Samachar Darpan
Encyclopedia
Samachar Darpan was a Bengali
weekly newspaper published by the Baptist Missionary Society
from the Baptist Mission Press at Serampore
in early 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 published by Ganga Kishore Bhattacharya
had commenced publication first.
monthly Digdarshan encouraged the missionaries of the Baptist Missionary Society
to embark on a new venture - the publication of a Bengali
newspaper. The initiative was taken by Joshua Marshman and William Ward
. At about the same time Harachandra Roy was also planning to start a Bengali
newspaper from his own printing press at Chorebagan Steet in Calcutta. But before he could bring out his publication, the missionaries published the first issue of Samachar Darpan from the Baptist Mission Press at Serampore
on May 23, 1818.
The newspaper was published every Saturday and was edited by John Clark Marshman
. Its price was 4 anna
s per copy. It contained news, both Indian and European, collected from various sources, particular from English
newspapers. It also contained brief articles on various subjects. It carried some material of educational value which made it respected and popular among the educated people. Both in typography and contents the Samachar Darpan maintained a fairly good standard. Its coverage of local news was certainly better than any other English or Indian language newspaper. By reprinting news and comments from other Bengali
newspapers, the Samachar Darpan enabled its readers to have acquaintance with the different sections of the Bengali
opinion.
The paper covered seven main beats: news of the government officials, government circular
s, news of the European countries other than Britain
, new events, birth, obituary and wedding, news of England
, history of India and its scholarly books. It published useful information on the appointment of judges, collectors and so on.
From July 1829, the newspaper began to appear in both Bengali
and English
; the Bengali
and English
sections represented translation of each other. From January 1832, the Samachar Darpan began to be published twice a week - on Wednesday and Saturday. The price was raised from a rupee
per month to one and a half. However as a result of the hike in postage duty the twice a week publication was discontinued and it again became a weekly newspaper from 8 November 1834.
In December 1841 the missionaries decided to discontinue the publication that ended with the last issue of December. The official reason stated was that John Clark Marshman
who was still the editor of the newspaper couldn't find sufficient time owing to other pre-occupations. But the actual reason was that the Samachar Darpan, though very successful as a newspaper, had failed miserably in its primary objective - propagation of Christianity
.
Samachar Darpan had an uninterrupted career till the end of 1841, when the publication was discontinued. By 1836, the circulation had reached 400, which was much higher than any other Indian language publication.
, was the official editor and the editorial staff included some of the most distinguished Bengali Hindu
pundits of the time. Marshman's control over the newspaper was only nominal and he had to depend much on his editorial board. Once when the pundits took an extended leave during the Puja
, Marshman had to postpone the publications as well and he apologized to the subscribers for the delay.
. The Government warned the missionaries that, "extra-ordinary precautions must be used not to give the natives cause for suspicion that the paper had been devised as an engine for undermining their religious opinions." The newspaper was allowed to be circulated through the post office at one-fourth of the usual charge. The general tone of the newspaper was moderate as compared to other missionary publications. It had to be so if the newspaper was to gain some patronage from the public.
The Government appreciated the usefulness of the newspaper as a medium of communication with the literate public.
s were not friendly towards the Darpan. But as time passed their attitude changed towards the paper. Reformist and liberal Hindu
s, generally found in the Samachar Darpan a valuable ally because of its strong support in favour of social reform and education.
But conflict arose when Ram Mohan Roy
wrote a book under the title The Precept of Jesus: The Guide To Peace And Happiness where he refuted the supernaturalism of Jesus
but admired his moral teachings. The missionaries not content with vindicating the excellence of their own doctrines, attacked all the Hindu
shastras as unreasonable, and also abused the Hindu
s in very offensive terms in Darpan dated 14 July 1821. Doubts were expressed concerning Vedantic
teaching about Maya
; the teaching of Nyaya
Shastra about God and creation; the dualism
of Samkhya
system; and the interpretation of sacrificial rites in the Mimamsa
Shastra. An outraged Ram Mohan Roy
, responded to the article in a forceful letter, only to find that his missive was completely ignored by the editor. Spurred by indignation and eager to counterbalance the Christian
missionary propaganda Roy started his own Brahminical Magazine
where he eventually published the letter.
edition of Samachar Darpan to provide a better communication with the people of Upper India, which did not have any Indian language newspaper as yet. Accordingly the Persian version called Akhbar-i-Serampur was published on 6 May 1826. The Government subsidized this newspaper with a monthly grant of one hundred and sixty rupees. But after two years the publication was discontinued to lack of sufficient patronage.
