Page 179 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

176 ART AND CRAFTS

‘In the 1280s Sonargaon was conquered by the Sultan of Delhi and it started to grow as
the second capital of Bengal. The first coins were circulated from Sonargaon in 1305
AD.’ 14 [Trans.] Later, another mint was discoverd in Sonargaon which had been
established in the sixteenth century. Subsequently, during the Mughal rule and the
15
Company period money mints were established in Dhaka. ‘During Mughal rule the
Nawabi Mint was installed in the fortress of Islam Khan adjacent to Chawkbazaar. At
present the jail hospital has been built there. After the fall of the Mughal Empire and
during the rule of the East India Company up to 1772 AD the money of the Company
was minted in the Dhaka mint. In that same year the mints of Dhaka, Patna, Murshidabad
were closed down. From 11 August 1792 the money of the Company started to be minted
once again from the newly established mint of Dhaka. But after 31 January 1797 the
Company’s money was never minted again in the Dhaka mint.’ [Trans.]
16
This mint is perhaps the earliest event related to the Dhaka centered establishments of
printing. With the passage of time printing presses for printing books were established
in Dhaka. In 1849 the first press named Katra Press was established by the East
Bengal Missionary Society. The printer of this press was the Swiss citizen Samuel
Bost. In 1856 the English established the Dhaka News Press. The Director of the
17
press was Alexander Forbes of Scotland. 18
In Kolkata Bengalis took the initiative and established the printing press right at the
beginning of the nineteenth century. But in Dhaka the printing press was established
by Bengalis in 1860. The initiators behind establishing the printing press in Dhaka
were Bajrasundar Mitra, Bhagaban Chandra Basu, Kashikanta Mukhopadhyay, among
others. It was in 1860, right in the first year, that the immemorable creation of
Dinbandhu Mitra Nil Darpan was printed in this machine. Rangpur was ahead of
Dhaka in establishing the printing press. In 1847 Rangpur Bartabaha, a weekly
magazine was published from Rangpur. Rangpur Bartabaha is thought to be the first
periodical published in East Bengal. It was published with the financial assistance of
Kalichandra Roy Chowdhury, the Zamindar of Kuntee Pargana of Rangpur, who was
an enthusiast for knowledge. Guruchandra Roy was responsible for the overall
direction and editing of this periodical. 19
The first newspaper published from Dhaka, Dhaka Prakash, was published in 1861.
There is no evidence till now as to whether woodcut and engraved pictures like those
in use in the Bat-tala printed books were also used in the presses centered in Dhaka.
One article does give proof of an illustrated book that was published from Dhaka,
“The only illustrated book listed is Sitanath Basak’s 5-page Silpa Siksha, ‘a few
general rules, with illustrations, . . . for drawing figures and forms of flowers, leaves,
creepers &c,’ printed at the Shital Yantra, 1885 . . . If the author was the printer
Sitanath Basak then he was evidently an artist and engraver also.” 20
For blocks Dhaka was dependent on Kolkata. But the printing of the very old literary
magazine Saurabh published from Mymensingh was of a sufficiently high standard.
Often colored pictures were printed in this magazine. In one issue the painting
Nagnika (Female Nude) by the famous artist Hemen Majumdar, had also been