.;>

=

=

:: '=

z =

-;

.=. ~""

--

~

..:: :: -=

: ~

=

-= .:::

: =

= .:

=

- --

=

= = =

-

-= --

~,,..,.~n'''''''''7''' ..

!• ., ..

II

'.; • ..

CHI·~LDREN'S l.ITER.ATURE OF

BENGAl.

PROVASH RONJANDEY

ACADEMY FOR DOCUMENTATION &

RESEARCH ON CHILDREN'S LITERATURE..

4/l, JadaJJ,..GJaoah ....

CALCUTTA-700 061

\',

Children's Literature of Bonaal First Edition : 1978

Pr/ 1009 ,t34D37

Price : ladia : Rs. s·oo I ForeJp : us '

Publisher:

Shri Nirm.al Gopal Chatterjee Publication Division Academy for Documentation & Research on Children's Literature, Calcutta

Printer:

Rajdhani Printing 117/1, Bepin Behari Ganguly Street Calcutta-12

;l

f

I I

,,

'lf

!

I \

I

l,, r,

'

J~l, r' Jl

·, !'

,'ir . I

. I

~'I ~~ .!

Foreword

Preface

CONTENTS

One : Children's Books

Two :Children's Periodicals

v VII

I

22

r ~i

'i

'J'

. i

FOREWORD

In 'his book "Children'.s 'Literature of Bengal" Provash Ronjan'Dey, surveys'the cfiiltiren's 'literatures of India, from the beginning of the 19th century up to the middle of the 20th . :Bar languages such as English, German and French, surveys -ofthis type.have Jong.been in .existence. It is very important that all national children's literatures of the world are treated in the .same way. The histol'>y of the Bengali literature, presented here, is thus welcome.

Some day it will be possible to write the history of world literature for children. There are some who have tried to do this already, but the difficulties are very great so long as all national literatures are not sufficiently surveyed. Also from this viewpoint the book and its planned sequels, depicting .children's literature in the thirteen other regional languages of India. are to be received with satisfaction.

Studying the world literature for children it is striking to what extent this literature is a common property of many .countries. ln my own country Sweden-half of the books published for children are translated from other languages than Swedish. This was already the case in the 17th and the 18th centuries.

From Provash Ronjan Dey's book it is seen that similar .conditions are found in Bengal too. We find the old Greek names of AEsop and Homer, the Englishman Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, the tales of the Dane Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, the German fairy tale collectors, and Pinocchio by the Italian Lorenini (Collodi), to mention European examples known in our part of the world. The importance for Bengali children's literature of the British presence in India is obvious, but this has not necessarily to he seen as a negative · trait. Of course it may seem a bit

')

co~lcal to flnd atodea of European sovereigns as Peter the Great of Russia and Philip the Second of Spain instead or· at'ories from the rich treasures of Bengali history and folk literature. On the other hand it reminds me that the Euro­peans and Americans have been brought up with the stories of old Greek and Roman heroes.

Children's literature to a certain extent is and ought to be an international literature, and for this reason the history of· Bengali children's literature is of interest also outside India.

Gote Klingberg·

University of Gothenburg, Sweden President,.

International Research Society for Children's Literature.

J

"\ I

\

!''''

PREFACE

The Academy for "Documentation and Research on Child-1:'en's Literature" was established by some writers and research workers in the year 1976 and now serves as a documentation .and information centre and supplies informations and mate­rials to researchers, publishers, libraries · and organisations working for children's literature. The Academy organised National Seminar on Children•s Literature which was held in ·Calcutta from 17th to J 9th March, 1978. Twenty six writers and editors from Amritsar, Allahabad, Bhubaneswar, Bareilly, Barasat, Jalpaiguri, · Jammu & Kashmir, Kanpur, Kerala, 'Pune, Varanashi and from many other places of India partici­pated in the seminar.

As a part of the programme for the ''International year of ..child-1979" the Academy is planning to publish short history of Children's Literature in 14 volumes containing history of 14 regional languages of India for national distribution. "Children's Literature of Bengal" is the first publication of cthe series.

It is not possible to give a detailed account of the children's •literature within a limited space as it is a history of two ·Century which has a long and glorious background which was started at the beginning of the nineteenth century. However I am trying to give short idea on Children's Literature in Bengali, one of the regional languages of India in a nutshell. This publication is nothing but a reference seeking to provide 'basic informations. It does not claim to be comprehensive or exhaustive. Though every possible efforts have been taken, there may be errors and ommissions and if detected that will be rectified in the next edition.

I am grateful for the co-operation received from Shri Dhirendra Lal Dhar, President of the Academy and other

membtn of Academy in publiahinJ this book. I am also tha$­ful, ~~ Sb~i Anil Cb~dra Chakra~,r-~~ f~;Proof r~ading ~b~ hfJJ*d to,publiab tbe:book in short t1me. To con~lude, 1-must

!. '. . :·,· . '

apwa· my aratit.,.de for the troubles taken by Mr. Gote K,liaabera of the G~thenburg University, Sweden and President of the '.'IQternatioaal Resew;ch, Society .for Children's. Lite~a­ture" for en~ouraging me iri my ~ork with his. Foreword.

· ·. ProJaah :a.J.ao Dey·. '.);

,···

F

Joaladra Nath Sarker Aabanindra Nath T~ore

Upendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury Kulada Ranjan Roy

mem fu1 tc hf,lpc

~.

uprc lQiD; oftb tur~·

',I.

l'ramada RaJ jan R0y

Sunirmal Bose

Sukha Lata Rao

ltlrtfek Das Gupta Dakshina Ranjan Mitra Majumder

Sukumar Roy Mohan Lal Gangopadhya Mani Lal Gangopadhya

"'

men ful t

he1p 1,,,

exp1 Klill ot'tl ture

','

,''1

Sourindra Nath Mukherjee Khagendra Nath Mitra

Sukumar Dey Sark;,er Rabindra Lal Ray

• ' ~ I '

