The Gita Press is one of the world's largest publishers of Hindu religious texts. It is located in Gorakhpur

Gorakhpur

Gorakhpur is a city in the eastern part of the state of Uttar Pradesh in India, near the border with Nepal. It is the administrative headquarters of Gorakhpur District and Gorakhpur Division. Gorakhpur is one of the proposed capitals of the Purvanchal state which is yet to be formed...

 city of India's Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...

 state. It was founded in 1923 by Jaya Dayal Goyandka for promoting the principles of Sanatana Dharma. Hanuman Prasad Poddar

Hanuman Prasad Poddar

Hanuman Prasad Poddar was an author and freedom fighter of India.Lovingly called as Bhaijee, he was a multifaceted personality...

 was the founding and the lifetime editor of its noted magazine, Kalyan. It started publishing in 1927, with a circulation of 1,600 copies and by 2007 its print order had reached 230.000 (2.3 lakh

Lakh

A lakh is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand . It is widely used both in official and other contexts in Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and is often used in Indian English.-Usage:...

). The Gita Press archives contain over 3,500 manuscripts including over 100 interpretations of the Gita.

Seth Jai Dayal Goyandka, a Gita preacher set up the Gita Press on April 29, 1923, as a unit of Gobind Bhawan Karyalaya registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (presently governed by the West Bengal Societies Act, 1960). Five months later it acquired its first printing machine for Rs 600. Since its establishment, the Gita Press has published 71.9 million copies of the Gita (in different editions) and 70.0 million copies of the Ramcharitamanas, at subsidized prices.

Magazines

• Kalyan (in Hindi
  Hindi
  Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
  
  ) is a monthly magazine being published since 1927. It has articles devoted to various religious topics promoting uplifting thought and good deeds. Writings by Indian saints and scholars are regularly published in the magazine.
• Kalyana-Kalpataru (in English) is also a monthly and has been published since 1934. Its contents are similar to Kalyan.

Neither of these magazines runs any advertisements.

Religious Texts

It has a small Bhagavath Gita which costs Rs.4/- which is very popular

These texts are published in Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

, Hindi, Marathi,English, Tamil

Tamil language

Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...

, Telugu

Telugu language

Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...

, Gujarati

Gujarati language

Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...

, Bengali

Bengali language

Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...

, Oriya

Oriya language

Oriya , officially Odia from November, 2011, is an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is mainly spoken in the Indian states of Orissa and West Bengal...

 and other languages of India.

• Shrimad Bhagvad Gita (several formats)
• The Mahabharata
  Mahabharata
  The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
  
  
• Shri Ramcharitmanas by Tulsidas
  Tulsidas
  Tulsidas , was a Hindu poet-saint, reformer and philosopher renowned for his devotion for the god Rama...
  
   (several formats), Telugu version (2002)
• Other works by Tulsidas
• Valmiki Ramayana
  Ramayana
  The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
  
  (several formats)
• Scriptures (Puranas
  Puranas
  The Puranas are a genre of important Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religious texts, notably consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography.Puranas...
  
  , Upanishads and others)
• Works by Soordas

Other Publications

• Bhakta-Gathas and Bhajans
• Small books geared towards children

Gita Press Art Gallery (Lila chitra mandir)

The Art Gallery has the lilas ( exploits ) of Shri Rama

Rama

Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...

and Shri Krishna

Krishna

Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...

portrayed in 684 paintings by famed artists of the past and present. Other paintings, including Mewari style paintings of the Shri Krishna Lila are also on exhibit. The entire 700 verses of the Bhagvad Gita are displayed on marble plaques affixed to the walls.

Affiliated organizations

The Gita Press is part of the Govind Bhawan Karyalaya, Kolkata

Kolkata

Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

.
Other affiliated institutions are:

• Gita Bhavan, Muni Ki Reti
  Muni Ki Reti
  Muni Ki Reti is a town and a nagar panchayat in Tehri Garhwal district in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It lies close to pilgrimage town of Rishikesh, and is most known for a host of ashrams in the area, including the Shri Shivananda Ashram of Swami Sivananda, the founder of Divine Life...
  
  , Rishikesh
• Rishikul-Brahmacharya Ashram (Vedic school), Churu
  Churu
  Churu is a town in the desert region of Rajasthan state of India. It is the administrative headquarters of Churu District. It lies in the Thar Desert on the National Highway-65 connecting Pali to Ambala and is a junction station on the railway line to Bikaner...
  
  , Rajasthan.
• Ayurved Sansthan (producer of Ayurvedic medicines), Rishikesh.
• Gita Press Seva Dal (relief organization for natural calamities).
• Hasta Nirmit Vastra Vibhag (producer of handloom made clothes).