On June 18, a jury headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced to confer the Gorakhpur-based Gita Press with the Gandhi Peace Prize for 2021 for its “outstanding contribution towards social, economic and political transformation through non-violent and other Gandhian methods”. The press, established in 1923 by Jaya Dayal Goyanka and Ghanshyam Das Jalan, two Marwari businessmen, has become a household name in most of the Hindi heartland with its low-priced, popular Hindu religious texts. It now claims to be the world’s largest publisher of Hindu religious texts with an objective to “promote and spread the principles of Sanatana Dharma, the Hindu religion among the general public”. The Gita Press publications can be found in most bus stops and public places across North India.
The publisher which started its journey a century ago at a ₹10 rented accommodation in Gorakhpur, a small-town in Eastern U.P. famous for the Gorakhnath Math, whose Mahanth is U.P. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, has now evolved into a giant institution with a wide variety of publications. The idea of the Press was sown years back in the early 1900s, when Jay Dayal Goyandka, who was travelling across north Indian towns for business purposes, formed groups of friends to discuss religious texts. Goyandka, a trader of textiles and cotton, failed to get any authentic translation of the Gita for discussion. After his attempt to get the text published by an external publisher failed, Goyandka decided to start his own publishing house with the support of fellow businessmen. Ghanshyam Das Jalan, informed him that in Gorakhpur, it could be initiated as it’s a religious place along with concentration of the Marwari business class.
Gita Press now claims to have published more than 910 million copies of 1,800 different religious and spiritual books and other materials in 15 languages since its inception. At least 70,000 books are printed every day at its modern printing press. The Press has printed more than 162.1 million copies of Shrimad Bhagwat Gita and 26.8 million copies of Puranas and Upanishads so far. More than 41% of its publications are in Hindi, while 5% make up English books. It has published 729 different Hindu religious and spiritual texts in Hindi, 78 in Tamil and 131 in Bangla. Similarly, the Gita Press prints 88 religious texts in English, 164 in Telugu, 98 in Oriya and 44 in Nepali.
The books published apart from the popular ones such as Shrimad Bhagvad Gita include Ramcharitmanas, Literature of Soordas, Literature of Tulsidas and children’s books. The press printed more than 24 million copies of various texts, including Kalyan, a monthly magazine containing topics of devotion, dharma, detachment and spirituality, in 2022-23, worth ₹111 crore.
The Gita Press building’s entrance takes inspiration from renowned ancient temple architecture: the pillars of the entrance, for example, are inspired by the pillars of the famous cave-temple of Ellora, Maharashtra. The entrance of the building, where 450-odd employees of Gita Press work, was inaugurated by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, India’s first President, in 1955.
In the contemporary age of Internet revolution, the Press is aiming for a major expansion, aided by tech, by making available Gita, Ramayana, discourses of eminent Hindu saints, Upanishads, Puranas and other religious books and magazines online, many free of cost.
“A mobile application of the Geeta Press will be ready very soon, from where people can download books and also order them,” said Devi Dayal Agarwal, one of the 11 Trustees of the society which manages the institution. The publisher also aims to provide free downloading of 500 different books and manuscripts through its website.
According to its website, “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 Press sees a huge demand for its offering and is struggling to meet it. “There is religious awakening among the people since 2014 and and they want to learn and read more spiritual and Sanatana texts,” added Mr. Agarwal, hinting at the political change in India that saw the BJP coming to power in the year. “The Press is able to meet only 60-70% of the demand.”
‘Political agenda’
Hours after the award for Gita Press was announced, Congress Rajya Sabha member and general secretary in-charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, said, “The Gandhi Peace Prize for 2021 has been conferred on the Gita Press at Gorakhpur which is celebrating its centenary this year. There is a very fine biography from 2015 of this organisation by Akshaya Mukul in which he unearths the stormy relations it had with the Mahatma and the running battles it carried on with him on his political, religious and social agenda. The decision is really a travesty and is like awarding Savarkar and Godse.” Mr. Ramesh also shared the cover page of Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India, written by Akshaya Mukul.
“We never comment on such statements,” said Mr. Agarwal, referring to the criticism. “Why those people are commenting like this. They don’t know anything about Gita Press,” he added.
But the Press had its share of controversies. According to Mr. Mukul’s book, Hanuman Prasad Poddar, one of the former editors of Kalyan, the Gita Press magazine, was among the key organisers of the Hindu Mahasabha’s annual convention in Gorakhpur in 1946 and was briefly in trouble after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on January 30, 1948 by Nathuram Vinayak Godse due to his alleged association with the then banned right-wing organisations.
Local support
In Gorakhpur, the city whose name has been associated with the Gita Press, the locals, irrespective of their ideological and political affiliations, largely support the publication, calling the prize it won a proud moment for the city.
“It is a proud moment for every person of Gorakhpur as the Gita Press gained national and international recognition. It is not the time for criticism,” said Rakesh Yadav, a former district chief of the Congress in Gorakhpur. Similar sentiments were shared by many locals, including the Samajwadi Party (SP) district president, Brajesh Kumar Gautam. People in the city are aware of the fact that wherever they go, by trains or buses, Gita Press books would be there. For them, “the institution that is contributing to Hindu religion”, is also bringing goodwill to Gorakhpur.