ONE

Tbe dawn of the 19th century saw the beainniag of hua~i JWOH. It was during tlis period the childreii'.s literatUI:e·; of ltnaal was also born. · The missioaaries of Serampore lai4 IU foundation by briaging out rhe first chiidrea's. jounw "Diadarshan". But the firs~ leap towards consolidation ot children's literature was the establsllment • of tM Sc:beoJ Boot Society to prepare and publish. cheap books useful for IObools. The members of the Society were_;_Radhakanla De~ Ram Kamal Sen, Maalvi Hyder Ali, Mauhli Mohammed Rashid and Mritunjoy' Tarkalankar. The British paramount power assisted it to meet the ever increasing dcmaad for text books in the schools, set up to produce cJerks. The children's literature in Bengal, thus had its roots in the text books and ·in the domain of education. The accent was on making these text books as interesting and easy rea.ting as possible; Ia their seventh report the Society congratulated .itself that ·their eft'orts for the improvement of Bengali Janpage had been crowned with success. The writers of boolls published by :tbem were Radhakanta Deb, Tarini.Cbaran Mitra ... Ramkamal Sen, Tarachand Datta, and Captain Stuart. Stuart's book was "ltihas Katha", which was subsequently renamed as ••Upadesh Katha'. Besides a short history of England, it

' oontaiaed a few advices with· a dictionary as aa appeadix. Raja Rammohan Roy and Clark Marsliman, were cona­

boraton of Digdarshan. Raja Rammohan wrote on scientific toplcl aad his efforts were original.

11 Nitikatha" was published in 1818 and it was divided into 1 three parts. After Nitikatha, Tarac.band Datta's ·•:t.tanoran­janetihas" was published·in-1819. It was not a text book but merely a collection of eighteen stories and essays. . The book

1 wu 8nt published as · one volume., Later owing ,to its popu­; Jarlty I tecond volume was publi~hed. I • , ', L·

('

ManoraDjanetihas was followed in 1820 by Ram Kamal Sen~s "Hitopadesha". It was a selection of. 49 fables and moral teachings taken from Bishnu Sharma's "Hitopadesha", as acknowledged in its preface. Ram Kamal Sen was one of the few who as early as that held strongly to the view that a change of :View does change the fundamental· bearings of man. Some of the stories of Ram ,Kamal Sen, however, appeared differently in Vidyasagar's K,tthamala. Hitopadesha: was meant for preaching moral. . "Banpla Siksba Grantha" by Radba Kanta.Deb, inl821, was•wJ:".itte~swith a view to teach Bengali Language. It contained alphJbets, essays, Grammar, History and Mathematics; But the pr.,ttice of writing first in English and then translating· them. in~ Bengali, lent a peculia­rly alien twist to '!fhe language. The Bengali Langu~ge of the essays were more Sanskritic than ever before and they lacked punctuatioa marks.

Wood's ~·cboto Henry" was published in 1824, ~bich

:dealt with the .Jife of an orphan boy Henry. Twelve years tater "Jananankur" a collection of moral stories was published in 1836. In the same year Sadachar Deepak: was also 'PUblished. It contained 48 pages and was priced half-an-anna. 'It was popular for 14long years at a stretch. The reason for its popularity was the variety of i~s stories. Sadacbar Deepak bad. for its aim the improvement of morals, teaching readers to be god-fearing, and making them truthful an:d courageous. Some 4<of the stories were forerunners of psycho-analytical short stories of the future and there were evident attempts of creating artistic literature. The characters were all historical, which had been skillfully utilised as materials f~r

stories, dramas and poems. In 1838 .Gopal Lal Mitra's "Jnan Chand~ik''' ·was

published. It frankly admited · that it.. wa~" .translated from English. In 1842 Iswar Gupta wrot.e patriotic poems in the

. Sanbad Probhakar which aroused patriotic sentiment,&. Besides patriotic themes, social .. problems of those days.also found place in his writings. "Nitidarshan" :was published in 1840. It was a collection of lectures 08 morals delivered

2

I fl

by Ram Chandra Bidyabagish to the students of Hindu College.

Hindu College was established iQ. 18$9 to jmpart education through the medium · of Bengali. Bidyabagisb was its first .principal. Next year "Tatwa Bodhini Pathsala" was founded by Debendra Natb Tagore with almost identical aims and objectives. Vedanta HiPduism was taught here to C<?Unteract Christian infiuence exe*d by the missionaries through their English Schoois. Akshoy KuDJar Datta fl&s one of its teachers~ Soon the need for juvlnile literature and scbool,books were felt to promote our dch cultural heritage and e.lU'ich our mother tongue. Aks~-~y Datta was ll contemporary of Vidyasagar, both beina::born in the same year (1820). They left the deepest impressiotl on the children's li~rature of . theit days. Their style served as example to muy a literatures of later days and both of them did a remarka~ job .in impro. ving the Bengali language. Later in 1843, the Pathsala wa• was shifted to Bansberia village and on that occasiop Akshoy Datta delivered a magni:ficient speech in Bengali which was .published in the "Tatwabodhini Patrika".

Gourisankar Bidyabagisb's "Jnanprodeep" was published in 1840. From the foreword of the book it was revealed that it intended to teach morals to children and, as such all its stories

;had moral lessons. The book,however, failed to be popular, and inspite of the author's desire to publish four volumes, only two volumes saw the light of the day. The secopd volume came out in 1853, twelve years after the first. Th' languag~ of the book was Sanskritic.

By the middle of the 19th century Bengali poetry began to ilourish, but under the infiuence of English models. So far as the development of the Bengali children's literature was concerned durina the age of the School ~ook Society-the Society itself wind after twelve years of exi~. It continue4 in a moribund stage afterwards and perhaps its final .decay ·came during the age of Vidyasagar. The style and language of their books were neither literary nor classical bu~ merely one of text bookS. The unrhythmic la1:1guaae, hackoe ..

3

;ted style· and inclination to imitation have all acted as impe~ ments to its success.

Several years following 1840 was the period of the missin~ Jink in Bengali children's literature. The period lacked in any original· work worth mentioning. For twenty five years the translators ruled the day although ~arieties were being added to· them. It was Vidyasagar who lifted Bengali children~s­Jiterature from its mortal inertia while Akshay Datta kept adding life lllld jest to by his writings.

In 1847 "Betala Pancbabinsati" by Vidyasagar was published. Rabindranath Tagore then wrote "The pride of ·Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar's character was his indomitable­personality". This personality comment about Vidyasagar led him to break asunder from the- earlier fetters and introduce; for the first time in Bengali Prest· a rare artistic skiH. The changts that English education brought in• Bengali life during ·tile 19th centuey began to be evident during Vidyasagar's timer He was the foremost of those who were responsible for this­change. His great works came to fruition first in literature-:. juvenile literature, to be more precise. About llis language, Mahamahopadhyaya Hara Prosad Sastri once said, "It was he -who :first taught chaste Bengali 'to the Bengalees and much can be gained eveb by the::nrst ranks if they go• through his "Katha­mala", · "Charitabali''• He was the forerumner of aD age, the: maker of Bengali children's literature and it all started with his "Betal Pailchabinsati" in 1847. "Hitopadesha~~ was published by 'the Fort William College for the use of its students.

