Page 174 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

PRINTMAKING 171

The Printing Industry in Undivided Bengal and the Practice of Printmaking
The main subject to be substantiated in this research is the art of printmaking.
However, to search for its origins, the initial technology of printing books and the
related subject of the illustrations printed for them with blocks naturally come into
context. During the Company rule of undivided Bengal when the technology of
printing gradually entered this country it is noticeable from the very beginning that the
effort was made to add illustrations to the books published. It was those pictures that
were the first specimens of the prints of Bengal which are known as the Bat-tala prints.
The distinguished researcher on Bat-tala prints, Professor Sukumar Sen, composed a
very objective volume which documents the Bat-tala prints in the Bengali language.
There is a difference of opinion about when the printing press was inaugurated by the
Bengalis. But Sukumar Sen has expressed the view that even before Bat-tala
6
Harachandra Roy set up a press in about the year 1816 in Arpuli Lane.
The Bat-tala press was set up under the initiative of Bishwambhar Dev. Exactly when
this occurred cannot be known but in about 1817 poetry by Bharatchandra was printed
in this press. From the third decade of the nineteenth century many presses were set up
in the surroundings centered around the Bat-tala area, for example, in Haatkhola,
Balakhana and Darjipara. As a result of many printing presses being installed in Bat-
tala and its environs throughout the second and third decades of the nineteenth century,
a small scale ‘book publication revolution’ took place. On the list of published books
were poetry, one-act plays, religious volumes, folktales, Puranas, Vedavedanta, etc. In
the very beginning only printed texts were published, later, illustrations were also
added to them. These were printed after being engraved on wood blocks and metal
plates and these were the first specimens of prints made by the Bengalis.
The Oonoodah Mongul is considered as the first illustrated book of the Bengali
language (fig. 3.3), it was printed in 1816 in the Ferris Press and Bat-tala inherited its
legacy. “The first Bengali book that was published with illustrations was
Bharatchandra’s Oonoodah Mongul. (Here let me state, it is unknown whether it was
connected with this or not, but illustrations were continuously being added to fig. 3.2 Print signed by
Bharatchandra’s book in Bat-tala.) This contained six engraved pictures. The number of Ramchand Ray in
pages of the book was 6+317. The table of contents was named ‘Nirghantan.’ The print Oonoodah Mongul
was not in broken lines as in poems like
that of Serampore, it was as in Bengali
puthis, like continuous prose. The type
is that of Serampore.” [Trans.]
7
The artist’s name is engraved in only
two prints, which state, ‘Engraved by
Ramchand Ray’ (fig. 3.2). It is
supposed that the rest of the
illustrations were also the work of
some native artist. Probably