An Uncertain "Coming of the Book": Early Print Cultures in Colonial India

Author(s): Anindita Ghosh

Source: Book History, Vol. 6 (2003), pp. 23-55
Published by: Johns Hopkins University Press
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 AN UNCERTAIN
"COMING OF THE BOOK"

EarlyPrint Culturesin Colonial India

Anindita Ghosh

Much has been written about the history of the book in Europe and North
America, but, even now, comparatively little is known of the printed book
in the rest of the world. Such knowledge is essential not only to secure a
spatial balance but also to test generalizations offered in a specific Euro-
American cultural context.' India offers an interesting case study to help
redress this gap. Scholars have only just started to explore the rich and
complex sociocultural world of Indian print.2 But, as Robert Darnton urges
in preceding volumes of Book History, there is a pressing need for a wider
topographical survey of the nineteenth-century printing scene on the sub-
continent.3 The strong tradition of orality, the colonial context of print-
ing and publishing, the very dramatic and sudden coming-of-age of print-
all contribute to making print cultures in colonial India a significant theme
of study.
Printing in India dates to the sixteenth century, when the Portuguese
set up the first printing press on the subcontinent, but the indigenous print-
ing and publishing industry really took off in Bengal in the first half of the
nineteenth century. The purpose of this essay, however, is not to provide a
descriptive narrative account of printing in colonial India.4 Inspired by new

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24 BOOK HISTORY

questions posed by historiansof the book, this essay challengesreceived

wisdom about the printed book and the dominanceof "high"print in a
modernizingand reformingnineteenth-centuryBengal.At the same time,
it locates specific cultural contexts for the operation of print in India,
involving complex relationshipsbetween texts and readingpracticesthat
divergefrom more buoyanttheories about the printed book's coming-of-
age in Europe.My aim is not to explorepreciselocal and culturalcontexts
of particularbooks or even genres,but brieflyto sketchthe transitionfrom
a manuscriptworld to a printedworld.
The printedbook in Europe,as has beenestablishedin classicstudiesby
Eisensteinand Febvre,playeda centralrole in the diffusionof classicalliter-
atureand later in the propagationof Reformationdoctrines.It also helped
fix vernacularlanguagesand encouragedthe developmentof national lit-
eratures.sIn Asian and African contexts, BenedictAndersonhas further
demonstratedhow standardprintcultureswere powerfulforces in forging
national identities among the colonial intelligentsia,following from the
Europeanmodel.'
Studies of print in colonial India have continued to be influencedby
such writings,which focus on "high"literatureand perpetuateimages of
a Western-educatedindigenousintelligentsiaeffectingmodernizationand
reform.The enormousimpactof the "BengalRenaissance"has beendriven
home by implicitcomparisonwith the EuropeanRenaissance.7Significantly,
the Bengalilanguageitself is thoughtto haveevolvedinto a modern,refined
vernacular,crafting for the nation the earliest of her modern literatures.
Some alternativeapproachessuggestedin other regional contexts in very
recent times have underscoredthe importanceof vernacularmediationin
this cultural process. These studies explore the reception and "cultural
translation"of Westernmodernityin the Indianimagination,althoughthe
focus is still on moderngenresand "respectable"reading.8
Bengal emerges as the focus of this study for various reasons. It was
not only the seat of the first establishedvernacularpress' and the earliest
indigenousprinting and publishingindustryin the country,but also the
seedbedof Indiannationalism.Besides,in nineteenth-century Bengal,more
than anythingelse, the Bengalilanguageand its written literaturebecame
the object of intense scrutiny,surveillance,and debate among both the
people and their rulers.For the Britishbureaucracyit was a languagethat
had to be masteredfor administrativeconvenienceand for gaining access
to cruciallocal information.Butmore crucially,in the activeintellectualcli-
mate that had been stirredup following the close encounterwith the West,
Bengalibecamethe medium of self-expressionof a conscious and articu-
late urban literati. The canons of polite speech and literature that came to

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 PRINT CULTURES IN COLONIAL INDIA 25

dictate the culturallife of the educatedclasses in Bengalled to an intense

driveto cleanseand standardizean untidycolloquial,and to stamp it with
"authenticity"and "respectability."Borrowingfrom a classical Sanskrit
vocabulary,purgingthe naturalizedPerso-Arabicelement in Bengali,and
castinga net of VictorianPuritanismto rid the vernacularof its earthyrus-
ticity would, it was hoped, achievejust that.
But print languagesdo not merelyrepresentlanguagesof power,nor is
literaturea one-waymeans of control imposedby an elite on othergroups.
Studiesof early modern Europe,emergingin the wake of Eisensteinand
Febvre,have underlinedthe importanceof nonstandardvariants,oral cul-
tures, and specific reading practicesas creating spaces within which the
impact of standardprint could be resisted and reinterpreted.10 Especially
in the Indian context, any study of the impact of print would also have
to take into accountthe existenceof significantpreprintliteratecommuni-
ties, the continuingimportanceof oral culturesand spokenlanguages,and
vernacularcognitiveframeworksthat confrontedand negotiatedthe con-
tent and formatof the printedbook."1As we shall see, print did not neces-
sarilybring about a displacementand marginalizationof earlierprevalent
performativetraditions and communalreadingpractices:its impact as a
civilizingtool was considerablycompromised.
Despitesome substantialtheoreticalcritiquesof the "renaissance"model
in recenttimes, most studieshavecontinuedto focus exclusivelyon a dom-
inant print culture shaped by the educatedelite in Bengal. They usually
assumea linearcausallink betweenWesterneducation,control over print
technology,and disseminationof occidentalknowledge.12A notableexcep-
tion emergesin isolated studies by Sumit and Tanika Sarkar,which em-
phasizethe historicalimportanceof commercialvernacularpublicationsin
rethinkingthe impactof print on identityformationin nineteenth-century
Bengal.However,even while hinting at the presenceof large writer-reader
groupssurvivingon the edges of "decent"literarytastes, they fail to make
much of it, their work remainingcircumscribedby their more immediate
pursuits."
What needs to be appreciatedis that the collisions and negotiations
on the bordersbetweenoralityand printresultedin a productiveand vola-
tile mix, which found powerfuland prominentexpressionin the world of
Indiancommercialvernacularpublishing.The rapidspreadof literacyand
the availabilityof cheap print technologybred enormouspopularmarkets
for ephemeralgenresthat encapsulatedthe desiresof a readingpublic still
gearedto preprinttastes.14Elaborateeffortsby the educatedIndianelite to
"improve"literarystandardsand sanitizetastes remainedunrealizedin the
face of this unbridledand cacophonousprint revolution.'s

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z6 BOOK HISTORY

Seramporeand EarlyPublishing,
1800-1856
The earliestvernacularprintingpressesin Bengalwere run and controlled
by Europeans-missionaries and administrators.Missionariesneededprint-
ing for evangelicalpurposes. The East India Company'sadministration,
basedin Calcutta,neededBengaliprintedworks to codifycompanyregula-
tions, traincivil servantsat FortWilliamCollege,and providea wider audi-
ence for BritishOrientalistscholars.The few earlyBengaliprintingpresses
had, therefore,a merelyfunctionalrole. It was only later,when indigenous
enterprisejoinedwith a commercialmotive, that the printmarkettook off
in Bengal.
The earliestpressprovisionedwith Bengalitypeswas that of a bookseller,
known only as Andrews of Hooghly.16In 1778 it issued N. B. Halhed's
A Grammarof the BengalLanguage,the firstbook containingthe printed
form of the vernacular,17 thus bringingto fruitionthe efforts of a scholar
and governmentservant,CharlesWilkins.18However,it was writtenmainly
in Englishand containedonly some Bengaliextractsfrom manuscripttexts
by way of illustration.Between1785 and 1793 a seriesof officialtranslated
legal codes were issued from the HonourableCompany'sPress-the earli-
est fully printed books in the Bengalilanguage.19A few other European-
owned pressesprovisionedwith Bengalitypes were also operativeduring
this time,20but they were content to meet the limited demand for a few
grammars,vocabularies,and governmentpublications,with no intention
of being involvedwith the wider indigenousmarket.21
The foundation stone for vernacularprinting in Bengal was laid by
WilliamCarey,a BritishBaptistmissionary.In 1799, preventedby the East
IndiaCompanyfromestablishinga missionin Britishterritory,Carey,along
with other Baptists,formed a missionarysettlementat Seramporeunder
the protectionof the Danish government.In 800oo he set up a second-hand
English wooden press-the first Bengaliprintingpress-in a small room
of the mission building.22The firstpublicationissued from this pioneering
pressin Augustthat year:Carey'stranslationof Matthew'sGospel,printed
in 125 demi-printedpages.23With Carey'sappointmentas a teacher of
Bengaliin Fort WilliamCollegethat year,the missionjoined the efforts of
the college in printingand publishingsuitabletextbooks in the vernacular.
Soon four more modernEnglish-madeiron printingpresseswere imported
and installedin Serampore.24
During its lifetimethe Mission Pressproducedthousandsof tracts and
pamphletsin BengaliexpoundingChristianity,manyof themdistributedto
the people free of charge.25But Carey and the Serampore Press are better

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 PRINT CULTURESIN COLONIALINDIA 27

rememberedfor their contributions to vernaculartextbook literature.

Between i802 and 1852 books on diversesubjects-including history,leg-
end, and moral tales-as well as a grammarand a dictionarywere printed
for Fort William College.26The Calcutta School Book Society, set up in
1817 and committedto supplyingstandardschool texts at cheap rates to
elementaryvernacularschools, also had many of its publicationsprinted
at the Mission Press.The first Bengalinewspaper,SamacharDarpan, and
an informativemagazinefor young readers,Digdarshan,issued from the
SeramporePress beginningin 1818. The press was formallyclosed down
in 1837 when the mission ran heavilyinto debt.27But duringits short life
it revolutionizedthe world of Indianprint. Between18oo and 1832 alone
it issuedziz,ooo booksin fortydifferentlanguages.28
ThoughEuropeanshad initiatedprintingin Bengal,indigenousenter-
prisewas not far behind.ThepioneeringIndianproprietors of vernacular
presses were men who had been associated with Europeanventuresfor
sometimeas teachers,authors,andprintersof vernacular works.Having
gained some knowledge of the trade,theymovedon to establishtheirown
businesses.
Thefirstlocalentrepreneur wasBabuRam,who in 1807 set uphis San-
skritPressin Khidirpore to providetextbooksin Hindiand Sanskritto
FortWilliam.Butthe most dynamicpublisher,an individualgiftedwith
keenbusinessacumen,wasGangakishore Bhattacarya. Afterhavingworked
for some yearsas compositorat the Serampore Press,and for a longer
period with Ferris
and Company's he
Press,29 set uphisownprintingestab-
lishmentin Calcutta.In 1816 he publishedfor the firsttimethe Annada
Mangal,a verypopulartale by the eighteenth-century poet Bharatcandra,
whichsold well. Formorethansix yearshis BangalaPresscontinuedto
printvarioustextsthatbecameinstantcommercial successes.
Gangakishore's extraordinary successinducedothersto followhis lead.
In 1821themissionary newspaper theFriendof Indiareportedthat"within
the last ten yearsnativeworkswere beingprintedby the nativesthem-
selves"andsoldamongthe "Hindupopulation withastonishing rapidity."30
By1825 the samesource gave unofficial
estimates of morethanthirtythou-
sandvolumesin circulation.31