Although "Betal Panchabinsati" was mean& for the adult students of the Fort William College, it was used in almost aU the schools; and' even adorned die shelves of the gener~l readers beyond the : orbit of schools. The sacred touoh· of Vidyasagar purified the children's literature of all the previous­obscuriti~s ·and uninteresting moralities and gave.. it a new dimension. . Vidyasagar's c._'"Betal Panc:Pabinsati" crossed the· thresh-hold of ·schools." "His style had in:O.uenced q1,1ite. a. num&er of juvenile :writers ... ... '- ~i~K.athamala:!'j r. ~\Jiban- Cbarit~'. UBodhodaya". ··~kbyan

,:4

Manjari" were his works for the chi.biren. "~athamala" was translation from AEsop's Fables. ,He changed some fables -to fit in with the custom of our land, For instance, he changed the golden egg producing hen into a duck. The translation was so natural that it appeared like originals. The language was simple though rich in vocabulary and diction.

In Jiban Charit, he collected the life-sketches of Galilio, Newton and other renowned scientists. No one before Vidyasagar had ventured on this path. ''Barnaparichaya" ·surpassed his former at1iempts, not only in production pattern, but also in the techniqle of teaching the language. A five or -six year old child could very easily get at the meaning of the story of "Bhuban" . absolutely unaided~ It was an original -story, perhaps the first of its kind written during the British period.

During 1849-1850 Madanmohan Tarkalankar, the poet, was the first to introduce poetry in Bengali children's literature. He published the three •olumes of the ''Sisusikha".

The period under review saw the establishment of a new .organisation "Banga Bh~sa Anu~.dak: Samaj", transcribed in English as .the Vernacular Literature Committee. With it was incorporated "Gurhasthya Bangia Pustak Sangraha". The .Committee~s maiden venture was "Robinson Crusor Bhraman ·Brittanta" which was translated by John Robinson, It rarely smocked off translation. The book characterized by 14 woodcuts was probably the first illustrated children's book in Bengali. The secon4 publication being ''Shakespearer Krita Galpa", translated by Doctor Bayor.

In 1850 was published from Serampore tl;te first part of ·"Balak Bodhetihas" written by Keshab Chandra Karmakar. lt contained seventeen precepts supplemented by ·seventeen -stories. The author was free. from the influence of Vidyasagar.

Rajkrishna Bandopadhaya's "Nitibodh" was published in .1851. lt' was adopted from the "Moral Glass Book" of Robert and William Chambers and, .·was thQr~Jlghly revised by Vidyasagar: ·UAkhyan Manjuri~' · published ·in 1863 was per~ haps .Vidya&agar!s last conttibuti~n to chjklren's .. tit,erature.

s

It was 'Dot translation 'but collections from a few· Englislt books to teach certain · moral · principles and intricacy of Bengali composition.

In 1852 was published Akshoy Kumar Datta's "Charupath'" Part I. It was onci of the best children's books during that period. Of course the points were 'gathered from English books · but the texture was entirely Akhoy Kumar's own. Rajnarayart BoSe, however, mention~ in course of a speech that Devendranath Tagore and Vidyasagar used to revise his early manuscriptg extensively. . Fro. the introduction of "Charupath" we learn that most Of the articles were reprinted from ''Tatwa · Bodhini Patrika" .and ''Pravakar," "Charupath'~ contained a number of sGientific essays land some were inten­sely' patriotic which could inspire ~the children. Moreover Akshoy Kumar was the first to introduce the concept of class consciousness an<t the role of. ·peasants and labourers in the modern society which was .not mentioned by any of the earlier writers. It was something really bold and novel of Akshoy Dutta to stress at that time that the labourers were the real producers of all wealth and to incorporate the idea in Childrens' books. Between 1853-1·856 about half a dozen children's books were published.

Gouri Sankar Tarkabagis's. "Jnan Prodeep" Part II was published after''Chanipath" in 1853 and its language was not S<>"

much shackled to Sanskrit. In 1854 was published Tarka Bagis's ''Niti Ratna", a Bengali poetry, based on Sanskrit. Tarasankar Tarkaratna's literature was no less contributory to children's literature. His "Kadambari", a free translatioa of ·sanskrit "Kadambari'' was a brillant example of elegant Bengali prose. The book was used as a text book in upper classes of the Bengali medium schools. Christian School Book Society published "Bangiya Pathabali" in four parts in 1854.

It was at this time that Madhusudan Mukhopadadhya tran­slated a few pieces from Hans Anderson. His. "Duck Prince"~ published between 1857 and 1860 was widely read by aU. Madbusudan Mukhopadhyay then had well established himself as ajuvenile writer. The· second edition of the ".Duck Prince'~

6

I ~

came out in 1859. It was illustrated with woo~ut. The name ohhe engraver appears to be Ramdban I)as, ·a goldsmith o£ Simla, Calcutta. Christian School Book Society's Bangaiya Pathabali was publilhed in 1863.

Kalikrishna Bhattacharya's ''Nab~nitisar" was publishe4 in 1858. The book was revised by fswar Chandra Kaviratna. It followed the traditions earlier pursued by Keshab Chandra Kabyaratna and Dwatik Nath Bidyabbushan, starting wi~ a Sanskrit couplet a® then illustrating the same. Bengali writings by then had, advanced beyond Sanskrit infiuence,s with pauses based ~n English syntaxes. Unfortu~~tely

. Kalikrishna lacked all *bese qualities. "Bichar:• by MadJwsudan Mukbopadhaya was published .in

the same year. It deaJtwith the naughtiness of the students and j\lstice and therel>y taught them discipline. It appear~ that it was not a prescribed text book.

1 As 3~uch Madhusudan

became pioneer in publishing an extra c~qicular book of general interest.

