Page 172 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

PRINTMAKING 169

easy to point out the various stages of transformation beginning with handwritten
manuscripts in palm leaves and cotton paper to printed books . . . Dineshchandra Sen
has remarked in this regard that, he himself had seen nearly two-hundred year old
manuscripts completely carved on wooden blocks in the Tibetan or Nepalese process.
But at the same time he has said that the method was not generally in use, a temporary
effort can be considered a presage of the regular practice of a special method or
discipline of learning.’ [Trans.]
4
It is undeniable that it was only after the arrival of the Portuguese and the British that
printing in the real sense was introduced. The credit of first importing printing
machinery to India goes to the Portuguese. The Portuguese came to this country and
established settlements in Goa in 1498 AD and imported the printing machinery at the
beginning of the sixteenth century. The motive behind this was to preach Christianity
among the people by publishing religious books. The printing press was established in
Kolkata much later in 1778. The linguist scholar of the East India Company Nathaniel
Brassey Halhed wrote a book for the purpose of teaching the Bengali language to the
newly arrived British official employees, to print examples in Bengali for that book the
Bengali letters were made. Another scholar of the Company, Charles Wilkins
constructed the Bengali letters. In 1778 for the first time printed matter in Bengali was
published. At the end of the eighteenth century three English missionaries established a
press in Serampore. The head of the missionaries was later to become the famous cleric
William Carey. The main intention behind establishing the press was preaching religion,
to interest the natives in Christianity by printing the Bible in the Bengali language. Right
after the press was set up by the English its influence gradually began to manifest itself
among the people of our country. The interested people of our country could also learn
many things from the English employees of the press. There was an artist employed in
the Serampore Mission Press. His name was John Lawson. He lived in India from 1787.
Lawson was a printmaker. He printed the illustrations needed for the decoration of
books by engraving them in wood or in metal plates. It can be supposed that it was from
him that quite a few Bengali block makers received their training. In 1774 Kolkata was
declared the capital of British India, following which groups of European people of
different professions started crowding into this country. Besides traders and ordinary
people seeking their fortune, quite a number of artists arrived in this country. ‘Between
1769 and 1820 sixty artists arrived in this city.’ [trans.]
5
Some of these artists also practiced the art of engraving. The flavor of the art of
engraving with purely aesthetic and artistic characteristics outside the printing
industry is to be found in the works of the English artists. This means that the ideas
behind the engravings that developed in Italy and Germany following the ideals of the
Renaissance were brought to this country through the English artists, even if in a
limited way. The important artists of the print medium of that time were William
Hodges (1780-83), two artists named Thomas and William Daniell, and Charles
D’Oyly. Firstly, these artists traveled to different places of interest in India and painted