Muktadhara

Muktadhara (মুক্তধারা) is an international organization, publishing house and bookstore dedicated to the promotion of Bengali literature and culture. It was started in the Indian state of West Bengal by the late Chittaranjan Saha, who in his work as head of the publishing house pioneered the Ekushey Book Fair. In addition to its early involvement with The Ekushey Book Fair, the organization is connected to other cultural Bengali events, like International Language Day and the International Bengali Festival. It also participates in the spread of literature and culture by taking part in such events as the National Poetry Festival.

The Muktadhara bookstore chain, founded by Saha's younger brother Bishawajit Saha who is the current president of the Muktadhara Foundation, has four stores in the United States. Its New York City store is the largest Bengali-language bookstore in the city.

In a 2008 interview, Muktadhara's director Jawhar Lal Shaha explained that Muktadhara, which takes its name from the Bengali words for "free-flowing stream", was founded in the late 1960s and grew from Chittaranjan Saha's gatherings with writers exiled in Kolkata from Bangladesh during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. Saha, who promoted the publication of writings for their country, published 32 books during the war, founding Muktadhara in Kolkata. After the war, Saha relocated to Bangladesh and began publishing creative works as well. In 2004, poet Mohammad Nurul Huda retrospectively described Muktadhara publishing house as "the most notable of its kind in the post-independence literary world of the country", indicating that "any book coming out of Muktadhara was deemed as up-to-the-mark". The poet attributed this to the custom of the publishing house to subject manuscripts to review by a panel of readers, adding that "no manuscript saw the light of day if it was not duly recommended by the reviewers and concerned editor".

In 1972, Saha began selling publications from Muktadhara on the grounds of the Bangla Academy during the weeklong celebration of Language Day. Gradually, Muktadhara was joined by other publishers, and in 1978 the Bangla Academy formalized the collection of sellers as the Ekushey Book Fair.

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