While bookshops are found everywhere, this one in Andhra Pradesh’s city of Vijayawada is different. There reason being, Siva Kameswari Grandhamala offers readers a choice of a wide range of Hindu devotional books numbering more than 3,000, some of which are very hard to find in libraries and with book collectors.
This shop is located at Bramarambapuram while they have a stall at Rama Koti temple in the city also.
The founder and owner of the bookshop, Genduri Chandramouliswara Sambamurthi, told the media that he started this store at the age of 15 in 1976. The reason was that books of other religions were readily available but not those pertaining to Hinduism.
The founder’s father too used to work at a bookshop which sold devotional books and this also inspired him to start one on his own. Sambamurthi informed that he does not run the shop for money and all he earns is ploughed back into it.
Motivated by him, Sambamurthi’s son also has started a book stall called Sringeri Sankara Matam three years ago while one of his daughters-in-law takes care of online sales and publicising them through Facebook.
Some of the rare books available at the store are Srimadh Ramayanam, Amuktamalyada, Kalapurnodayam, Sitha Ramaajaneya Samvadham, Vasthu Gunadeepam, and Sangeetha Sarvardha Sara Sangrahamu among others.