Ram Narayan Tarkaratna's "Hitakathabali" was published the next year -along with Kangal Haranath's ''Bijoy Basanta" ~ tbe first original novel· in Bengali Juvenle litereture. . In its introduction Haranath stressed that the book was meant for boys. It became very popular amongst the children and not less than fourteen editions were printed: Dwarakanath Bjdyao bbusan, the editor of "Som Prokash'' had written six or seven books viz. Nitisar 1st, 2nd, and 3rd volume, Rome Rajyer Itihas, Greece Desher Itish and Upadeshamala 1st and, 2nd. volume. ·

Vernacular Literature Society did not only translate books and stories, but also complied books first in English and then translated them into Bengali. The first was-"Advut Itisa". It is not history in the ordinary sense of the term but anecdotes of conquerers. There were two other books of adventure-"Taimurlanger Brittanta" and "Sikandar Saber Digbijoy". The first was published in 1856 and the second in 1860. Both of them seem to have been translated by Ram Naraya!l Bidyaratna~ ·

7

Following Vidyuagar's Jiban Charit which was in great Clen:tand in the midclle of the 19th century, Mathurariatll Tarakaratna published in 1859, a biography of a few great foreigners like James Watt, Howard, Columbus and Bonapart~ alon~ with that of Emperor Akbar. In the same year. was published "Prani Brittanta'' by Satkari Datta. Paswabali was published 35 year earlier. Paswabali or Prani was not tran­slation though based on a book ·of Natu_ral History in English. It had an easy style an4 each piece ha<l woodcut illustrations. The identity of the.engraver was not known.

After "Prani Brittaata" came out Madhusudan Mukho­padhya's "Jeeb Rahasaya'' a booklet of 99 pages with twenty-two articles. It was the first Bengali rapid reader for School children. Priya Madhab Bose when barely 18, pub­lished a book entided "Joan Ratnamala" in 1858. In 1861, Taralc: Brahma Gupta published "Prani Bidya". Though not of a very higb standard, the attempt was original. Jn the jntroduction the author hoped to publish its second part which, however did. not see the light of the day. The book was perhaps the direct result of Satkari Dutt's .. Prani Tatwa•• and Madhnsudan Mukhopadhya's "Jeeb Rahasya". In the same year was published the second part of "Jeeb Rahasya~· under the joint authorship of Long and Madhusudan Mukho­padhya .. Towards the beginning of the 19th century attemptS were made to teach science to our boys. But hardly any attempt worth the name was made to popularise physics and chemistry. In 1884 was published Prasanna Kumar Mukhopadhya's scientific discourses "Balbodh". In can not be ascertained now whether it was a text book. Its language foUowed the language of the then modern scientific bocks. It is a compendium of seven scientific essays on man, air, fire~ water, the stars and the planets. In course of the next five years about five or six scientific books were published. :Ouring the age of Vidyasagar, juvenile books of verse were published. Earlier writings were not of very high order and were meantfor schools only.

In 1863 was published "Kabita Kaumudi" ·1st part by \8

\

•. ' . \

Harishchandra Mitra. In 1867 and 1375 its second and third parts were ·published. "Cllarit Maojuri'' by Kaliprasanria Roy contained several life sketches of British GoverOO.l' Generals together with a piece on mutiny. Certain portiO:QS of the book were translations by Kamal Krishna Bhatta" charya which was acknowledged in the introduction. Perhaps ' .as a rejoinder to this, the great patriot Bhudeb Mukhopadhya brought out "Charitartbak:". The characters selected were aU <>f Indian patriots.

' Michael Madhusudan Datta wrote a few pieces of moral poems for the children. The most popular of these was

4 'Rasal 0 Swarnalatika". 4 long descriptive verses by Dina· bandhu Mitra were pub1ish.ed in "Banga Darsban" (1879 A.D.). We. learn from India Office catalogue that Haricharan Dey's "Kabitamanjuri" was published from Calcutta in 1868. It was followed by Gopal Chandra Datta's "Kabitamanjnri'' in 1871. In 1873 was brought out from Pacca Hem Chandra Chatto­padhya's ''Jnanmanjari"another book <>f verses. In that year was published from Calcutta Mathuranath Tarkalankar's poetical collection "Kabitamanjari". They were mostly poems on morals .and were descriptive in nature. Jadugopal Chottapadhaya's books ofpoemswas probably published in 1870 or 1871.

In 1876 _was published the "Hitopakhyanmala", 3rd part. tt was adapted from Gulistan and Bustan, the immortal poems of Iran. The language of the book was simple, easy and racy but it was difficult for children. to appreciate the lessons.

During the next four years we come across no further publications. May be a few books were published but they were not available. 'Books of th·ose days were mostly on morals like "Nitimala" ( 18R2). A year earlier Rajkrishna Ray's "Sisukabita'' was published The book contained didactic verses on pen, paper, book, inkpot, school, animal and many other things.

In 1887 Rajani Kanta Gupta published his "Arya Kirti". The articles were original but a little bit heavy and followed :Sanskrit diction. The ianguage was even referred p as an ideal of chaste Bengali.

'9

One year after "Aryakirti": was published in 1888., The book was 'printec:t. by Tinkari Chakravarti from Chandanagore. The book we s~cured neither had the number of pages nor could· it be ascertained who was the author. In. 1886 was published an unique book 'Kabita Kanika' for the boys. Of the thirty poems of this book 20 belonged to teenagers,, two to the publisher himself and eight .~others carne from the immortal pen of Jogindtanath· Sark~. If we are to believe the publisher, all the poems were writteb by boys.

At the end of ·the ·19th · ceQtury Bireswar Pande . acquired fame of beiqg a writer for,.Jhe children. At the

request of the Education Department, · tp cater moral le,ssons­to school children, Pande wrote his "Acyapath" in 188&. The Editor of Sanjibani, Krishna Kumar Mitra· brought out "Sukhpatb'• at about that time. With the advent of Rajani Kanta Gupta the tide of· writing turned towards original themes and Krishna Kumar Mitra was no exception.

Swarnakumari Devi's "Galpa Salpo" was published in 1889. The authoress had in view, the teaching of morality to the children. The stories were all original and homely. The. language was. quite racy. The periodicals of the .day were. mostly in prose. The age of Vidyasagar was the age of prose and translation. The flood gates .of prose were opened by Vidyasagar himself. In its wake followed biographical sketches, scientific essays, historical narratives, short stories of varieties that enriched the contemporary juvenile literature and built up a solid foundation for the future stalwarts. This age also witnessed the birth of some immortal poems. Yet~

barring the periodicals all other .attempts were aimed at for· imparting school· education. It was no easy job to release juvenile literature from the shackles of text-book syllabus and and lead it to its own path of variety and . glory. As the schools had no fixed courses of study there was some liberty for the writers. Madhusudan Mukhopadhy8i ,was one who . UDtilised this liberty to his best advantage.