The Growthof Commercial

Publishingand
Battala, 1857-1900oo
An integralpartof the culturalregeneration
initiativethat scholarslater
came to style a "renaissance"were efforts by Britishand urban Bengali

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28 BOOK HISTORY

literatito create a new literaryprose languageand literature,and to dis-

tinguishit from earliertraditions,allegedlypolluted by rusticity,loose col-
loquial forms, and an abundantsexuality.This "civilizingdrive"reordered
ideas of the "obscene"and the "genteel"in the emergingprint culture
throughthe applicationof new standards.The hierarchiesso constructed
establisheda generaldividebetweenwrittenand spokenlanguage,and im-
ported a predominantlySanskriticvocabulary.32 This was a markeddepar-
ture from the folk languageof medievalBengal,which had been a highly
syncretisticone shared by Hindus and Muslims alike. It employed both
colloquialand Perso-Arabicwords and borrowedidioms freely from local
myths,beliefs,and the practicesof both communities.The reformistliterati
hoped the printedbook would modernizeand purifythe language.But to
what extent did this occur?
Although local entrepreneurshad launchedthe book trade in the first
half of the century,the commercialmarketreallytook off in the 186os. The
spreadof cheapprintingtechniquesand growth of the readingpubliccom-
bined to boost productionfrom mid-centuryon. The preprintbook trade
had been carriedon by scholarsand scribes,but as initiativeand enterprise
passed to more profit-orientedhands, cheap and popular print genres
swept the market.The heartof the book tradein Bengallay in the crowded
indigenousquartersof the "BlackTown" of Calcutta,to the north of the
city,where teemingsmallpressesin the Battalaarea, run by primarilyarti-
sanal castes, poured out books, pamphlets,and pictures for widespread
commercialconsumption.The spatial distributionof the differentpresses
was also very significant.While the Battalapressesturningout cheap liter-
aturewere clusteredtogetherin the northernpartof the city,more "respect-
able" ones, such as the TattvabodhiniPress and the SanskritPress, were
located furthersouth at Jorasankoand College Street,respectively.
In 1857 the governmentemployedthe ReverendJamesLong, a mission-
ary, scholar,and prominentBengali enthusiast,to survey the vernacular
publishing scene in Bengal. Long recorded 571,670 books printed for sale
in Calcutta that year. In 1853 this number had been only 303,275. Quite
obviously,the markethad grown enormouslywithin just four years.33Long
counted a total of forty-six Bengalipresses operatingin Calcuttaand its
suburbs.Amongthe largestgenresproducedwere "educationalliterature,"
almanacs, "mythology"and "Hinduism,"and "fiction."34While school
textbooks sold verywell and formeda staple of the trade,the pressesvied
with each other for producingthe latest in recreationalliterature.
Despitereformistdisapproval,these smallpressesdid a particularlybrisk
tradein ephemeralpamphletliterature- sensationalromancesand dramas,
erotic poems and songs, and the like-that enjoyed a large readership in
both urban and rural homes. It consisted mainly of Hindu mythological

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 PRINT CULTURES IN COLONIAL INDIA 29

tales revolvingaroundpopulardivinitieslike Shivaand Krishna,traditional

legendslike those of the throne of Vikramaditya,romanceslike Vidyasun-
dar and Chandrakanta,and love poetry such as Rasa Manjariand Rati
Bilas. Bharatchandra'sVidyasundar,an episode drawn from the medieval
court narrativeAnnada Mangal,issued simultaneouslyfrom three presses
in I829.35 In 1857 the Lakshmibilas Press on Chitpore Road sold out 3,750
copies of the work in just four months. Other romances, like Kamini
KumarandJivan Tara,also did a brisktrade.Long preferredto categorize
works of this kind as "erotic,"and he mentions"a hideouslyobscenebook
with its twenty most filthy pictures"selling thirty thousandcopies in just
twelve months.36As a staunchsupporterof literatureof the "improving"
variety,Long wanted to convincehimself that the flourishingmarkethad
disappearedonce an act prohibitingtheir sale was enforcedin 1856.7 But
the picturehe paints is far from realistic;and indeed he himself admitted
that his circulationfiguresmightnot be accurate,for such books were often
sold covertlyand not registeredofficially.
The government'sown recordsconfirmthat the 1857 patterncontinued
for decades.38Twentyyears later,in 1877, sixty-one Bengalipresseswere
operatingin Calcutta, with an additional sixteen mofussil, or suburban
presses.39The print runs for various listed genres remainedmore or less
the same (TableI).40The quarterlyBengalLibraryreports,cataloguingall
registeredpublicationsin the provincesince 1867, show that these genres
were being publishedwell into the 189os. While the averageprint runs of
more highbrowpresseslike the Tattvabodhinistruggledto reach the rock-
eting figuresof the Battalaestablishments,it was obvious that they were
no match. Between 1853 and 1867 the numberof biographiesand books
on science and travel publishedin Bengal stood at 56, 8, and 42 respec-
tively. Dramas, Hindu religious works, and Bengali tales for the same
period claimed the respective figures of zz25, 174, and 140.41
The appearanceof provincialpressesfrom the 186os on markedan im-
portant stage in the maturingof the print marketin Bengal.The adminis-
trativedivisionof Calcuttastill producedthe greatestnumberof books but
was followed closely by the Dacca, Presidency,Burdwan,and Rajshahi

Table 1. Printruns by genrein Bengali,1857 and 1877.

Printgenre 1857 1877
Almanacs 2,000-8,000 1,000-6,000
Educationalliterature 2,000-5,000 2,000-5,000
Pauranic/Mythology and Hinduism 1,000-3,000 2,000-3,000
Farces 1,000-2,000

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30 BOOK HISTORY

divisions,in that order.42

The BengalAdministrativeReportfor 1887 listed
eighty-ninepressesin the suburbs,includingmissionary,English,and gov-
ernmentpresses.43In terms of output, however,Calcuttasurpassedthem.
Anothermanifestationof the flourishingtrade, as JamesLong noted, was
a "decidedimprovement"in the paper and style of printing.By the mid-
nineteenthcenturythe majorityof Bengali books were being printed on
good paper with clear type, a great contrast with earlierdays of shoddy
wooden pressesusing poor paper.44
Economies of scale following from increasingprint runs and a com-
petitive market resulted in a significantlowering of prices during this
period. In 1825 a copy of Vidyasundaron very bad papercost one rupee.
In 1857 the same work on betterpaperwas only two annas. The price of
Shishubodh,a widely used school text, fell in price from eight annas in
18z5 to three pice in 1857.45(One rupee equalledsixteen annas or sixty-
four pice.) Even a 45o-page volume of the Annadamangal,printedby the
Purnachandradoy Press, cost only a rupee in 1857.46 In i8zz Bengali
textbooks published by the Mission Press, such as the Rajabali, Batris
Simhasan,and the firstvolumeof Carey'sDictionary,all cost betweenfour
and five rupees.47In 1857 schoolbookslike Varnaparichay,
Bodhodoy,and
Sishushikshacost a few annas.48Prices at Battala remainedlow for the
rest of the nineteenth century. Considering that the average daily wage of
a skilled laborerwas more than six annas in 1881, such works must have
been easily affordableto a wide audiencein variousnonlaboringsectors.49
Presses continued to serve as book depositories. Bookshops were still
rare and had only begun to be opened in the mid-i85os. But the market
networkedeffectivelywith its consumersthroughmore traditionalmeans.
This was made possible by the operation of peddlers or "hawkers," more
than two hundredof whom worked for the Calcuttapressesin 1857-58.
These crucialmessengersof the printedword carriedtheir wares into the
rural interior, selling books at fairs, festivals, and even roadside bazaars.
Many of them sold books seasonally,for eight months only, and devoted
the rainy season to the cultivationof their fields. They bought the books
wholesale and sold them in distant towns and villages, often at double the
usual price. James Long estimatedtheir monthly income at about six to
eight rupees. It was apparentlya common sight to see these men going
through the "native" parts of Calcutta and the adjacent towns with a pyra-
mid of books on theirheads.s0The importanceof these salesmenis revealed
in the VernacularLiteratureSociety reportof 1857-58, which noted that
their sales had risen dramatically, from 848 to 2,5Iz2 that year, following
the employmentof hawkers.s5
Clearly, the printed book had come of age in India. But, significantly,
it had not achieved the dream of the vernacular purists. Technologies of

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 PRINT CULTURES IN COLONIAL INDIA 31

modernityhad instead been harnessedby the commercialmarketto rein-

force preexistingcognitiveframeworks.The Battalapressesin the second
half of the centurywere doing a brisktradein cheap and popularprint. In
Battala, the heart of the vernacularmarket, production easily surpassed
the limitedoutput of the more "respectable"pressesin the city. Composed
in earthy and idiomatic colloquial, the works issuing from these presses
were mostly productsof preprintliterarytraditions,a far cry from stan-
dard "desirable"literature.To understandfully why the reformistsfailed,
and why the printedbook in Indiacould not carrythe messageof "enlight-
enment"as triumphantlyas it had done in Europe,we must considerthe
peculiarsituationthat early print encounteredin Bengal.

Preprint Reading and Writing Traditions

Print in Bengalmet a widely dispersedreadingand writing culture in the
nineteenth century. In contrast to Europe, where a high proportion of
the books printed before 1500 were in Latin and as such inaccessibleto
most vernacularreaders,printedBengaliliterature,when it appeared,pre-
sented itself to a significantlylarge literate audience.s2The scribalculture
in eighteenth-century Bengalflourishedamonga predominantlyhighercaste
and servicepopulationunderthe Mughal satellite regimesand after,with
some access for other groups,too. A wide network of Persianand Bengali
schools had existed in Bengalsince the seventeenthcentury.Pathshalasor
elementaryindigenousBengalivernacularschoolswerefrequentlymentioned
in Bengaliliteratureof the periods3and noted by Europeanstravelingin
Bengal.54Pathshalaeducationwas predominantlyvocational,consistingof
simplearithmetic,commercialand agriculturalaccounts,readingand writ-
ing knowledgeof Bengali,and rules of formalcorrespondence.
Ratherlittle is known about preprintculturesof readingand writing in
Bengal.ssThe generalunderstandingis that the higherHindu castes, Brah-
mins and Kshatriyas,dominatedthe literatescene.s6Traditionallyconstitut-
ing the personnelfor literateprofessions- priests,pundits,and physicians-
it is true that these high-caste groups used their knowledge of Bengali
and Persianto man the higherrungsof the governmentand smallerfeudal
establishments.In reality,however,accessto the writtenword was not lim-
ited to the high castes only.
Bengalipoems of the seventeenthand eighteenthcenturiessuggestthat
learningwas no longer confinedto the Brahmins.A thrivingmoney econ-
omy and tremendousopportunitiesprovidedto petty enterprisein land and
commerceactively encouragedknowledge of readingand writing among