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...
weekly newspaper published by the Baptist Missionary Society
Baptist Missionary Society
rightBMS World Mission is a Christian missionary society founded by Baptists from England in 1792. It was originally called the Particular Baptist Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Amongst the Heathen, but for most of its life was known as the Baptist Missionary Society...
from the Baptist Mission Press at Serampore
Serampore
Serampore is a city and a municipality in Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority. It is a pre-colonial town on the right bank of the Hoogli River...
in early half of the 19th century. It is considered to be the first Indian language newspaper although some historians contend that the 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...
weekly Bengal Gazetti published by Ganga Kishore Bhattacharya
Ganga Kishore Bhattacharya
Ganga Kishore Bhattacharya was an Indian journalist, teacher and reformer. He was born in Bahara village, near Serampore. He started his career as a compositor in the Baptist Mission Press, Serampore. But later on he shifted to Calcutta...
had commenced publication first.
History
The success of the BengaliBengali 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...
monthly Digdarshan encouraged the missionaries of the Baptist Missionary Society
Baptist Missionary Society
rightBMS World Mission is a Christian missionary society founded by Baptists from England in 1792. It was originally called the Particular Baptist Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Amongst the Heathen, but for most of its life was known as the Baptist Missionary Society...
to embark on a new venture - the publication of a 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...
newspaper. The initiative was taken by Joshua Marshman and William Ward
William Ward (missionary)
William Ward was an English pioneer Baptist missionary, author, printer and translator. On 10 May 1802 he was married at Serampore to the widow of John Fountain, another missionary, by whom he left two daughters.-Early life:...
. At about the same time Harachandra Roy was also planning to start a 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...
newspaper from his own printing press at Chorebagan Steet in Calcutta. But before he could bring out his publication, the missionaries published the first issue of Samachar Darpan from the Baptist Mission Press at Serampore
Serampore
Serampore is a city and a municipality in Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority. It is a pre-colonial town on the right bank of the Hoogli River...
on May 23, 1818.
The newspaper was published every Saturday and was edited by John Clark Marshman
John Clark Marshman
John Clark Marshman, Indian scholar and philanthropist.Marshman was the first child of Joshua Marshman and Hannah Marshman and was born in August 1794 at Bristol, England where his father was at that time a schoolmaster, before later emigrating to India as a missionary...
. Its price was 4 anna
Indian anna
An Anna was a currency unit formerly used in India, equal to 1/16 rupee. It was subdivided into 4 Paise or 12 Pies . The term belonged to the Muslim monetary system...
s per copy. It contained news, both Indian and European, collected from various sources, particular from English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
newspapers. It also contained brief articles on various subjects. It carried some material of educational value which made it respected and popular among the educated people. Both in typography and contents the Samachar Darpan maintained a fairly good standard. Its coverage of local news was certainly better than any other English or Indian language newspaper. By reprinting news and comments from other 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...
newspapers, the Samachar Darpan enabled its readers to have acquaintance with the different sections of the Bengali
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
opinion.
The paper covered seven main beats: news of the government officials, government circular
Government circular
A Government circular is a written statement of government policy. It will often provide information, guidance, rules, and/or background information on legislative or procedural matters.-References:*...
s, news of the European countries other than Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, new events, birth, obituary and wedding, news of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, history of India and its scholarly books. It published useful information on the appointment of judges, collectors and so on.
From July 1829, the newspaper began to appear in both 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...
and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
; the 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...
and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
sections represented translation of each other. From January 1832, the Samachar Darpan began to be published twice a week - on Wednesday and Saturday. The price was raised from a rupee
Rupee
The rupee is the common name for the monetary unit of account in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Mauritius, Seychelles, Maldives, and formerly in Burma, and Afghanistan. Historically, the first currency called "rupee" was introduced in the 16th century...
per month to one and a half. However as a result of the hike in postage duty the twice a week publication was discontinued and it again became a weekly newspaper from 8 November 1834.
In December 1841 the missionaries decided to discontinue the publication that ended with the last issue of December. The official reason stated was that John Clark Marshman
John Clark Marshman
John Clark Marshman, Indian scholar and philanthropist.Marshman was the first child of Joshua Marshman and Hannah Marshman and was born in August 1794 at Bristol, England where his father was at that time a schoolmaster, before later emigrating to India as a missionary...
who was still the editor of the newspaper couldn't find sufficient time owing to other pre-occupations. But the actual reason was that the Samachar Darpan, though very successful as a newspaper, had failed miserably in its primary objective - propagation of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
.
Samachar Darpan had an uninterrupted career till the end of 1841, when the publication was discontinued. By 1836, the circulation had reached 400, which was much higher than any other Indian language publication.
Editorial Board
John Clark MarshmanJohn Clark Marshman
John Clark Marshman, Indian scholar and philanthropist.Marshman was the first child of Joshua Marshman and Hannah Marshman and was born in August 1794 at Bristol, England where his father was at that time a schoolmaster, before later emigrating to India as a missionary...
