The Bengal Gazette was a historic Bengali weekly newspaper published in either 1816 or 1818, and is one of the oldest publications in India. It is believed to the first Bengali language newspaper. [1] The paper was edited by Ganga Kishore Bhattacharya, a former employee of Serampore Mission Press. [2] The newspaper was short lived due to paper being considered an expensive commodity. [3]
The Bengal Gazetti was published in either May 1816 or 1818. The publisher of the magazine was Ganga Kishore Bhattacharya and was supported by Harachandra Roy. It continued publishing for around one year. No copies of the paper remain. [4] It is believed to be the first Bengali language newspaper, but there are conflicting reports on when it started publication, and there is some controversy over whether the Gazetti or the Samachar Darpan , published by Serampore Mission Press, came first. The Bengal Gazetti was the first newspaper in India controlled entirely by natives. [5] [6]
Joshua Marshman was a Baptist missionary in Bengal, India from 1799 until his death. He was a member of the Serampore trio with William Carey and William Ward. The trio founded Serampore University, many primary and secondary schools, and translated and published a large number of works, including translations of the Bible. Marshman was "an accomplished scholar, linguist and theologian and was a prolific author and polemicist". His mission involved social reforms and intellectual debates with educated Hindus such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy.
John Clark Marshman was an English journalist and historian. He was editor and publisher of the Calcutta-based Friend of India, and was involved with several other Indian publications.
Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury was a Bengali writer, painter and entrepreneur. One of the books he wrote is Chotoder Shera Bigyan Rochona Shongkolon. He was the son-in-law of reformer Dwarkanath Ganguly. He was also an entrepreneur. He was the first person who introduced color printing in Bengal. He started the first colour children's magazine Sandesh in 1913.
Hooghly district is one of the districts of the Indian state of West Bengal. It can alternatively be spelt Hoogli or Hugli. The district is named after the Hooghly River. The headquarters of the district are at Hooghly-Chinsurah (Chunchura). There are four subdivisions: Chinsurah Sadar, Srirampore, Chandannagore, and Arambagh.
Sukanta Bhattacharya was a Bengali poet.
Bengali theatre primarily refers to theatre performed in the Bengali language. Bengali theatre is produced mainly in West Bengal, and in Bangladesh. The term may also refer to some Hindi theatres which are accepted by the Bengali people.
William Ward was an English Baptist missionary, author, printer and translator.
Ramram Basu was born in Chinsurah, Hooghly District in present-day West Bengal state of India. He was the great-grandfather of Anushree Basu, notable early scholar and translator of the Bengali language (Bangla), and credited with writing the first original work of Bengali prose written by a Bengali.
Gangadhar Bhattacharya was an Indian editor and printer, and pioneer of Bengali print and journalism. He was born in Bahar village, near Serampore, Bengal. He started his career as a compositor at the Serampore Mission Press, later moving to Calcutta, where he first worked at the Ferris and Company Press before setting up his own, the Bengali Printing Press, along with his business partner, Harishchandra Ray.
Hara Prasad Shastri, also known as Hara Prasad Bhattacharya, was an Indian academic, Sanskrit scholar, archivist, and historian of Bengali literature. He is most known for discovering the Charyapada, the earliest known examples of Bengali literature.
Hindi media refers to media in the Hindi language and its dialects, across the Hindi belt in India, and elsewhere within the Hindi-speaking Indian diaspora.
Samachar Darpan was a Bengali weekly newspaper published by the Baptist Missionary Society and published on 23 May 1818 from the Baptist Mission Press at Serampore in the first half of the 19th century. It is considered to be the first Indian-language newspaper, although some historians contend that the Bengali weekly Bengal Gazetti or Vangal Gazette published by Ganga Kishore Bhattacharya had begun publication earlier.
Bhattacharya, Bhattacharyya, and Bhattacharjee are three common spellings of a Bengali Brahmin and Assamese Brahmin surname. In Bengal, Bhattacharjees, together with Banerjees, Chatterjees, Gangulys and Mukherjees, form the Kulin Brahmins.
The Serampore Mission Press was a book and newspaper publisher that operated in Serampore, Danish India, from 1800 to 1837.
In the last quarter of the 18th century, Calcutta grew into the first major centre of commercial and government printing. For the first time in the context of South Asia it becomes possible to talk of a nascent book trade which was full-fledged and included the operations of printers, binders, subscription publishing and libraries.
Annada Mangal, or Nutan Mangal, is a Bengali narrative poem in three parts by Bharatchandra Ray, written in 1752–53. It eulogizes Hindu goddess Annapurna, a form of Parvati, worshipped in Bengal. It is the only poem in the medieval Mangalkavya tradition that does not create a separate subgenre, as no other poet ever ventured to praise Annapurna in their works.
Udant Martand is the first Hindi language newspaper published in India. Started on 30 May 1826, from Calcutta, the weekly newspaper was published every Tuesday by Pt. Jugal Kishore Shukla. It was closed on 4 December 1827 due to financial crisis.
Bhabani Bhattacharya was an Indian writer, of Bengali origin, who wrote social-realist fiction. He was born in Bhagalpur, part of the Bengal Presidency in British India. Bhattacharya gained a bachelor's degree from Patna University and a doctorate from the University of London. He returned to India and joined the diplomatic service. Bhattacharya served in the United States, to which country he returned as a teacher of literary studies once he had left the service. He taught in Hawaii, and later in Seattle. In his mid-thirties Bhattacharya began writing fiction set in historically and socially realistic contexts. He wrote in English, his chosen medium following the advice of two prominent literary figures.
Bong is a neologism that originated in cosmopolitan India in the 1980s as a slightly pejorative exonym for the educated middle-class Bengalis from the Indian state of West Bengal. In the 21st century, the term became a self-appellation of pride through the use of satire and self-reflexive irony by the Bengali blogging community, which came to stand for West Bengalis as a whole. Bong has been noted as a word of Indian English, used in the Indian newspapers.
Bengali language newspapers have been instrumental in shaping the socio-political landscape of Bengal and the Bengali-speaking diaspora since the early 19th century. The first Bengali newspaper, Bengal Gazetti, was published in May 1818, edited by Ganga Kishore Bhattacharya. Prominent editors like Robert Knight played a crucial role in advocating for Indian self-rule and often criticized the policies of the British Raj. Their writings and editorial decisions influenced public opinion and contributed to the nationalist movement in India. The press became a vital tool for discussing social issues, promoting reform, and rallying support for independence. Currently, Bengali newspapers are published in India, Bangladesh, and various expatriate communities, catering to the cultural and political interests of Bengali speakers worldwide.