Jogindranath Sarkar's ''Hasi-0-Khela" was published in. 1891. The author wrote in its introduction "Although

10

thfte is no dearth: of'school text-books for our boys and girls,~. Jilltdly any prize and home study books are available. Hasi-0-K.hela was,publishedto meet this demand. If we receive public·. sympathy we hope to p1,1blish another illustrated home study book entitled "Chhabi-0-Galpa". "School Book Society" had. earlier expressed their desire to publish prize books, whK:h,, however, did never . :materialise. Kalikri'shna Bhattacharya. brought out '' Jiban Adarsha" :for both home and schools. But what Jogindranath S~rkar produced. were literary classics• meant for home studyl•nd prize purposes. The contents were quite different from earlierchildren's literature. Both childrenr and' their guardians. , were grateful to Jogindranath. But Jbgindranath Sarkar, ~tinging to the idea of periodicals collec-· ted variety of poems,,,stories, essays on animals, puzzles, ~urns:· and letters. Hence we may say that the 19th century juvenile" journals paved the way for this.

Naba Krishna Bhattacharya, Upendrakishore Ro.y Chow­dhury, Promoda Charan, Sen, Rajkrishna Roy, Jogendranath. Bose were a few stalwarts of that age. Juvenile literature of­this period drew heavily from the_ folk literature of Bengal~ which by and large was the richest store house. In, ''Hasi-0-Khela" Jogindranath Sarker for the first time wrote fairy tales. No book was published before this in the. colloquia~­language. Even the dialogues in stories were written in chaste Bengali. Upendra Kishore used the colloquial expression in dialogues. In the month of January, 1891 was published. Nabakrishna Bhattachary's ''Sisuranjan Ramayana". · Abanindranath Tagore's "Sakuntala", and Upendra Kishore

Roy Chowdhury's "Chheleder Ramayana" were widely read till then. Both these works were published betweea 1894-96. About the year 189 5 three or four biographies were· also published. Sambhu Chandra Vidyaratna, wrote on the lives of our .oountrymen of repute in two parts. It was his­sitnplicity ofdiction and brilliant imagery that made Upendra . Kishore so endearing to the children. Perhaps he presented. them as best as he could without being affected by his mood, and likings. The result was delightful ·for children and it

11

gradually became popular among tlmm. Jogindranath Sarker, Naba Krishna and later Dakshina Ranjan Mitra Mazumder

.also created some immortal classics: It was very di:flicult t~ cater to· those who had just come in contact with the life and the world around ·them as those minds soar high on imagination. Abanindra Nath's "Rajkahini" was meant fGr the adolescents and· unique in this respect. The style and len•

. guage of Upendra Kishore was different .from the earlier works. They were a mixture of the standard and the colloquial. But Abanindranath relied oq the colloquial diction of Calcutta. ·He wrote the whole of "Sakuntala" in colloquial style, thus ~ompleting the circle left' incomplete by Jogindranath Sarker. All his writings appeared like 'paintings• in the literary frame .. and the sketches were superb. In 1896 wa~ publisbecl Abanindrannth's "Khirer Putul" -an original writing, and a unique creation. We did not come across any earlier book in which both the characters and the situations were en.tirely original. Although no real story, historical character or mythology formed its basis. The infiuence of the 'Ramayana' could be traced to a large extent. Hanuman in the Ramayana was of great assistance in delivering Sita and in Khirer Putul we find a face-burnt monkey delivering Duorani (neglected queen) from her sufferings. It was written in the .form of a fairy tale, ending as a comedy with the victory of the sufferer.

Perhaps Jnanada Nandini Debi dramatised her "Satbhati ·Champa•• and "Napit-0-Seyal" (the barbar and the jeckal) and had them acted by the boys and girls. The dialogues of "Satbhai Champa" was not so forceful, but that of "Napit-0-Seyal" (the dramatic version of 1'akdumadum) was how• ever, very forceful and elegant at the same time. In the fifth act of the drama Napit-0-Seyal was a scene where the groom swaps the bride with the jackal which reminds us of the feudal days when women were looked upon as men's cha.ttels. This social outlook was the result of the tradition born out of feudal -set up. Towards the end of the 19th century Rabindranath, tipendra Kishore and Jnanada Nandini wrote dramas for the -children, with the sole purpose of delighting them.

12

Several poems of Rabindranath's "Sisbu" appeared during the last decade of the 19th century. But quite a few of them' were beyond the cOmprehension of the children for whom they were mainly composed.

A child bas little sense of distinguishing the probable from the improbable. He sees little of the outer world and .likes to move about according to his own taste and imagina- · tion. In the process be builds up a world from which ~e derives pleasure. Petbaps none, before Rabindranath wrote

·poem! from the points of the children. "Sisbu" bad earned an. immortal place in tb~ Bengali juvenile literature.

Jogindranatb Sarkar, published his --Hasi Kbusbi1', 1st part

on the 16th September, 1897. His "Rangacbabi" was publi-· shed a year earlier-both written and illustrated by him for the . children. "Hasi K.husi'' was the first attempt to introduce the· Bengali alphabets through the medium of verses. Jogindranatb took 'Cbbaras' as the medium for introducing the alphabets. May be the pedagogists could find faults with him, but it temains a fact that 61 long years have not dimmed their ·P<>putarity in Bengal. After this was Jogindranatb's "Khelar ~satbi" which was published in 1898. It also contained fairy ;tales. Another great work of Jogindranatb was the collection' ·~f Bengali "Chharas" published in 1899. Ramendra Sundar Trivedi wrote in its introduction 'Bengali liter.ature lacked such attempts for the past few years. Jogindranath Sarkar the publisher of this work devoted himSelf to this task and be of ·aft the Bengalees is the pioneer in this venture',

Although the book is called "Kbukumonh~ Cbbara" (rhymes­·ror the little girls). Most of the Cbbaras refer to little boys and 1bnly a few to girls. It is difficult to date these chbaras. 11 Books on the lives and habits of animals were published in 'th~ ··19th century' but they were air school books. At the 1beginning of the 20th century (t9(}lJ, · Dwijendranatb Bose ~fonowed Jogindtanatb with, his •iJibjail,u''. Dwijendranatb 'had '. fascile: pen and Sitnple style.-- ,The illustratio.ns were also of a high order. It described the vertebates and their bbaracteristics ·· through :local· episbde& ..... :The writer bad a.

li3

•· '"Scientific bent of mind and he J,tever stooped to -ntytbs:ad ·legends.