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32 BOOK HISTORY

other social groupsas well. Anyonewith an elementaryvernaculareduca-

tion, irrespectiveof caste status,could participatein tradeand businessand
reapthe fruitsof the flourishingeighteenth-century economy."7 Educational
surveys conducted by British officials in the early part of the nineteenth
century found primarily non-Brahmin in
groups engaged impartingand
receivingelementary vernacular education at the pathshalas.58Among the
most learnedand literatelower-castegroups in eighteenth-centuryBengal
were the Vaishnavas,the rebelliousmedievalsect that opposed orthodox
Hinduism.59Vaishnavatols (centersfor higher learning)provided access
to all castes, and a lot of Vaishnavascholarsthemselvescame from non-
Brahmincaste groups.
Unlike writing in Sanskrit,writing in Bengaliwas open to all, irrespec-
tive of caste status, and inspired an active scribal culture. Almost any-
body who could write in an elegant hand was consideredeligible for the
job of a scribe. Dinesh ChandraSen, the late nineteenth-centuryBengali
scholar and manuscriptcollector,tracedsome fine eighteenth-centurycal-
ligraphyto individualsfromthe lowest sudra,the milkmanand washerman
castes."6Authorsas well often came from non-Brahmingroups.61Although
Vaishnavareligiousliteratureformsthe bulk of the vernacularmanuscripts
dating from this period, most of it was written in neitherBengalinor San-
skrit but in Brajabuli,a vibrantcolloquial that was a mixture of Bengali
and Maithili (the dialectof Mithila in Bihar,employinga dominantHindi
vocabulary).62
Interestingly,despitea sizeablepopulationthat could read and write in
the language,Bengaliin the eighteenthcenturydid not enjoy much promi-
nence or prestigecomparedto Persianand Sanskrit,which receivedofficial
patronageand inspireda lot of creativewriting within courtly and elite
circles. Sanskritwas the languageof Hindu priests and scholars,and the
mediumof instructionat tols. Knowledgeof Persian,the official language
of the Mughal administration,was requirednot only at the highest levels
of administrationand commercebut also played an importantsocial and
political role in preservingrank and hierarchythroughthe intricateculti-
vation of etiquetteamong the genteel.
Bengali,by contrast,was the languageof predominantlyfunctionallylit-
erate lesser clericaland commercialgroups, as well as the poor low-caste
masses. Apart from everydaycommercialtransactionsand recordkeeping
at the lower levels of the bureaucracy,the languagefound its most creative
writtenexpressionin poetry.The more demoticprofileof the Bengaliread-
ershipspawneda varietyof earthyliterarygenres,basedon rurallocal bal-
lads and religious cults. The texts were invariablyrhymed and adhered
closely to the spokenform of the language.Most such poetry of the period
was composed in payar (rhymed couplets of fourteen syllables) or tripadi

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 PRINT CULTURES IN COLONIAL INDIA 33

(a lengthenedform of the couplet being divisibleinto three parts) meters.

It was read or often sung to the accompanimentof musical instruments
in publicperformances.Panchalis,or rhythmiccoupletsset to music,based
on mythologicalthemes and favorite epics featuredprominentlyon such
occasions, as did a particularlypopular genre of religious literaturein
the form of lengthynarrativepoetry spun aroundlocal deities, known as
mangalkavyas.63
Some courtly writing cultures in Bengali existed, patronized by local
gentry, but the practice encouragedhigh-flown Sanskriticcompositions,
adheringclosely to classicalrulesof meter,rhetoric,and grammar,a far cry
from the vibrant, living Bengaliof the more folkish genres. Occasionally
the appeal of some of this Sanskriticliteraturerenderedit into more com-
mon domainsthroughthe handsof lesserauthors.Thusone of the episodes
of Annada Mangal (1752) by Bharatchandra,the court poet of Krishna
Chandra,Raja of Nadia, describingthe eponymousromanceof Vidyaand
Sundar,was a classicthat inspiredmany popularcommercialversionsdur-
ing the later print age.
But the written word was not availableonly to literate audiences.Nor
was it limited by the personalizedinterpretationof a few privilegedindi-
viduals. It was accessibleto even wider illiterategroups through commu-
nitarianceremonialreadingsessionsand local performancetraditions.The
ritualbarringof certaincastes from readingpubliclyand from readingreli-
gious texts added to the strengthof oral culturesin contemporaryBengal
and forged intrinsic relationshipsbetween written texts and the spoken
word.
Kathakatas,or collectivenarrativesessions,wherereligiousworks based
on Hindu religious epics and mythology were read out by professional
Brahminnarrators,or kathaks,were in greatdemandduringthe periodand
survivedas a legacy well into the print age.64The texts were Brahmanical
in spirit and content, and almost invariablydone in an ornate style of
composition, with resoundingalliteration and elaborate metaphor.Not
surprisingly,the reading event was divided into two sessions-morning
and afternoon.In the morningthe readermerelyreadfrom old tatteredvol-
umes, and sometimesmore primitivewooden tablets, while in the after-
noon what had been read earlier was explained in simple Bengali. The
kathak retold the existing story, interspersingthe narrativewith suitable
songs, poems, populartales, and moral lessons, heighteningthe experience
of listeners.
The kathakssat undera small awningerectedupon a vacant space, and
pouredout, sometimesfor hourstogether,familiartales fromthe Ramayana
and Mahabharata.WilliamWard,the missionaryfrom Serampore,graph-
ically describes a typical kathakata session hosted by a householder on an

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34 BOOK HISTORY

auspiciousoccasion, although the village chandi-mandap(the communal

worshippingpavilion),or even the shadeof the roadsidebanyantree, could
provide alternativevenues.

A shed covered with thatch and open all sides, is prepared,suffi-

ciently large, if the ceremonybe on a grand scale, to accommodate
four or five thousandpeople. At one end, a place ratherelevatedis
preparedfor the person who is to read;and the other end, if there
be a portico to the house, is enclosedby a curtain,from whence the
women hear and peep through crevices. Mats are spread for the
people to sit on, the bramhunsin one place, and the kayusthusin
another,and the shoodrusin another.On the appointedday all take
their places.... The reader (Pathuku) ... sits on the elevated seat ...
(and aftera briefceremony,about9 or io in the morning)beginsto
read.... The firstday they sit aboutan hour;but on succeedingdays
they begin at seven and continue till twelve; and in the afternoon
meet again, when the meaningof what was read in the forenoonin
Sungskritu is ... given in Bengalee, by the Kuthuku, or speaker; who
takes the seat of the Pathuku.... The whole is closed at dusk, when
the people retire, and converseupon what they have heard. This
method is pursuedfrom day to day till the book is finished.6s

The kathakata events provided a focal point to community living. The

moral authorityaccordedto the narratorand the deep faith of the attend-
ing audiencegave him an extremelyinvolvedrole. The audienceevidently
gave their full and implicit belief to the tales related, for, as a contempo-
raryobserved,"frequentlythe whole crowd makessome suddenimpulsive
gesture,illustrativeof the progressof the story."66Althoughmany among
the lower castes were literateand could read, customarilythey would join
the illiteratelowerclassesat thesesessions.Youngand old, men andwomen,
would flock every day to such gatherings,which sometimescontinuedfor
months on end.67One study rightlyunderlinesthe participatorynatureof
kathakatasessions. Everyonehad a share:the patrons,the performer,and
the listeners were all expected to play their respectiveparts.68This was
undoubtedlyan extraordinarycelebrationof sharedemotionsand listening
experiences,cementingthe communityand encouragingpiety, virtue, and
conformity.
The oral traversedthe domain of the written throughother significant
routes as well. Performancesbased on the mangal kavya and panchali
texts offered multifariouspoints of interventionand negotiation between
the written text and its audience. These religious ballads celebrating the
various forms of the goddess Shakti-Manasa the snake goddess, Sitala the

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 PRINT CULTURES IN COLONIAL INDIA 35

goddessof feverand smallpox,Chandi,and others69 - seem to have sprung

from the oral traditionsof nomadiclower castes, which then becamegrad-
ually sanskritizedover time.70As EdwardDimock points out, the mangal
kavya poems were simultaneouslypart of the written and oral traditions
and thus continuedto be recited duringworship and festive gatherings.71
Whilesome of themwere sanitizedand drawninto Brahmanicalcircles,the
popular performancetraditioncontinuedto thrive and almost invariably
escapedfixation by writing.
In their chosen themes and anecdotes,the balladsvividly reflecta syn-
cretic folk culture with faithful representationsof common beliefs and
practices,ruralidioms and lifestyles.Writingat the end of the eighteenth
century,FrancisBuchanan-Hamiltondiscoveredat least 350 such perform-
ing groups.The songstersusuallyconsistedof aboutsevenor eightpersons,
led by a chief or sardar.Apart from the leaderthere were about six assis-
tants with anklets tied to their feet, who sang and danced at the same
time, clappinga pair of cymbals.Two others accompaniedon the drum.72
In addition to singing the praises of more establishedgods in the Hindu
pantheon, like Krishnaand Shiva, they dedicatedtheir music to various
local cults. Buchanan-Hamiltonalso mentions akras, or "strollingmusi-
cians," singinghymns and love songs to the rich.73
Prolificwritten and orally sharedvernacularliteraryculturesin Bengal
from the mid-sixteenthcenturyon thus had alreadyestablishedcleartastes
and preferencesin readingwhen the printed book arrivedin the region.
The poor sociopoliticaland culturalstatus of the languageencouragedan
unrestricted,fecund,and highlyproductive(if "lowly")life outsidenarrow
literarycircles,while a lack of ritualproscriptionssurroundingits reading
and writing ensuredthe widest possible circulation.The most common of
these genresexisted as rhymedpoetry-read and performed-composed in
vibrantcolloquialand relatingto the life of ordinarypeople. Suchsociolo-
gies (and physiologies)of readingcould not just disappearwith the advent
of print. Even though the fate of the vernacularin the nineteenthcentury
would ultimatelydraw it along completely differentlines, residuesof the
preprintera were to continueto impingeon the world of Bengaliprintwell
into the early twentiethcentury.

The Productsof the PrintAge:

Old Readership,New Technologies
In 18zz the FriendoflIndia, a missionarynewspaper,publishedthe follow-
ing reportfrom a correspondent:

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36 BOOKHISTORY

I am glad to perceive,that everydaythe natives are increasingin

their sales of native books: there are now in and near the city of
Moorshedabaadno less than four walking booksellersthat I know
of. In speakingto one last week, he informedme, that upon an aver-
age he sold to the amountof 30 Rupeesper month. Two of the four
are in the employ of a native of Calcutta,the other two are selling
for anothernative, who has establisheda press near Agrudeep....
The books sold by these, of course,are greattrash, but I supposea
press has never yet been introducedamong a people without some
alloy.74

