About

The Bhaktivedanta Research Centre is a premium research institute headquartered in Kolkata with branches across various cities in India and abroad such as Mumbai, Pune, Puri, Govardhan and New York. Its aim is to be a leading research center and an academic institute dedicated to preserving, researching and disseminating the rich history, philosophy and cultural heritage of India.

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History

Founded in Kolkata in 2009 by Dr. Ferdinando Sardella and Mr. Dennis Harrison, the Bhaktivedanta Research Center (BRC) aims to preserve the literary and philosophical heritage of Gaudiya Vaishnavism and Bengal.

The family of Shri Sundarananda Vidyavinode donated his extensive library to Bodhayan Swami at Gopinath Gaudiya Math, Mayapur in 2009. This collection of 3,000 books, journals, and documents in Bengali, English, and Sanskrit, covers a wide range of subjects including history, philosophy, literature, and religion of Bengal and present-day Bangladesh, spanning the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries.

Under its founders, BRC began digitizing rare books and collaborated with the Asiatic Society of Kolkata to preserve fragile journals. A library was constructed with study spaces and a conference room for academic events. Professional librarians and assistants, including a digital photographer and manuscript librarian, were employed to manage the growing collection, which now includes 1,000 manuscripts and an additional 14,000 books and 3,000 academic journals.

In 2016, the Bhaktivedanta Research Center made a major leap in accessibility by organizing a comprehensive online catalog of its collection through the integrated library system, Koha. Initially, 3,000 titles were made available online (brcglobal.org), and this has since expanded to include the entire collection.

In 2017, BRC entered its next phase, launching research studies focused on the Indian Knowledge System. These studies explore diaries, biographies, documents, journals, and other significant materials related to the philosophy and history of that era.

Today, BRC remains a valuable resource for national and international scholars, contributing to the study and preservation of India’s intellectual and spiritual traditions..

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About BRC