From the days of Vidyasagar Bengali laJlguage became Anglo-phile. Gradually it enriched its . vocabularies from ·several languages. This gave the Bengali language an inde­pendent character .which influenced children's literature also.

Although_ in the 19th century no. collection of selected .articles from local journals· were published, yet with the · beginning of the 20th century HeJil.endraprasad Ghosh published {1901) "Asharo Galpa" a prime ven~ure Ill the line. Upendra Kishore was the first :to introduce children to the pre-historic

.age. · The bo.ok was e£rtitled 1"Sekaler ~atha", and was · serialised in ''Mukul" and was, publ!~ed in 1903. All the pictures were by the author himself. Several stories of "Ashare

.Oalpa" were al~ published in Mukai. Upendra Kishore wrote in an easy style tuned for; children. His treatment of

. scientific subjects was no exception. Mo'nomohan Sen · also occupj~s a place of honour in chil­

-dren's literature, His ''Khokar Daptar" was published in 1907. · The poems of its first part were all of one syllable. The ·second part contained combined words an,d was published a '·little later. These poems were .intended to teach spelling. HiS ''Mohonbhog" was published later and it contained a -few' humurous poems.

The folk tales of Bengal the "Thakur-mar Jhuli" of Dak­·-tihina Ranjan Mitra Majumder was published in the year 1907. The book was illustrated by Dakshinaranjan Mitra Majumdar himself. A few illustrations were multicoloured

-which was never used earlier in children's literature. Dakshi· na Ranjan wrote several books. Many a!narrater,followed hiQ;J. •in their attempts to publish fairy tales but nolle could reach the heights.attained by "T~RU\.r Jhuli''. .In the introduction ,to "Thakurmar Jhuli" Dakshina Ranjan· used the V{Ord "Sishu .Sahitya" along with '·'Rupkatha". His "Thakurmar Jhuli" was better heard as a song than read. That .is . VfhY it could not .be so popular.

Before Dakshina Ranjan, Bengali folk tales were collectc4

14

by !lev: tat Bebari De. His "Folk tales of Bengjll". was 'highly appreciated ._by the .. Jndians and Englishmen alike. Its aim was to acquaint . foreiiners with our folk tales. But folk tales were no juvenile literature as such. . As literature impro­rved, a part of the folk tale .automatically came within the purview of childrens literature.. Boys and girls found pleasure in them but not the adults.

"Thakurmar Jhuli" , did not only open up an inexhaus­tible source of delight to the readers but became a trend setter as well. One ~f them "Hind'\lsthani lJpakatha" was writteQ, by Sita Devi,~and Santa Devi~ It was, of course no priginal work-a tran~lation. of the folk tales of Hindusthan. ln 1808 Sivnath Shastri published his "Upakatha", based on foreign sources Grim brother's and Anderson's collections. Although ·the books .bear the word "Anubad", they were not )iteral .translations. The purpose of the Qc>ok was to impart moral lessons to the studepts. of "Nitisikkha Vidyalaya". · In the same year was publishet\ Manilal · G angopadhyay's ."'Japani Manus", a folk tale adopted /rom some Japanese stories. Two years after this in 1910, was published Manilars "''.lhunjhumi'.'. The. book was illustrated, anp was in a prose form, but it , included a. poePJ,. written by poet

· .Satyendranath Datta. All these stories were of foreign inspiration.

Hemendra Kumar Roy was the ~pioneer . \yho introduced .adventure stories in Bengali. His famous book "Jakher Dhan~' was published in ·1931. · ·· . In 1910 was published "Tun Tunir Boi" by Upendra

J(ishore Roy Chowdhury. Its introduction reads:

"But as the evening falls and children fall asleep without taking their supper, women of East Bengal tell these stories to them to keep them awake. The boys can hardly forget the sweetness of these ·stories even when they· grow up ....... ~."

The stories were popular in West Bengal t~o. The stories .of "Tun Tunir Boi" were told by the simple rustic of Bengal

}S

and that is ·why the picture of. the ·domestic life ·of Bengal peasantry was so well painted :in them. Upendra Kishore be only dcck:Cd them in his own language.

Poet Nabakrishna Bhattacharyya published "Tuktuke­Ramayan'' in 1910. Within 1918 a few more juvenile versions. of the "Ramayana" came out, but none could challenge the: first one.

from 1910 to 1918 several original books as well as many translations were published. But most of them are not available now. Only a few names can be scanned from the announcements in the periodicals of those days. Dinendra Kumar Ray, Barada Kanta Mazumdar, Binodini Debio. Satyachanin Chakraborty, Kartict Das Gupta- and Jogendra Nath Gupta are a few of them: Dinendra Roy's "Chheleder :Majar Galper Boi", Ramkamal Bidyabhusa.tl's "Saral< Ramayan", Dwijendra Nath Neogi's "Koutuk Kahini",. Abinash Oasgupta's "Majar Boi" were popular in those days.

. Baradakanta enriched Bengali juvenile literature in· periodicals by small biographies, stories and ··by ·editing

·Ramayan and Mababharat. His "Sati Kata Granthabali' .. depicted the lives of two renowned. women of ancient India. Like him Satadal Basini Biswas also :wrote the story of" Behula's life. In Bharat Gourab series were published the >biographies of·'Rammoban, Vidyasagar, Maharshi Debendra­nath, Buddha. Ashoka, · Shivaji. Rana Protap, Keshab Chandra, Bonkim Chandra and many others;

Haraprasanna Dasgupta used to delight boys of those days with his humourous poems. His "Rangila .. was published in

1?14. It appears juvenile literature was being enriched during the

.J~t decade of the 19th century by various original writings. But tran~lation of foreign classics. never cea$ed nor were the adaptations. Kulada Ranjan Roy · tops the list in this field with his "Tom Kakar Kutir", "Odessy" and ''Illiad". At that time was pubHshed · Pryambada Debi's ·adaptation of Karlokalede's · Pin®Cio · as · ·Panchtilal: Charu Chandra

-r6

/ -'/

~ ~dyopadbray wrote "hesoper .· Galpar•. and "Robinson !.

Crusoe". His "Bhater Janmakatha"· describes rice from its stage of cultivation in form o(, paddy .. to its ultimate consump ... ·. tion, in rhymes. No one attempted earlier to acquaint our1. boys with the daily necessities in such a versified form.