JamesLong estimatedin 1854 that not less than z million books had been
issued over the previousten years.7sEvengiven that this is an unsubstan-
tiated figure,thereis no denyingthat by mid-centuryprintin variousforms
had made remarkableinroadsinto the Bengaliculturalworld, reachinga
largeraudiencethan manuscriptsever could.
The printing revolution and its impact on the reading audiencemust
not be exaggerated,however.The printedbook was the directheir of the
manuscriptand preservedon many occasionsits formats,genres,and uses.
It perpetuated,in the same forms but with greatly increasedcirculation,
the genresestablishedby manuscripts.RogerChartier'spioneeringresearch
has gone a long way in establishinglines of continuitybetweenthe worlds
of print and manuscriptin early modern Europe.76Much the same could
be said for nineteenth-centuryBengal. Although print literaturereached
large audiences,its spreadwas limited in importantways: it was in effect
a phasedphenomenon.As elsewherein India,strongtraditionsof oral pre-
print culturessurvivedin Bengalwell into the nineteenthcentury.77 Avail-
ability of multiplecopies of the same work did not inevitablyprompt the
demiseof communalreading.Besides,as in Europe,manuscriptpublication
continuedto flourishalongsideprintingfor a long time. In 182z the Ser-
amporeCollegeLibraryhousedforty-nineBengalimanuscripts,as opposed
to only twenty-eightprintedBengalibooks.78
Unlikethe Urdupressesin northIndiaand the Bengalipressesof Dacca,
which startedby publishingnewspapers,the vernacularpressesin Calcutta
were created to cater primarilyto the demand for books.79Manuscript
texts mostly of a religiousand mythologicalnaturewere alreadyquitepop-
ular in Bengalbeforeprint arrivedon the scene. Therefore,for the earliest
commercialprinters,the safestthingto publishwas the book. Gangakishor
Bhattacharyaof the BangalaPresshad been quick to see this opportunity,
and he made a successfulspeculationwhen he printedAnnadaMangalin
1816. The new vernacular presses simply built upon this preprint reader-
ship. As a correspondent for the Friend of India complained in i8z2I, "we

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 PRINT CULTURESIN COLONIALINDIA 37

ought not to forget that the great body of the people have nothing to feed
on for ages, but the tales of lewd gods and goddesses.... It was not to be
expectedthen that a taste for them shoulddisappearin the immediaterise
of a native press.""8What was dismissedas "trash"actually formed the
bulk of this early vernacularprint literature.An examinationof the shift-
ing production figures of Bengali print genres over the first half of the
centuryshow that "scripturesand mythologies"consistentlyclaimeda fair
share of total productionfor the entire period. Significantly,reprintsfar
outnumberedoriginaleditions.81
In their choice of texts, narrativestrategies,and typographicalexperi-
ments, the early book producers-authors and printers-therefore con-
formed to preprinttastes. As profit-orientedentrepreneursthis was their
obvious preference,but it had importantconsequencesfor the history of
the book in Bengal-the impactof the manuscriptpermeatingalmostevery
sphereof printingand composing.As the earliestprintersfaced with the
challenge of creating the widest possible readershipfor their vernacular
Christiantracts, missionariespioneered efforts to create a standardized
printed Bengalialphabet.82The earliesttypecastswere large and adhered
closely to the writtenscript,apparentlybased on the handwritingof a Fort
William scribe.83While larger types meant more expense because of the
bulk, they allowed for an easier transitionfrom script to print,84and the
SeramporeBaptistshad to choose betweenthe cost of productionand read-
ers' convenience.Aftera seriesof experiments,by 183 , with their seventh
edition of the New Testamentand the eighth of the Gospels, they evolved
a reducedtypefacethat allowedfor a pocket duodecimoversionof the New
Testament.However,the earlierproblempersisted."Whilethese reduced
types bring... both the Old and New Testamentinto a volumeso portable
and so well suited to the young among the populationof Bengal ... there
are many ... who cannot read this small type with pleasure, and who,
accustomedfrom childhoodto a very largecharacter... will neverbe able
to enjoy the perusal of a book in this smaller print.""8For their sake a
largertype was prepared,which, coupled with more effectiveeconomy of
space, reducedthe bulk.
A major difficultywith the tracts was the literarylanguage,narrative
format, and idiom in which they were composed.As most of these works
were written with the help of learned Sanskritpundits, it was all but
inevitablethat they should leave the mark of their own scholarshipon the
language.The Bengaliencounteredby preprintliterateaudiencesin popu-
lar manuscripttexts, by contrast,was a variationof the ordinaryspoken
languageof the people. This was the literarymediumthat took the form
of poetry in Vaishnava religious literature and the kavyas and panchalis of
popular Hinduism, as well as the form of prose in ordinary daily letters,

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38 BOOK HISTORY

deeds, and account ledgers. Native speakersof the language within the
Seramporeestablishmentitself noted the hiatus. As Bengalimissionaries,
the Revs. P. K. Chatterjeeand B. C. Choudhuryobserved:"Almostevery
sentence of the BengaliBible grates upon a Bengaliear. And the book is
perfectlyunreadable.... In preachingto my countrymenI have been often
obliged to rendera text into properBengali,in orderto make it intelligi-
ble and agreeableto them."86They felt that the translationswere "un-
idiomatic" in their rendering,so much so that they repelled readers.In
fact, Bengalishad coined a term for this kind of language:"Christianor
Englishman'sBengali."
Not only was the languageof the early Bengaliprinted works issuing
from Seramporeand Calcuttaformalizedbeyondfamiliarity,the prose for-
mat itselfwas comparativelynew to the vernacularreader.The limitedprose
used in administrativedocuments during the manuscriptera had served
more functionalthan literaryneeds.UnderEuropeaninfluence,and for the
first time pressedinto the serviceof literature,the new Bengaliprose was
underconsiderablestress.The introductionof the Westernsystemof punctu-
ation, paragraphs,and versificationthrew the readerinto confusion.In the
case of the Seramporepublications,the problemwas intensifiedby the mis-
sionaryfervorto stick as far as possibleto the originalword of the Bible.
As was pointed out in the CalcuttaLiteraryGazettein 1830, the tendency
to follow closelythe Englishsyntaxand idiom madefor a cumbrousstyle.87
As early as 1802 William Ward'sjournal refers to a letter by a Hindu
gentlemanof Calcuttawho, having read a Bengalitranslation,could not
on many occasions comprehendthe intention of the author.He therefore
beggedWardto send him a copy of the originalwork to clearhis doubts.88
Tracts written by unlearnednative preachersand assistants were far
more popular.The hymnsof Ram Basuand Krishno,and PetumberSingh's
tracts, includingGood Advice, TheEnlightener,and the verseSureRefuge,
were greatfavoriteswith the people.89Psalms,hymns,and verseswere pre-
ferredto prose writings. Ram Basu had seen the tremendouspossibilities
of translatingthe Bible in verse form in the popular meter,payar,in an
1803 letter to John Rylandof the BaptistMissionarySocietyin England.9a
But the projectremainedunrealized,as the missionarieschose the "more
literary"prose form for this purpose.The accountsof WilliamCareyand
others at Seramporeattest to the tremendouspopularityof Ram Basu's
compositions.In a letterto Birminghamin 1795, Careywrote: "Thename
of JesusChristis no longerstrangein this neighbourhood,and Moonshee's
[Ram Basu's]hymn is often sung."91In a letter to Ryland the following
year,anotherBaptistmissionaryin Bengal,who was also an entrepreneur,
reported the workers at his indigo factory humming the same hymn as they
went about their work.92

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 PRINT CULTURESIN COLONIALINDIA 39

Illustrationswere indispensableto the early printed works, and local

artists in and around Calcutta were much in demand for adorningthe
bland printed pages with wood and metal engravings.The plates were
expensive,as the artist himself performedall the tasks from designingto
engraving,and thereforethey were limited in number,but they created a
powerful and pleasing diversionfor the uninitiatedreader.93 The artisans
worked primarilywith woodblocks,which were well suited to small book
illustrations.The earliest illustratedBengali book, the Annada Mangal,
printedand publishedby GangakishoreBhattacaryain 1816, includedsix
crude pictures.94One of the earliest Bengaliperiodicalsto use wood en-
gravingswas the ReverendJohn Lawson'spictorial monthly journal for
schoolchildren,Pasvabali,founded in i8zz.9s Though supposed to have
drawnmost of the figureshimself,Lawsonis known to have worked with
local artisansin Serampore.Woodengraversalso workedwith metalblocks,
which producedlonger lasting and finer prints. Printswith religious and
mythologicalthemes were in such high demandthat they were even sold
separately.
The imagesfollowed traditionalpatternsof iconography,and often were
faithfulreplicasof manuscriptillustrations.Pictorialrhetoricwas deployed
to convey simplemoralisticmessagesand religiousinstructions,or to rein-
force a familiarstoryline.In either case, the representationswere only an
extension of, and mostly worked in conjunctionwith, the written text.'9
Their physical proximity in the layout of the book prompted uncompli-
cated associationsbetweenwriting and image particularlysuited to young
or unskilledreaders.Such partial foreclosingof the text with straightfor-
ward pictorialmessagescan be encounteredin the earliestpublicationsof
the Bengalipress.
Not much is known about the artists and engraversin the trade. They
were drawn mostly from the communityof metalworkersand traditional
artisans,who lived in denselypopulatedcolonies in the northernparts of
the city, around the booming book mart of Battala. Traditionallysuch
familieswould have producedetchingsto be worked on manuscriptsand
textiles, but in nineteenth-centuryCalcuttathey offeredtheirservicesto the
entrepreneursof the printingand publishingindustry.It can be surmised,
however,that the world of the engraverslay enmeshedin the feudal, con-
servativevalues of Hindu society. Living in an alien city environment,
and drawingthemselvesinto tightly knit caste colonies with strong village
and clan affiliations,they remainedimperviousto the perceivedlures of
the loose urbanmoral order.Contemporaryrealitiesintrudeinto the prints
(in the form of Europeandress and furnitureitems) but combine uneasily
and unrealisticallywith traditionalreligiousiconography.In a traditional
almanac illustrationKartik, the Hindu god of artisans,wears European

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40 BOOK
HISTORY

headgear(Fig. i).97The wood and metal imprintssharednot only a picto-

rial but also a social and moral vocabularybased on pastoral notions of
vice and virtue,invokingtraditionalpictorialmetaphorsto drivehome the
message. Often the artist'sconceptualizationof the divine figurewas in
accordancewith the emergingsymbols of power and authorityin British
India. Thus the infamous villain from The Mahabbarata,Dushmashan,
is representedas a distinctlyEuropeansoldier draggingDraupadiby the
hair,in a depictionof the well-known "Vastraharan" scene from that epic
(Fig. z).
Not only was earlyprintculturedominatedby the cultureof the image,
it was also closely linked to speech. While colonialistsprided themselves
on having introducedthe index and the title page to the vernaculartext,
the indigenoustrade was far more cautious." Proprietorsof commercial
pressesin nineteenth-century Calcuttawere, firstand foremost,astutebusi-
nessmenwho caredmoreaboutconsumerneedsthanproprietyin literature.
The booming Battalamarket in dramas,novels, and songs and narrative
poetry in rhymed couplets bears witness to their successfulspeculation.
Besides,drawnto a largeextent fromthe same social class as theirtargeted
audience,such printer-publishers were willing to panderto the less pedan-
tic preferencesof their readers.
For first-generationreadersof print,the simplelanguageof literatureset
out in the form of dialogueswas verywelcome.As noted earlier,the change
from a listening, sharingoral cultureto a private, silent mode of reading
was sometimes abrupt and stifling. The participatoryand expositional
forms of narrationof the traditionof kathakata,the challengeand coun-
terchallengeformats of the kobi-combats,99and the modes of addressing
the standingspectatorsinherentin narrativestructuresof panchalishad all
allowed a lively and active role for the preprintaudience.Lineardevelop-
ment of narrative,objectivity,and clarityof expression-the generalrules
of written style-were not going to appeal to such readers.Commercial
pressesthereforetook care to preserveenclavesof oral traditionwithin the
format of the standardprose narrative.The oral traditionshows through
in the imitationof speechpatternsin the narratives,the first-personautho-
rial voice, the abundanceof conversationaldidacticmessagesand explana-
tory comment,as well as the preservationof folk motifs and theirvariants.
Dramasbasedon pseudohistorical,mythological,and social themeswere
particularlysuccessfulin mobilizing such narrativetechniques,and they
consequentlyenjoyeda largereadingpopulation.The dramaticform, with
its easy conversationalstyle, numeroussongs, and simple story line, made
the process of transitionto print more comfortablefor the initiate. C. W.
Bolton, an undersecretary to the government of Bengal, found that there
were sixty dramas published in 1878 based on topics connected with Hindu

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 :XX
...........

