Bhadrak man conserves 1,200 rare palm leaf manuscripts

Undeterred by numerous challenges including financial hardship, personal setbacks, and family issues, Satapathy transformed the library and museum into a major institution

- POST NEWS NETWORK

When people speak of library movement in Odisha, they often think of Nayagarh’s legendary Dasarathi Pattnaik, popularly known as ‘Dashia Ajaa’. But another figure from Basudevpur region of Bhadrak district, 59-year-old Bikash Kumar Satapathy, has quietly carved out a similar legacy.

Satapathy, who runs a library and museum in Basudevpur, has preserved a rare collection of 1,200 palm leaf manuscripts.

His vast archive also includes more than 1,100 antique coins from India and abroad, rare and discontinued postage stamps, century-old radios, fossils of marine species, ancient clocks, traditional weights and measures, ancient betel box, lanterns, oil lamps, and handcrafted tools and weapons.