In 1915 Nagendranath Gangopadhyay's "Hate Chand Kapale Surji", Saraj Kumar Bandyopadhay'.s "Aiupora"· Abanindranath's "Bhutpatrir Desh", Sukhalata Rao's ••Ar.o Galpa" were published,•

Jagac;iananda Ray .wrote profusely on Physjes, Botany, study of the birds arN insects and on many other things. :Put the only book 1.9, see the light of day before 1918 wa& ' "Graha Nakshatra". i;Before this · book no one wrote on Astronomy for the children. Till 1914 bo attempt was made' to present Shakespeare to children. In 19'6 a book named ••sudkhor-o-Saodagar" an adaptation of the Merchan& of Venice was published from.Chittagong. It is to be deeply regretted that the form in which it reached us gave us no clue as to who its author WaS.. Thus we find that a·number of authors wrote on various topics to enrich the stores of kndw• ledge of our boys and girls. Thet;'e were poets, sciehtists~ artists and jour.t;1alists among them. Some of them . wrote only for the children.

Jagadananda Roy's "Pokamakar" published :in 1919, was probably the first •book on · insects. ·His famous. book "Gachpala"was published in 1921. As sta~d in its introduction no one before him attempted to write on botanical subjects. I~ was illustrated by Nandalal Bose, Asit Kumar Halder and a few students of arts of Santiniketan. The book had the typical style of Jaaadananda. Next he published his ~'Mach Rang Sap". A year after he published 'Banglar Pakhi'. The three boob refered to above were attempted to acquaint our boys and airls with their immediate environments. Among his successors in the line were Debiprosad Chatterjee ·and Sukumar De Sarker.

Bengali children's literature has a fairly riCh collection of tairy tales, fables and legends~ B9t11 fairy tales, myths and

17

legends belonged to the. class of folk tales. Among the . natives Bengali, Hindusthani, Adibasi, Oriya and Santali were more important. Panchatantra, Hitopodesa and Buddhist Jatakas had also enriched it. The former two belonged to the type of fables dealing mainly with a world in which the animals had been allowed the human qualities of speech, reason and wisdom. These were neither fairy tales nor legends but they were folk tales, after all. The adventures of the princes, giants and goblins, fairies, and magicians, doing super-human jobs, defeating demons, were worth mentioning. Witty stories of Gopal Bhar were also found in Bengali litera­tu.r.e. So they must be at least a century old as Gopal Bhar had been identified as the court Jester of Krishnachandra Roy, the feudal lord of Krishnagar. U pendta Kishore Roy Chou­dhuri who succeeded Dakahina Ranjan Mitra Mazumder, was a stalwart in writing fairy tales. Satya Cbaran Chakravarty was another popular story teller of those days. Dagobart, a translation was very popular in his days. Sibratan Mitra's "Sanjher Katha" was published in 1919. Prior to this in 1918 came out ~ Satya Charan Chakravorty's "Thakurmar Jhola... Next come out in 1920 his "Thakurda's Jhola" and after that "Thandidir Galpa". Thakurdar Jhola contained seven big fairy tales. Chakravorty nowhere disclosed the source of his inspiration.

Sibratan Mitra followed a different line. He wrote in his first book Sanjher Katha --"Old village housewives of those days or old granddadas were never ending sources of these fairy tales .. We collected these fairy tales so long current in these areas in three volumes-Sanjher Katha, Nisir Katha and Usar Katha. None of these fairy tales had been published before". Sibratan Mitra was a resident of Suri, Birbhum. He probably published his own books-Sanjber Katha, Nisir Kantha (1933) and Kalpa Katha. Sanjher Katha and Nisir Katha contained seven fairy tales each. They were profusely illustrated.

Kartick Chandra Das Gupta was another successful fairy tale writer well. known among the children. He p11;blished

18

~---------------------------------------------------------·,

seven volumes of fairy tales from 1923 to 1941. Most of these fairy tales were collected from East Bengal. "Tultul" and "Sat Rajyer Galpa" came out in 1923 and 1928 respectively. He was a poet too. His "Phuljlturi" and "Tai Tai'~ were published in 1913 and 1915 respectively.

In 1924 a new horizon was opened in the world of Juvenile literature with the publication of "Sisu Bharati". This was an encyclopaedia of general knowledge edited by Jogendranath · Gupta. It contained 11 volumes, of which 10 were published · during the life time of the editor and the last volume was a posthumous one. He had to his credit about one hundred works mostly for the children.

With the advent of Swadeshi movement lives of great men, national heroes and characters from history received their due ' importance. Historian Brojendranath Banerjee, wrote a few 1

historical books for the children. "Raja Badsah" published in 1921 was his first book. In 1922 came out ''Ranadanka" and in 1929 was published "Sivaji Maharaj".

In 1928 was published "Baporoah"by Akhil Neogy whose· pen name is "Swapaoburo". It described the life of a village boy, Two years after that in 1930 was published Girindra Sekbar Bose's "Lal Kalo". It dealt romantically with the Uvea of Red and Black ants inhabiting with human qualities.

The impact of Civil Disobedience Movement fell directly oa tbe children's literature. Bimal Sen headed a new genera Ia jllvtaUelitorature with his "Maru Yatri", "Phuljhuri'' and abrldpd translation ()f Gorky's mother as "Ma". Of these, . tlat "PbuJ,Jburi" ooatainod short stories about the atrocities of lrlelab Oftlotrl In India and was naturally proscribed. Wleb bla powerful pen be tried to infuse a new desparate loaalaa for Jlberatloa amonst our youth. His was the only · name of those days who dealt directly with patriotic and seditlous themes.

