New Delhi, Jun 5: By selling over 70 crore publishing books since 1923 in Kolkata, Gita Press, which will turn 100 next year, has played an important role in taking the spiritual and cultural knowledge of India to people.
The publication which started with an intention of taking Hindu scripture in pure form is today the world's largest publisher of Hindu religious texts and the archive of the company contains over 3,500 manuscripts including over 100 interpretations of the Bhagwad Gita.
Located in Gorakhpur city in Uttar Pradesh, it was founded by Jaya Dayal Goyanka and Ghanshyam Das Jalan for promoting the principles of Sanatana Dharma. Hanuman Prasad Poddar better known as "Bhaiji" was the founding and the lifetime editor of its noted magazine who also wrote articles with his pen name "SHIV".
Promoting Morality and Spirituality
Since 1923 it has been propagating and promoting morality and spirituality through its literature throughout the world.
According to Gita Press, it aims to promote the art of living as propounded in the Bhagavad Gita for peace and happiness and the ultimate upliftment of mankind. Notably, the institution neither solicits donations nor accepts advertisements in its publications. The deficit is met by the surplus from other departments of the society which render services at reasonable cost, in accordance with the objects of the society, the publication claims.
Also, 'Kalyan' magazine of Gita Press has a prestigious place as collectible literature from the spiritual point of view. It is probably one of the most famous publications that is most widely read religious magazine in India.
Periodical Kalyan has a subscriber base of over 2,45,000, and its English version, Kalyana-Kalpataru, has over 100,000 subscribers.
Late Radheshyam Khemka, its editor for 38 years and the Chairman of Gita Press Trust Board, was posthumously awarded the second-highest civilian award the Padma Vibhushan in January 2022 for his valuable contribution in the field of literature and education.
Books at Cheap Price with High Editorial Standards
The books published by the publication are inexpensive as it is sold without the profit motto while maintaining their high editorial standards. So, you can find spiritual books for a single-digit price. People can buy plenty of books for less than Rs 10 with the costliest being the six-volume Mahabharata which costs Rs 2,700 as of June 2022.
Till 2019, it sold 1,558 lakh Bhagavad Gita copies in multiple languages, over 1,139 lakh copies of Shri Ramcharitamanas & other works by Goswami Tulsidas, 261 lakh copies of Puranas, etc.
The publication has not only played a major role in promoting spirituality but is also responsible for evolving a completely new book culture as it has stalls in many parts of the country including in Bengaluru, Pondicherry, Mumbai, Cuttack and Patna.
However, the publication was shut in over wage issues in 2014, but the work resumed days later.
Despite the minor setback, the publication has continued to strive to reach new places and now planning to set up branches abroad.
Currently, it publishes over 50,000 copies of more than 1,800 books in 16 languages every day.
The printing press presently publishes 1,830 books, among which 765 are printed in Sanskrit and Hindi language, and the remaining are published in Malayalam, Telugu, Gujarati, Tamil, Marathi, Odiya, Kannada, Urdu, Assamese, Bangla, Punjabi, English as well as Urdu.