.........

......... .
....... .
......... ................
i~!Fi........

Figurei. "KartikFestival"by Sri KrishnaChandraKarmakar(Panjika

1842-43).

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 ... ......

:T.:

AE g

i -' lw~i

wXY:

"M: ::-X:
i:i;iiii~'i~i--iii
i--
i:-i~a-i-?????????

A a:xi :::-:
41j: _::i~ X
8ls~~e~iii~iii
XY
?~ ..
:_i-iiai~'~ar .7

Figure 2. "Draupadi Being Disrobed by Dushmasan" (colored woodcut

c. I889), private collection.

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 PRINT CULTURESIN COLONIALINDIA 43

mythology,two on Romeo andJuliet,and eighteenon the abusesprevalent

in nativesociety,while the remainingfew were basedon favoriteromances
and legends.Some were concernedwith events and issuescenteredon Cal-
cutta. Happeningsaffectingthe lives of ordinarycity dwellers,such as the
scare of worms in edible fish in 1875, the illuminationof the Howrah
bridgein 1879, the laying of the tramwayin 188o, as well as more excit-
ing events like public scandals,all providedreadymaterialfor authorsout
to make quick money. As Bolton noted diligently in his report, "Any
importantpublic incidentis at once seized upon and made the subjectfor
a drama."100
Social farces-popular one- or two-act skits composedin a coarse col-
loquial, dwelling on everydaysocial problems and contemporarymoral
decadence- suddenlysweptthe printmarketin the mid-nineteenthcentury.
They rose from sixty-fourand sixty-threetitles in 1876 and 1877, respec-
tively, to 104 in 1878.101 Those that were received well would almost
invariablyrun into two or three editionswith averageprint runs of one to
two thousand.The Bengal Cataloguedescribedthem as "little books ...
humorous,and some very coarse."The generalformatof these farceswas
fairly simple. Characterswere few and drawnfrom daily life, and catego-
rized quite visibly as virtuous or nonvirtuous.The offenderswere invari-
ablymembersof the more "respectable"echelons,while the earthywisdom
of common folk voiced a stringentcritiqueof their deplorablebehavior.
But the genre had not been spun out of nothing, nor was its phenome-
nal appealbased on seeminglysuperficiallaughter.The ribaldryand irrev-
erencetowardsocial superiorsand the bawdyhumorevidentin suchworks
were drawnfrom preexistingtraditions.A vociferousoral cultureof abu-
sive folk songs and lampooningpantomimes,built on pungentlower-order
hatredof successfulurbanites,thrivedin the streetsof Calcuttain the first
half of the century.102Basicto all of them was mockinglaughter,sometimes
light-hearted but often derisiveand even hostile. Suchlivelyimagesof daily
life, and the insultsand humorderivedfromthem,were formalizedthrough
their incorporationinto the genre of the social farces printed at Battala
from the 186os on.
Poetry and songs constitutedthe bulk of the Battalatrade, and this is
where manuscripttraditionsleft their clearest trail. While contemporary
elite Bengali poets like MadhusudanDutt experimentedwith the more
complicatedrhymingpatternsof the sonnet,payar,the preferredmeter for
much traditionalBengalipoetry,was the favorite of Battala'scomposers.
The rhythmiccouplets were harnessedto the serviceof religiousand love
poetry alike, and renderedin a catchy sing-songmannerwhen read aloud
to a gatheredaudience.
Songs, whereverpossible, made cameo appearancesin prose works to

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44 BOOK HISTORY

spice up a story line or simply to break the monotony of the narrative

format. They could be used ratherimaginativelyto emphasizea point or
revealthe deepestemotionsof the charactersinvolved.Butmoreoften than
not their inclusion was rather arbitrary,following no standardrules of
grammarand sometimes entirely unconnectedwith the main plot. The
readersdid not seem to mind this, judgingby the author'santicipationof
activeinvolvementon theirpart.Elaborateinstructionsregardingthe mood
(raga) and rhythm (tala) in which the song should be sung invariably
accompaniedevery musicalpiece in the text. Evidentlythis was intended
for not just the lead singer,as chorusesfrequentlyintervenedto allow for
more demoticrenderingof the narrative.Readersand/or listenerswerethus
graftedonto the text, makingreadingthe printedword a highlyparticipa-
tory experience.Perhapsthesetexts weremost effectivewhen sungand read
in collectivegatherings.So naturalizeddid the structuraljuxtapositionof
song and prose becomethat, from the mid-century,they appearas organic
to contemporaryliterature,deployedwith great flair in a wide range of
prose genres.
Ironically,then, the new printtechnology,insteadof fixingformats,gen-
res, and languages,offeredopportunitiesfor the interplayof many forms.
Most noticeably,print sustained earlier reading and writing traditions.
Not only did manuscriptliteraturecontinueto supplythe bulk of the new
printedrepertoire,it fertilizedthe new mediumto generatefresh forms of
populargenres-racy skits, dramas,and novellas--thatdrewon the spoken
word and preprintperformancecontexts. Even as reformersstruggledto
settle these unrulyhappeningsby feverishlymappingthem in imaginarylit-
erarycartographies,flexible forms of circulationand consumptionof the
printedbook enabledthe continuoussubversionof suchprojects.The image
of print in a colonial context-as a technologyof power clampingits vise-
like grip on the colonizedimagination- standsconsiderablycompromised
in the light of such evidence,promptingus to reconsiderthe tremendous
vigor and energyof this print culture.'3

The Reception of the Printed Book and

Modernity: A Failed Project?
One of the chief reasons why the book in colonial Bengal failed to dis-
seminate a civilizingmessagewas the continuingimportanceof oral and
preprinttraditionsthat preventedthe printedtext from being fixed in cer-
tain ways. Sharedimagination,collectiveaspirations,and multiplereading
practices mingled in complex ways to encourage differentiated uses and

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 PRINT CULTURES IN COLONIAL INDIA 45

multipleappropriations of the samematerialobjectsandideas.Underthe

circumstances, messageof the printedtext couldonly havebeenless
the
than totallyacculturating. RogerChartier'sobservationsin the context
of the usesof printin earlymodernFranceare helpfulhere,althoughits
morespecific"cultural uses"in Indiawerequitedifferent.As he comments
while discussingthe efficacyof the written text vis-ai-visits orally (ritually
or otherwise)renderedform: "Onceproposed,these models and messages
were accepted by adjustingthem, divertingthem to other purposes, and
even resisting them-all of which demonstratesthe singularityof each
instanceof appropriation."104
Undoubtedly, printappearedas a difficultmediumto manyreadersat
first.EarlyNativeSchoolReportstestifyto thehaltingrecognition of printed
texts amongBengalis:"Asthey havepreviouslyneverseen anythingbut
manuscript, andthatpossiblyin smallquantityas well as ill written,it is
not easyto finda manwho canreadthe printedcharacter withanyreadi-
ness,notwithstanding its superiorclearnessandregularity."10SIn 18i8-19
thevernacular indigenous schoolsof Calcuttawere usingonlymanuscripts
of well-readpoeticalcompositions. The SchoolBookSocietyoftenfound
themreluctantto switchto printedworks:of the forty-twoschoolsthat
offereda freesupplyof the Society'spublications, only seventeenreadily
accepted."16 Thefirstofficialsurveyof vernacular educationin Bengal,by
WilliamAdam,too reportedthepredominant useof manuscripts in schools
in Murshidabad, alongwith a few printedtexts. One teacher,previously
in the employment of a Europeanwho usedto supporta Bengalischool,
retainedonlya fewprintedbooksthatwere"preserved as curiosities,or as
heirloomsto be admired,not used."107 Muchof theteachingat thenative
schoolswas stillconductedorallyandcommittedto memory.It consisted
mostlyof hymnsandslokas(Sanskrit chantsbasedon ancientHindutexts),
rulesof grammar andarithmetic, andreligioustales.Apparently evenmanu-
script textswere unknown in someschools,where scholars learned through
oraldictation.All thatAdamcameacrossin Natoreschoolsin 1836 were
a coupleof manuscripts consistingof "doggerels of the lowestdescription
evenamongstBengalicompositions." "Respecting the natureandamount
of the instructionreceived[in Bengalischools],"he continued,"thefirst
factto be mentionedis thattheuseof printedbooksin thenativelanguage
appearshithertoto havebeenalmostwhollyunknownto thenativesof this
district,...as faras I couldascertain, notoneof theschoolmasters hadever
seena printedbook,-those whichI presentedto themfromthe Calcutta
SchoolBookSociety,beingviewedmoreas curiositiesthanas instruments
of knowledge."'108
Deep-seatedcaste prejudiceson the part of the Brahminreaderswere
partlyresponsible.Technologyinvolvedin the printingprocesswas thought

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46 BOOK HISTORY

to desanctifythe sacredword of the ancient scriptures,becauseof lower-

caste involvementin the industry.Smithsand artisanspreparingtypefaces
and metal imprintswere seen as rituallypollutingthe writtenword. So real
was this fear that an advertisementfor a printedBengalireligiouswork in
the i8zos had to assure its potential readersthat its typefaces had been
cleansed in holy Gangeswater, and Brahminshad been employedfor the
printingjob to ensurethe "purity"of the work.109Therewere more vested
interests at work. The missionaryattempts to set up vernacularschools
based on EuropeanChristianprinciplesalarmedand angeredmany of the
old teachersof the traditionalschools. But it was not merelythe advance
of Christendomthat seemedthreatening.In many ways the printedword
was seen as muchmore sinister.The popularityof the newerschools where
gratuitous education based on printed texts was imparted meant that
the pathshalaswere falling into disuse. Desperatepetitions requestingthe
grantingof pensionsor maintenanceallowancefor the indigenouslearning
establishmentsflowed into the governmentalseat in Calcuttafrom all over
Bengal. The hostility of such displacedand unemployedteacherswas so
intense that on a few occasionsit turnedviolent.110
When print arrivedin Bengal in i800, it confronted a predominantly
oral culture. Reading aloud from manuscripttexts in rural Bengal was
still a common practicein the nineteenthcentury.MahendranathDutta, a
retired engineer in a governmentdepartment,recalled in his childhood
memoirsthat such readingsessionswere a sourceof moral inspirationand
guidance for one and all. "A lot of people came for such sessions, from
the Brahminpunditto the lowest of castes such as the cobblerand hadi. It
was open to all. One good thing derivingof these eventswas the fact that
it bred a sense of morals amongstthe audience.The impactwas the same
on all. There was no differencebetween rich and poor, learnedand igno-
rant.The idea of the 'good' and 'bad'was the samefor everyone."'11 Nabin
Senrememberedhow his own father,readingout the Manasapunthi (man-
uscript),was able to move the audienceto tears, especiallythe women.112
Othermemoirsrecallthat young school studentscommonlyexercisedtheir
readingprowessin such sessions.11'Readingaloud to a group on informal
and secular occasions was also widely prevalent among the lower and
middle orders, especiallyin villages. Even with the coming of the book,
personalizedreadingin privateby no means exhaustedthe possible use of
the printed text. Silent readingwas, in fact, a ratherrare practicein the
mid-nineteenthcentury.The sight of a man poring over his book was not
uncommon, but listening was more prevalent.A report in the Calcutta
Review carrieda vivid descriptionof such gatheringsat small shops at the
end of the day: "Thereader,sitting on his haunches,with his book laid on
the floor before him, spells out couplet after couplet; for all the popular