, was the official editor and the editorial staff included some of the most distinguished Bengali Hindu
Bengali Hindu
Bengali Hindus are an ethno-linguistic group, belonging to the Indo-Aryan family and are native to the Bengal region of the Indian Subcontinent. The Bengali Hindus along with other related ethno-linguistic groups constitute the vast majority of Hindus...
pundits of the time. Marshman's control over the newspaper was only nominal and he had to depend much on his editorial board. Once when the pundits took an extended leave during the Puja
Durga Puja
Durga puja ; দুর্গা পূজা,ଦୁର୍ଗା ପୂଜା,‘Worship of Durga’), also referred to as Durgotsava ; , is an annual Hindu festival in South Asia that celebrates worship of the Hindu goddess Durga. It refers to all the six days observed as Mahalaya, Shashthi, Maha Saptami, Maha Ashtami, Maha Navami and...
, Marshman had to postpone the publications as well and he apologized to the subscribers for the delay.
Government Attitude
The Government showed a favourable attitude towards the publication, because the primary objective of the publication was the propagation of ChristianityChristianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. The Government warned the missionaries that, "extra-ordinary precautions must be used not to give the natives cause for suspicion that the paper had been devised as an engine for undermining their religious opinions." The newspaper was allowed to be circulated through the post office at one-fourth of the usual charge. The general tone of the newspaper was moderate as compared to other missionary publications. It had to be so if the newspaper was to gain some patronage from the public.
The Government appreciated the usefulness of the newspaper as a medium of communication with the literate public.
Antihinduism
At the beginning, the HinduHindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
s were not friendly towards the Darpan. But as time passed their attitude changed towards the paper. Reformist and liberal Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
s, generally found in the Samachar Darpan a valuable ally because of its strong support in favour of social reform and education.
But conflict arose when Ram Mohan Roy
Ram Mohan Roy
Raja Ram Mohan Roy was an Indian religious, social, and educational reformer who challenged traditional Hindu culture and indicated the lines of progress for Indian society under British rule. He is sometimes called the father of modern India...
wrote a book under the title The Precept of Jesus: The Guide To Peace And Happiness where he refuted the supernaturalism of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
but admired his moral teachings. The missionaries not content with vindicating the excellence of their own doctrines, attacked all the Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
shastras as unreasonable, and also abused the Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
s in very offensive terms in Darpan dated 14 July 1821. Doubts were expressed concerning Vedantic
Vedanta
Vedānta was originally a word used in Hindu philosophy as a synonym for that part of the Veda texts known also as the Upanishads. The name is a morphophonological form of Veda-anta = "Veda-end" = "the appendix to the Vedic hymns." It is also speculated that "Vedānta" means "the purpose or goal...
teaching about Maya
Maya (illusion)
Maya , in Indian religions, has multiple meanings, usually quoted as "illusion", centered on the fact that we do not experience the environment itself but rather a projection of it, created by us. Maya is the principal deity that manifests, perpetuates and governs the illusion and dream of duality...
; the teaching of Nyaya
Nyaya
' is the name given to one of the six orthodox or astika schools of Hindu philosophy—specifically the school of logic...
Shastra about God and creation; the dualism
Dualism
Dualism denotes a state of two parts. The term 'dualism' was originally coined to denote co-eternal binary opposition, a meaning that is preserved in metaphysical and philosophical duality discourse but has been diluted in general or common usages. Dualism can refer to moral dualism, Dualism (from...
of Samkhya
Samkhya
Samkhya, also Sankhya, Sāṃkhya, or Sāṅkhya is one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy and classical Indian philosophy. Sage Kapila is traditionally considered as the founder of the Samkhya school, although no historical verification is possible...
system; and the interpretation of sacrificial rites in the Mimamsa
Mimamsa
' , a Sanskrit word meaning "investigation" , is the name of an astika school of Hindu philosophy whose primary enquiry is into the nature of dharma based on close hermeneutics of the Vedas...
Shastra. An outraged Ram Mohan Roy
Ram Mohan Roy
Raja Ram Mohan Roy was an Indian religious, social, and educational reformer who challenged traditional Hindu culture and indicated the lines of progress for Indian society under British rule. He is sometimes called the father of modern India...
, responded to the article in a forceful letter, only to find that his missive was completely ignored by the editor. Spurred by indignation and eager to counterbalance the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
missionary propaganda Roy started his own Brahminical Magazine
Brahminical Magazine
The Brahminical Magazine was an English language newspaper set up by Indian reformer Raja Rammohan Roy in the 1820s.-References:*...
where he eventually published the letter.
Persian Edition
In 1826, the Government requested the missionaries to bring out a PersianPersian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
edition of Samachar Darpan to provide a better communication with the people of Upper India, which did not have any Indian language newspaper as yet. Accordingly the Persian version called Akhbar-i-Serampur was published on 6 May 1826. The Government subsidized this newspaper with a monthly grant of one hundred and sixty rupees. But after two years the publication was discontinued to lack of sufficient patronage.