do all the rest. There is no fear of them declining it or failing to utilise every drop.”

In 1904, he called for an end to the salt tax imposed by the British, after demonstrating a possible link between salt deficiency and plague. He said the monopoly deprived people of a valuable industry, led to the destruction of naturally abundant resources, and resulted in excessive taxation on a vital necessity.