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 PRINT CULTURESIN COLONIALINDIA 47

books are in verse, or are read as if they were in verse.His skill, generally,
is not very great [compoundedby printingerrors].... It is always carried
on aloud, and accordingto a sing-songtune,... [to which] the head beats
in time."114Two of the earliest Bengali periodicals,the Digdursbun,an
informativejournalmainlyintendedto be a textbook in nativeschools, and
the SamacharDarpan,gainedimmensepopularitywhen they firstappeared.
The Digdurshunwas on many occasions purchasedfrom Seramporeby
adults to read to their families,quite apartfrom the mandatoryintake by
schools.The SamacharDarpan,a weeklypublicationfeaturingmainlynews
items, aimedat excitinga spiritof readingamongmaturereadersand "dif-
fusing among them useful information."Early missionaryreports noted
with great pleasure:"A copy each [of the SamacharDarpan]is sent to the
schools for readingout by monitorsand elder boys. The masterthen takes
it home and is therebyenabledto indulgehis neighbourswith a perusalof
it.... The numberof those ... who flock around a man who has one of
them, to become acquaintedwith its contents and read it in their turn ...
is highly pleasing.... There is a reason to suppose that each paper on an
averageobtains ten readersor attentivehearers."'1sAccess to the written
word was thus a processmuchmore broadlydefinedthan simplythe silent
readingof an individualin isolation, literacyin its classic sense. Reading
culturesin the printera werewholly immersedin preprintpracticesof shar-
ing the written word. Pluraluses and interpretationsof printedtexts used
in common, as in the kathakatas,ratherthan internalizedand privateread-
ing experiences,broadenedthe possibilitiesand patternsof printconsump-
tion. Collectiveexposureto printentaileddeciphermentin common, those
who could readleadingthose who did not. It investedthe printedimage or
text with values and intentionsthat had little to do with those of solitary
book reading.
Even as late as 1863 print had only partially succeededin displacing
such practices.A letter from an inhabitantof the small Vaishnavavillage
of Maliparato the editor of Someprakash(a prominenthighbrowweekly)
lamentedthe "sad" condition of his village. There were no schools, and
nobody felt the need for them. The people were happywith the yatras,or
indigenousdramas,nautches,festivalsand songs of neda-nedis(Vaishnava
singers)that formed the sole cultural activity of the village.1"6Bepin Pal
recordedthat his family were active participantsin such performancecul-
tures in Sylhet and Jessore. Young Bepin'sown house hosted yatras and
puran paths-plays usually drawn from the epics or the lives of Krishna
and the Vaishnavaleader Chaitanya.The sets were simple and devoid of
much theatricalparaphernalia.But so dear were the themes to the hearts
of the audiencethat the lack of these "didnot at all interferewith the inner
enjoyment of it."117

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48 BOOK HISTORY

In its early years, then, the printedbook "disappeared"in the labyrin-

thine world of Bengalireadership,being appropriatedand internalizedin
diverse ways by lively groups of both intermediaryand primaryreaders,
throughperformanceand ritual.This peculiarconditionin the mentaluni-
verse of colonial India-where culturalworlds collided but did not result
in entire displacements,instead settlinginto newer shapesand forms with
unresolved differencesand variegatedpatterns-has provoked attention
and much discussion in recent times. Colonial modernity,in its discur-
sive mode, it is argued,was sustainedin the vernacularimaginationonly
throughnegotiation,adaptation,and culturaltranslation.118 And it was in
print-totemic to modernity, and its
materiallyenshrining message-that
this "translation"found its paradigmaticexpression.
The imperativesof a market economy and the flexibilitiesof its con-
sumptionpatternscombinedto thwartthe readyassimilationof the printed
book and modernityin colonial India. Far from displacingearlier tradi-
tions and freezingwriting habits into standardizednorms and predictable
genres,printactuallyequippedthemwith moreenduringand resilienttech-
nologies. This conclusion is based not only on the putativepopularityof
genres as reflectedin statistics,but also by exploringparticularand char-
acteristicreading contexts for some of them. Complex revisionistsocial
maps of readingemergewhen we focus on readergroups that inhabited
the marginsof the literateand printworld. Printin nineteenth-centuryBen-
gal was not used and engineeredby dominantpower groupsalone. Other
social groups were also able to impresstheir stamp on it. Dominantideas
aboutliteraryaestheticsand style,therefore,did not go unchallenged.Most
important,Bengalireadersas consumersof print engagedwith it as sub-
jects and agents, capableof affectingits impact,thickeningthe modernity
narrativeand exposing its internaltensions.

Notes
i. This is a generalratherthan an absoluteobservation.PeterKornicki,The Book in
Japan(Leiden:Brill, 1998) is a brilliantexception.
z. PriyaJoshi, In AnotherCountry:Colonialism,Culture,and the Developmentof the
EnglishNovel in India (New York:ColumbiaUniversityPress,zooz) offersa glimpseof the
highlytexturedreceptionof the novel in India.Both FrancescaOrsini,Hindi PublicSphere,
1920-94o0: Languageand Literaturein the Age of Nationalism(New Delhi: Oxford Uni-
versityPress, zooz), and VeenaNaregal,Language,Politicsand Elites in the Public Sphere
(New Delhi:PermanentBlack,zoo2001), focus more closely on the politicaland social contexts
of vernacularprintand its implicationsfor nationalismin India.
3. RobertDarnton,"LiterarySurveillancein the BritishRaj:The Contradictionsof Lib-
eral Imperialism,"Book History 4 (zooi): 133-76, and "BookProductionin BritishIndia,
I850-1900," Book History 5 (zooz): z39-62.

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 PRINT CULTURES IN COLONIAL INDIA 49

4. For a fairly detailed study of this kind, see A. K. Priolkar, The Printing Press in India
(Bombay: Marathi Samshodhana Mandala, 1958).
5. Elizabeth L. Eisenstein, The Printing Press as an Agent of Change, z vols. (Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979); Henri-Jean Martin and Lucien Febvre, The Com-
ing of the Book: The Impact of Printing, 1450-1900, trans. G. Gerard (London: Verso, 1997).
6. BenedictAnderson,ImaginedCommunities:Reflectionson the Originand Spreadof
Nationalism (London: Verso, 1983).
7. The Renaissance theory stemmed from the classic work of Susobhan Sarkar, Notes
on the Bengal Renaissance (Bombay: People's Publishing House, 1946), and went on to under-
pin a host of other important works on the period. See, for instance, Amitava Mukherjee,
Reform and Regeneration in Bengal, 1774-1823 (Calcutta: Rabindra Bharati University,
1968), and David Kopf, British Orientalism and the Bengal Renaissance (Berkeley and Los
Angeles: University of California Press, 1969).
8. I have in mind here particularly the works of Priya Joshi and Vasudha Dalmia. In In
Another Country, Joshi sensitively explores this process of "cultural translation" with refer-
ence to a very modern literary genre in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century India, the
Victoriannovel.Dalmia'sTheNationalisationof HinduTraditions:BharatenduHarischandra
and Nineteenth Century Benaras (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1997) underscores the
"Hindu" sensibilities of literati who negotiated the frontiers of Western modernity.
9. Some vernacular printing by Christian missionaries was known to peninsular India
from as early as the sixteenth century, but none was of major significance.
io. Notable among these are the works of Roger Chartier, Peter Burke, and Robert Scrib-
ner.See RogerChartier,ed., The Cultureof Print:Powerand the Usesof Printin EarlyMod-
ern Europe, trans. Lydia G. Cochrane (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1989) and The Cultural Uses
of Print in Early Modern France, trans. Lydia G. Cochrane (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1987). See also Robert Scribner, "Is a History of Popular Culture Possible?" History of
European Ideas io, no. z (1989): 175-91. Peter Burke particularly has seen the role of "anti-
languages" as very important for carving out subversive linguistic cultures. See Peter Burke
and Roy Porter, eds., The Social History of Language (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1987), 12-13. Also see Peter Burke and Roy Porter, eds., Languages and Jargons: Con-
tributions to a Social History of Language (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1995). For a very sharp
and penetrating recent study underlining the instability of knowledge contained in print, see
AdrianJohns, The Nature of the Book:Printand Knowledgein the Making(Chicago:Uni-
versity of Chicago Press, 1998).
i i. Stuart Blackburn's studies of folk ballads and their performance in colonial Tamil-
nadu are quite useful in this context. See for instance his Another Harmony: New Essays on
the Folklore of India (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1986), and
Singing of Birth and Death: Texts in Performance (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Press, 1988).
12. For the neo-Marxist perspective on the question, see Sumit Sarkar, A Critique of

ColonialIndia (Calcutta:Papyrus,1985); Asok Sen, IswarchandraVidyasagarand His Elu-

sive Milestones (Calcutta: Riddhi-India, 1977); Rammohan Roy and the Process of Moderni-
sation, ed. V. C. Joshi (New Delhi: Papyrus, 1975); Barun De, "A Historiographical Critique
of Renaissance Analogues for Nineteenth-Century India," in Perspectives in Social Sciences,
vol. i, ed. Barun De (Calcutta: Oxford University Press for the Centre for Studies in Social
Sciences, 1977). Later approaches revealed how the cultural exchange was more specific, based
on individual negotiations of the colonial intellectual with the West. See Sudhir Chandra, The
OppressivePresent:Literatureand Social Consciousnessin Colonial India (New Delhi:
Oxford University Press, 1992), and Tapan Raychaudhuri, Europe Reconsidered: Perceptions
of the West in Nineteenth-Century Bengal (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1988).

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50 BOOK HISTORY

13. SumitSarkar,"'Kaliyuga,''Chakri,'and 'Bhakti':Ramakrishna andHis Times,"Eco-

nomic and Political Weekly 18 (July 199z): 1549; "Calcutta and the Bengal Renaissance," in
Calcutta:The Living City,vol. i, ed. SukantaChaudhuri(Delhi: Oxford UniversityPress,
1990); and Writing Social History (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999). Tanika Sarkar,
"TalkingAbout Scandals:Religion, Law and Love in Late Nineteenth-CenturyBengal,"
Studies in History 13, no. I (1997): 63-95. Also see Sumanta Banerjee, The Parlour and the
Streets:Elite and PopularCulturein Nineteenth-Century Calcutta(Calcutta:Seagull,1989),
which,while makingtoo muchof "divides"betweenthe culturalworldsof "elite"and "pop-
ular,"remainsa richlydocumentedand excellentstudyof contemporaryculturaltensions.
14. Far from using the term "popular"in any reductivesociologicalsense, matching
socioeconomiclevelswith predetermined culturalhorizons,I use it to indicatetexts, markets,
and practicesthat were widely operativeor muchin demand.To makethis methodologyas
transparentas possible,I use the terms "commercial"and "popular"interchangeably.
15. For a more detailedprofileof this printmarket,see AninditaGhosh, "CheapBooks,
'Bad'Books:ContestingPrint-Cultures in ColonialBengal,"SouthAsia Research18 (autumn
1998): 173-94.
16. YogendranathGhosh, Bangla MudrankanerItibritta0 Samalochan(JatiyaSabha
Lecturepresentedat the JatiyaMela on 4 July 1870, Calcutta,1873, zz).
17. Althoughprinted Bengaliextracts had made isolated appearancesearlierin some
books publishedin Europe,this was the firstsystematicexperimentin Bengalimetaltypes in
India itself. See Sripantha(pseud.),Jokhon ChhapakhanaElo (Calcutta:PaschimBangla
Bangla Academy, 1996), 6-8.
18. The local engraverwho helpedWilkinsin his effortswas PanchananKarmakar,who
later went on to work for the pioneeringSermaporeMissionPress.See Nishith RanjanRay,
"TinPathikrit:Wilkins-Panchanan-Manohar," in Dui ShatakerBanglaMudran0 Prakasan,
ed. ChittaranjanBandyopadhyay (Calcutta:Ananda,1981), 55.
19. The firstof this serieswas a bilingualpublication,the Bengaliin verso and the Eng-
lish in recto:JonathanDuncan,Regulationsfor theAdministrationof Justicein the Courtsof
DewaneeAdaulat(Calcutta,1785). Threemore similarworks followedfrom the same press
between1791 and 1793: N. B. Edmonstone,BengalTranslationof Regulationsfor Adminis-
trationof Justicein theFouzdarry;or, CriminalCourtsin Bengal,Bihar,and Orissa(Calcutta,
1791); Bengal Translation of Regulations for the Guidance of Magistrates (Calcutta, 1792);
and H. P.Forster,A Collectionof All Laws Passedin 1793 by the Councilof the Honourable
Nawab Governor General (Calcutta, 1793).
20o.For an accountof European-owned pressesoperatingin eighteenth-century
Calcutta,
see GrahamShaw,Printingin Calcuttato I8oo (London:Bibliographical Society,1981).
zi. In 1793 A. Upjohn'sEnglish-Bengali vocabularyissued from the press of the news-
paper he edited, the CalcuttaChronicle.Priolkar,PrintingPressin India, 55. In 1799 and
18oi, H. P. Forster'sEnglish-Bengalivocabularywas issued in two parts from Ferrisand
Company'spress.
Careyrefersto buyingthis press for forty pounds after locating an advertisement
22zz.
regardingits sale in an English paper.Letter to Clipstone, 26 Sept. 1798, in Periodical
AccountsRelativeto the BaptistMissionarySocietyI (S8oo):469.
23. Five hundredcopies of the work were printedon this occasion.Asit KumarBandy-
opadhyay, Bangla Sahityer Itibritta (Calcutta: Modern Book Agency, 1985), 5:415, 419. Opin-
ions differon whetherit was printedby Careyor RamBasu.See Nikhil Sarkar,"Printingand
the Spiritof Calcutta,"in Chaudhuri,Calcutta:TheLivingCity,130.
24. M. S. Khan, "William Carey and the Serampore Books (1800-1834)," Libri 2, no. 3
(1961): 239.
25. Othermissionssubsequentlyset up theirown printingpresses:the LondonMissionary

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 PRINT CULTURES IN COLONIAL INDIA 51

Societyin 1819 and the ChurchMissionarySocietyin 18zz. The BaptistMissionaryPress,

formedby a breakawaySeramporegroup in I818, was the most important.Like its parent
body,it startedwith a woodenprintingpress,but withintwentyyearsit couldboastof printed
books in elevenmajorIndianlanguages,sevensteel presses,and its own type foundry.It later
went on to printthousandsof books for the CalcuttaSchoolBook Society,with whom it had
veryclose links. See Sarkar,"Printingand the Spiritof Calcutta,"132.
26. JamesLong,ReturnsRelatingto Publicationsin theBengaliLanguagein 1857, Selec-
tions fromthe Recordsof the BengalGovernment,vol. 23 (Calcutta,1859), appendixE. For
a completelist of Bengaliworks printedand publishedfrom the SeramporePressbetween
18oo and 1834, see Bandyopadhyay, Bangla Sahityer Itibritta 5:419-24.
27. It actuallymergedwith the BaptistMissionPress.Sarkar,"Printingand the Spiritof
Calcutta," 132.
28. Ibid., 130.
29. Barunkumar
Mukhopadhyay,"BanglaMudranerCharYug,"in Bandyopadhyay,
Dui
ShatakerBanglaMudran0 Prakasan,95.
30. "On the Effect of the Native Press in India," Friend of India, qtly. ser., I (1821): 133.
31. "Onthe Progressand the PresentStateof the NativePressin India,"Friendof India,
qtly. ser., 4 (1825): 149-50.
32. Althoughthe literaryelite experimentedwith the colloquialfromtime to time- as in
MadhusudanDutt'sEkeiKi BoleySabhyata("IsThis CalledCivilisation?")(1859) and Budo
ShalikerGhadeRon ("TheOld DandyPreens")(i86o)-and eventuallyreturnedto it as an
expressionof "authenticity" duringthe phaseof romanticnationalism,the dividebetweenthe
writtenand colloquialwas one of the principalpremisesof the early literaryproject.
33. Long, Returns,xi. Lack of accuraterecordsand fear of taxation often made book-
sellerssupplywronginformation,and Longthereforethoughtthat the total salesfor thatyear
could well havebeen over 6oo,ooo.
34. Ibid.,viii.
35. Ibid., see appendicesC and D, 77; SamacharDarpan,30 Jan. 1830, in B. N. Bandy-
opadhyay, Samvadpatre Sekaler Katha, 2 vols. (Calcutta: Bangiya Sahitya Parishat, 1949), 1:97;
Friend of India, qtly. ser., i (1821): 136, and 4 (1825): 148-49.
36. Long, Returns,xxv.
37. This was the ObscenePublicationsAct passedby the LegislativeCouncilof Indiain
1856. It madepunishableby law the sellingor exhibitingof "obscene"prints,drawings,or
other representations,makingthe offenderliable to a maximumfine of a hundredrupees
(enormousby contemporarystandards)or imprisonment"withor withouthardlabour"for
up to three months. Apparently,"terrified"booksellersdestroyedmost of their "obscene"
stock. Ibid.
38. The wary approachto quantitativehistory has been stoutly disprovedby Robert
Darntonand PriyaJoshi,who haveanalyzedand debatedthe possibilitiesof returningto offi-
cial reportsandcatalogsfor furnishingdataon printin India.My own researchhas attempted
to synthesizeboth the qualitativeand quantitativeapproaches.See Darnton, "LiterarySur-
veillancein the BritishRaj," and PriyaJoshi, "QuantitativeMethod, LiteraryHistory,"in
Book History 5 (zooz): 263-74.
39. QuarterlyReportof the BengalLibrary,1877. (HereafterQuarterlyReport).
40. The figuresare only roughestimatesformedfrom Long'sReturnsand the Quarterly
Reports for 1877.
4I. Jatindramohan Bhattacharya,MudritaBanglaGrantherPanji,1853-.867 (Calcutta:
PaschimBangaAcademy,1993). See also TaptiRoy, "Discipliningthe PrintedText:Colonial
and NationalistSurveillanceof BengaliLiterature,"in Textsof Power:EmergingDisciplines
in ColonialBengal,ed. ParthaChatterjee(CSSC/Samya: Calcutta,1996), 51.

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52 BOOKHISTORY

42. AnnualReporton the Administration of the BengalPresidency(1877), 434. (Here-

afterAnnualReport).
43. "StatisticalReturns,"AnnualReport,pt. iv (Cz), cxiv-cci.
44. Long,Returns,xii. Not all of the old presseswerewooden,however.Metaltypeshad
been used for printingHalhed'swork as earlyas 1778.
45. Ibid.,xiii.
46. Ibid., 35.
47. SamacharDarpan (2 Feb. 82zz),in Bandyopadhyay, SamvadpatreSekalerKatha
1:73. The complete leatherboundtwo volumes of Carey'sDictionary,consistingof zo6o
pages,printedin 1825 by the MissionPress,was pricedat a stupendousI1o rupees.Samachar
Darpan(i1 June i8z5), ibid. 1:77.
48. Varnaparichay in separatepartsof z6 pageseachcost a anna;Bodhodoyof 61 pages
cost 2 annas;andSishushikshain two partsof 4z and z6 pagescost 2 and /4annas, respec-
tively.They were all publishedby the prestigiousSanskritPress.Long, Returns,40-41.
49. Pricesand Wagesin India, no. 17 (Calcutta:Office of the Superintendentof Gov-
ernmentPrinting,1900), table I.
50. Long, Returns,xiv.
51. Ibid.,Ivi.
52. Martinand Febvre,Comingof the Book, 249, 256. Eventhoughliteracyis not ade-
quatelyreportedin officialIndianrecords,thereis no doubt that a significantportionof the
populationhad an elementaryknowledgeof readingand writing.Thishas beenamplyproved
in a recent study by ParamesAcharya,BanglarDeshajaSikshadhara(Calcutta:Anvishtup
Prakarhanis,1989).
53. Indigenousschoolsfind mentionin the religiousnarrativepoetry,or mangalkavyas,
of the period.The earliestreferenceis probablythat by RupramChakravartiin his Dharma
Mangal,datingback to the seventeenthcentury.See Acharya,BanglarDeshajaSikshadhara,
chap. z.
54. EdwardIves, A Voyagefrom Englandto India (London,1773), 29; Q. Craufurd,
SketchesChieflyRelatingto the History,Religion,Learning,and Mannersof the Hindoos
with ConciseAccountsof the PresentStates of the Native Powers of Hindostan (London:
T. Cadells,1792), z:1z-i3; WilliamWard,A Viewof the History,Literature,and Mythology
of the Hindoos, 4 vols. 3d ed. (London:Black,Parbury,and Allen, 1817-zo), 3:16o; Francis
Buchanan-Hamilton, History,Antiquities,Topographyand Statisticsof Eastern India, ed.
M. Martin(London:Wm. H. Allen & Co., 1838), z:705-6.
55. Acharya'sBanglarDeshajaSikshadharais a notableexception.
56. C. A. Bayly,in Empireand Information:IntelligenceGatheringand Social Commu-
nicationin NorthIndia, 1780-1870 (Cambridge: CambridgeUniversityPress,1996), 37, thus
arguesthat villageeducationin Bengalcateredto "cleancaste"male childrenonly. Histori-
ans for otherpartsof eighteenth-century Indiatend to agree.KarenI. Leonard,in SocialHis-
tory of an IndianCaste:TheKayasthsof Hyderabad(Berkeleyand Los Angeles:Universityof
CaliforniaPress,1978), traceda close connectionbetweenthe scribalmonopolyof the upper
writingcastes and politicaland economicpower in earlynineteenth-century Hyderabad.
57. Some of the largest landholderscame not from the higher kulin grades but from
strotriyasand maulikasof the lower grades.RonaldInden'sclose studyof the genealogiesof
the clans demonstratesa remarkablesocial mobilitywherebylower-ranking jatis (clans)rose
throughtrade,landholding,administration,and marriageswith the kulin ranks.See Ronald
Inden,Marriageand Rankin BengaliCulture:A Historyof Casteand Clanin MiddlePeriod
Bengal (Berkeleyand Los Angeles:Universityof CaliforniaPress,1976), 135-37; Hitesran-
jan Sanyal,"Continuitiesof SocialMobilityin Traditionaland ModernSocietyin India:Two
Case Studiesof CasteMobilityin Bengal,"Journalof Asian Studies2 (Feb. 1971): 315-39.

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 PRINT CULTURESIN COLONIALINDIA 53

58. WilliamAdam'searliestsurveysproducedthreeinvaluablereportsbetween1835 and

1838, reprintedin AnathnathBasu,ed., Reportson the State of Educationin Bengal (Cal-
cutta:CalcuttaUniversity,1941). (Hereafterreferredto as "Adam'sReports.")
59. Not only Bengali but also Sanskritfeatured in their accomplishments.Francis
Buchanan-Hamilton, the eighteenth-century
ethnographer-cum-travelwriter,foundthe Vaish-
navas (he refersto them as "religiousmendicants")among the most literateand learnedin
Bengal.Buchanan-Hamilton, History,Antiquities,Topography,708-9, 755.
60. DineshChandraSen,Historyof BengaliLanguageand Literature(Calcutta:Calcutta
UniversityPress,1911), 599.
61. Acharya,BanglarDeshajaSikshadhara,74.
6z. Thiswas becauseof the remarkableinfluenceof Vidyapati,the fifteenth-century
Vaish-
nava poet of Mithila, on subsequentwriters.See J. C. Ghosh, BengaliLiterature(Totowa,
N.J.: Rowman & Littlefield, 1976), 55.
63. Literallymeaning"songsof blessing,"they were dedicatedto variouslocal formsof
the mother-goddessShakti,worshippedas a sourceof divinefemalepower.
64. WilliamWardmistakenlyrefersto the Puranreadingsessionsas "theworshippingof
books."Althoughthe books were sacred,they themselveswere not the objectsof veneration.
Ward,A Viewof the History,i:xlv.
65. Ibid., 2:85-86.
66. "Brahminism and the Ramayun,"CalcuttaReview 13 (Jan.-June1850): 49.
67. Ward,A Viewof theHistory,z:85, notedthatwhile the Shribhagawat
recitationtook
only one month,the narrationof the Mahabharataspannedfour months.
68. GautamBhadra,"ThePerformerand the Listener:Kathakathain ModernBengal,"
Studies in History io (July-Dec. 1994): 246.
69. SeeBuchanan-Hamilton, History,Antiquities,Topography,749; Ward,A Viewof the
History,1:232-38. Foran accountof theselegends,see Sen,Historyof the BengaliLanguage,
48-55, 257-76. Also see EdwardDimock, trans., "KetakanandaDas' Manasamangal,"in
TheThiefof Love:BengaliTalesfromCourtand Village(Chicago:Universityof ChicagoPress,
1963), 197-294; and the translated excerpts by Aditi Nath Sarkar and Ralph A. Nicholas
in "The FeverDemon and the CensusCommissioner:SitalaMythologyin Eighteenth-and
Nineteenth-Century Bengal,"in Bengal:Studiesin Literature,Societyand History,Occasional
Paperson SouthAsia, no. 27, ed. MarvinDavis (Ann Arbor:Universityof MichiganAsian
StudiesCenter,1976).
70. As DineshSen has observed,this higher-casteinvolvementin mangalworks led to a
gradualBrahmanization of the local cults and a sanskritizationof their literatureby the end
of the eighteenthcentury.Sen, Historyof the BengaliLanguage,296-97.
71. EdwardC. Dimock, "The Goddessof Snakesin MedievalBengaliLiterature,"His-
tory of Religions i (winter 1962): 308.
72. Fora vividaccountof suchmangalrecitalsin Dinajpur,see Buchanan-Hamilton,
His-
tory, Antiquities, Topography, 929.
73. Ibid., 930.
74. Friendof India, monthlyser., 5 (1822): 86.
75. Long to G. E Cockburn,chief magistrateof Calcutta, 23 June 1854, quoted in
JatindranathBhattacharya,Bangla Mudrita GranthadirTalika, 1743-1852 (Calcutta:A.
Mukherjee,199o), 161.
76. Chartier,Cultureof Print;GuglielmoCavalloand RogerChartier,eds., A Historyof
Readingin the West,trans.LydiaG. Cochrane(Cambridge:PolityPress,1999).
77. See A. R. Venkatachalapathy,"ReadingPracticesand Modes of Readingin Colonial
Tamilnadu," Studies in History io (July-Dec. 1994): 273-90; Pragati Mohapatra, "The Mak-
ing of a CulturalIdentity:Language,Literature,and Genderin Orissain the LateNineteenth

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
54 BOOKHISTORY

andEarlyTwentieth
Centuries" of London,Schoolof Orientaland
(Ph.D.diss.,University
AfricanStudies,1997).
78. SecondReportRelativeto SeramporeCollege,i8zi.
79. See the essay on MunshiNawal Kishor,pioneerof Urduprintingin India, by Syed
JalaluddinAkhtar, in Libri31, no. 3 (1981):zz227-37. Shaw'sfindingsforDaccaalso
Graham
indicatethatthe initialthrustforprintingtherecamefromnewspapers andperiodicals.
See
his "Printingand Publishingin Dacca, 1849-1900," in Dhaka, Past,Present,and Future,ed.
Sharifuddin Ahmed (Dhaka: Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, 1991): 10o1-2.
80. Friend of India i (18z21): 140.
81. Roy, "Discipliningthe PrintedText," 38-41.
8z. For a detaileddiscussionof the problemsencounteredby missionariesdistributing
vernacularChristiantractsgratisin Bengal,see AninditaGhosh, "BetweenText and Reader:
The Experienceof ChristianMissionariesin Bengal, 18oo-A850," in Free Print and Non-
commercial Publishing Since 1700, ed. James Raven (Aldershot: Ashgate, zooo).
83. Second Report of the Institutionfor the Supportand Encouragementof Native
Schools(Serampore:MissionPress,1818).
84. A Memoirof the SeramporeTranslationsfor 1813 (Kettering),z1.
85. Tenth Memoir Respectingthe Translationsand Editions of the SacredScriptures,
Conductedby the SeramporeMissionaries,zd ed. (London:J. S. Hughes, 1934), 13-14.
86. PapersConcerningthe Bengali Versionof the Scriptures(Calcutta:CalcuttaAuxil-
iary BibleSociety,1867, printedfor privatecirculationonly), 11.
87. SamacharDarpan, 6 Feb. 1830, cited in Bandyopadhyaya,SambadpatreSekaler
Katha, 1:59-60.
88. "Ward'sJournal," 13 Aug. 1802, Periodical Accounts, z:313.
89. "Chamberlain's Journal," zo Nov. i8o6, Periodical Accounts, 3:297.
90. "Ward'sJournal," z5 April 1803, Periodical Accounts, z:379.
91. "Carey to Mr. P- - Birmingham," zo Oct. 1795, Periodical Accounts, 1:216.
92. "Mr. Thomas to Dr. Ryland," 8 March 1796, Periodical Accounts, I:z97-
93. It cost a gold mohur (coin) per engraving. Friend of India, qtly. ser., I (1821): 136-37.
94. See SukumarSen, BattalarChhapaO Chhobi(Calcutta:Ananda,1989).
95. See Bandyopadhyay,SanvadpatreSekalerKatha,z:725-32; Nikhil Sarkar,"Calcutta
Woodcuts:Aspectsof a PopularArt";and Pranabranjan Ray, "Printmakingby Woodblock
up to I9o1: A Socialand TechnologicalHistory,"in WoodcutPrintsof Nineteenth-Century
Calcutta, ed. Ashit Paul (Calcutta: Seagull, 1983), 15, 87.
96. Thereare instancesof stock imagesbeing used indiscriminately to allurethe reader,
even when thereis no apparentconnectionwith the writtencontent.
97. Panjika(Serampore:ChandradoyPress,1842-43).
98. Thus a reportin the Friendof India took immensepride in witnessingthese Euro-
pean characteristicsin a contemporaryBengalitext. Friendof India,qtly.ser., i (1821): 354.
99. Thesewere verbalduels of folk poets in urbansettings.Many of them traveledfrom
the villagessurroundingCalcuttato eke out a living in the metropolis.Startingwith gentle
banterand witticismsbased on traditionaldevotionalpoetry,over time they beganto draw
on their immediateurbancontexts and becamemoreconfrontationaland abusivein nature.
1oo. C. W.Bolton,"Reportson PublicationsIssuedandRegisteredin the SeveralProvinces
of BritishIndiaDuringthe Year1878," in Selectionsfrom the Recordsof the Governmentof
India, Home Revenue and Agricultural Department, no. 159 (Calcutta, 1879), 137.
ioi. Ibid., 136.
Soz. Banerjee,Parlourand the Streets.
10o3.See BernardCohn, "The Commandof Languageand the Languageof Command,"
in Colonialismand Its Formsof Knowledge(Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress, 1996);

This content downloaded from 14.139.62.114 on Wed, 03 Feb 2016 07:05:54 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 PRINT CULTURESIN COLONIALINDIA 55

Roy, "Discipliningthe PrintedText";and GauriViswanathan,Masksof Conquest:Literary

Studyand BritishRule in India (New York:ColumbiaUniversityPress,1989), for represen-
tationsof thisoppressive
aspectof colonialprint.
104. Chartier,CulturalUses of Print,7.
105. First Report of the Institutionfor the Encouragementof Native Schools in India
(1817), 32.
io6. FirstReportof the CalcuttaSchoolSociety( 818-19).
107. William Adam, "Third Report" (1838), in Basu, Reports on the State of Education,
234.
io8. William Adam, "Second Report" (1836), ibid., 142.
o09.See advertisement for Bhabanicharan Bandyopadhyay's Srimadbhagavat in Samachar
Darpan, 25 Aug. 1827, in Bandyopadhyay, Samvadpatre Sekaler Katha, 88.
i io. One such school in Chinsurah was apparently broken up by the local zamindar (local
landed baron) at the instigation of the old teacher. See William Adam, "First Report," in Basu,
Reportson the State of Education,6o-6i.
III. Mahendranath Dutta, Atmakahini (Calcutta, 1924), 1:23.
i12. Nabin Sen, Amar Jiban (Calcutta, 1907), I:I24.
113. See, for instance, ibid., 1:123; Dutta, Atmakahini, i:22.
114. "PopularLiteratureof Bengal,"CalcuttaReview 13 (Jan.-June1850): 258. Chris-
tian missionariesdistributingtheir tracts in Bengalfound books thus being read aloud to
groupsin shops, open fields, and other places. See SecondReportof the CalcuttaChristian
Tractand Book Society (1829), 7; and FourthReportof the CalcuttaChristianTractand
Book Society (1832), 16.
Second Report of the Institutionfor the Supportand Encouragementof Native
S115.
Schools,1818.
ii116.Letterto the Editor,Someprakash(7 Sept. 1863).
II7. Bepin Pal, Memories of My Life and Times, 1857-1884 (Calcutta: Sanyal & Co.,
1932), 1:85.
118. Gyan Prakash,Another Reason: Science and the Imaginationof Modern India
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999) makes use of this concept in explaining the
reception of Western science in the subcontinent, and Priya Joshi employs it in her study of
the receptionof the Victoriannovel in colonialIndia,In AnotherCountry.

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