In the second decade of the twentieth century humourous . poems appeared in Bengali Juvenile Literature. Sukumar Roy· was tlle leading light among them all. No one has as yet surpassed him. Even the stores of ·drama-lets smacks of

19

humour: But it ·was 16ft f0r Sibram · Chakraborty and ~bindralal Roy to infusejuvemle literature with the spirit of· innocent humour.. Both of them were contemporaries and bad their maiden stories published in 1936. So fat as we know Sibram's ''Sur-walla Babu" was the predecessor of Rabindra Lal Roy's ''Nutan Kichu". Although both of them were cteative artists, their medium was different. Sibram's main · resource was "Panning". He did not spare even himself in punning. In 1937 was publisb~d his most famous book "Bad • Theke Paliye". Sribram wrote a few· dramas and books of poems as well. But he excelled in short stories with an ordinary motif and a simple plot. His only object was to create · bhmourous situation. He wielded a powerful pen but he never u~d it to lash at the unhealthy prejudices ingrained in the ·

minds of our youth~ Rabindra ~~ Roy created humour out of the newness and ·

incongruities of plot. and situations. His Nutan Kichu, Halka Khata, Bolito Ha8bo Na, Birbahur Baniadi Chaal were fou~- • tains of hw;nour, so to say. Roy had not written much, but be bad already es.rned a permanent position by virtue of those · few writings. He was one with Sibram Chakravorty in enjoying. at the cost of aunts and uncles. Lila Majumdar also writes ~·humorous vein for the children.

Sukumar De Sarkar introduced a completely new line i1f writing on animal .life. In 1938 was published his "Dui K.huni" a book about two dogs. Main theme of his books were the wild lives .of beasts and birds. He has, however, attributed.· 1\Uman qualities to them. These are neither fables nor scielitific dissertations but mere stories of a new. type. Hardly · aDY other.writcrr bad ventured on this theme ever before.

By the :middle of 1942 came out Nihar Ranjar Gupta's "Sankar" in two volumes and Dhirendra Lal Dbar's "Galpo Haleo Satya". Dhar collected these episodes from great men's childhood. He introduced a new technique in Bengali litera­ture. A year later cam~ out Raj at Sen's ''Makarsa". It is wrjtten about the life lD a child lifters' colony and the Writing bas a touch of mystery about it.

20

.. Lullaby" is a common d~for children everywhere. That this can be adapted to the patriotic themes and used to inspire the youths were shown by Sukanto Bhattacharyya. Sukanta breathed his last in 1947 whep. he was only twenty one. His .. Mithekara" and "Abhijan" were published in 1951 and 1953 respectively. Abhijan is a drama in the form of poems. It has only one female character and it is a tragedy-and a grim tragedy at that. It is a rare addition to Bengali children's literature.

Bengali juvenile literature has no dearth of scientific subjects. Publication i,tf Rabindranath's "Biswa Parichay' in 1937 created a stir in the literary world of Bengal. "Janbar Katha" edited by Debi J?rosad Chatterjee was an encyclopoedia of nature. Kshitindra Narayan Bhattac)iju'ya is another ,writer who did much to popularise science among the childre1;1 in Bengal. In 1927 was published his "Bijnao Buro".

Not many war stories have so far appeared in Bengali. But no one has been able to surpass Dhirendra Lal Dhar in that. He had written more than eight books on war stories from 1938 to 1960. His writings are directed to arouse patrio:. tism in children and hatred for cruelty in war. It should be noted, however, that almost all his stories are imaginary, His stories covered Abyssinian war, Sino-Japanese war and Russo-German war. ,

Production of Bengali books has improved in all its aspects during the recent years. Modern books compare favourably with their western counterparts. They are profusely illustra­ted, and the illustrations are of a very high sta~dard.

21

TWO

In Bengal/a considerable number of periodicals of various types for juvenile readers, partioularly school students, had been published since the beginning of the nineteenth century. Most of them first appeared in Calcutta while a few in some suburbs or mufussil towns. Some in form of monthlies, while a few were weeklies and fewer were fortnightlies. There was a solitary instance of the publication of a daily. But so far as our knowledge goes, almost all of them succumbed immaturely. Of all the existing juvenile periodicals of Bengal, 'Mauchak' -is the oldest.

In l8l8 Serampore Baptist Mission published a monthly magazine, named •Digdarsan', under the editorship of John Clerk Marshman. It was intended only for young. Calcutta School Book Society too recognished its educative value and purchased many copies for distribution among the students. And we like to consider this magazine as the first Bengali juvenile periodical. We could not find any illustration in the ·magazine. It contained articles on Geography, Agriculture, Zoology. Physics, accounts of geographical explorations and historical events. The language of Digdarsnan was more or less easy and simple, although Bengali prose style was still then in its infancy. Its chief object was to impart l~ssons to the students on Science and History.

After four years, in February 1822 Calcutta School Book Society published a monthly named "Paswavali" for juvenile readers. The Society was founded on the 4th July, 1817. Its immense contribution to spread education in Bengal is beyond doubt. The growth of Bengali juvenile literature of the nineteenth century was to a great extent due to its efforts. In each issue of 'Paswavali' an account of an animal was published with a picture of that animal on the first page. The pictures were printed from a wood-cut block. The Society also published a collection of all the issues of Paswavali as a priZe-book for the students. It was the convention of the Society to compose the article first in English and then

22

translate them into Bengali. And that is the reason for which we find in the mqgazine the English original in one page and, its translation in the next. In the first issue of the second phase of Paswavali we find an account of a Dog. Ram Chan .. dra Mitra edited and published sixteen issues of Paswavali both in Bengali and English. Paswavali should be recognised as the second children's magazine in Bengali. Of course, it was not like a magazine as there used to be only one article in each issue, Its obje<!t was to propagate scientific kn0W· ledge abput animal life.

On the 31st Deceniber. 1831 Krishnadhan Mitra published another morithly for juvenile readers, named "Jnanoday". One could find in its pages historical and geographical tales and accounts, parables and instructions on morality. Of course the lifetime of this magazine ended after the intermit• tent publication of only twenty issues. In Paswavali we find the use of western punctuation marks like comas, semi-colons, full stops etc. But most of the compositions in Jnanoday were original and so only full stop (.) was used generally at the end of a paragraph and 'iti' or 'end' at the conclusion of an article in observance of Sanskrit convention.

In 1844, the Calcutta School Book Society published another science magazine for children, named, 'Pakshir Brittanta' under the editorship of Ram Chandra Mitra. Its span of life was very short. Then appeared on the 26th April, 1853, "Vidyadarpana" a monthly magazine for children, published and edited by Priyamadhab Basu and Yogendranath Chattopadhyay respectively. We find the following review in the 'Sambad Prabhakar·.

A new monthly magazine under the title of "Vidyadarpan" had been published by Priyamadhab Basu and Yogendranath Chattopadhyay. A reading of it had brought pleasures to us. The manazine consisted of sixteen pages and the price was two annas only. Both Priyamadhab Basu and Yogendra­babu are not more then fifteen. but readers were surprised, going through their writings at such a tender age".

After this the Christian Vernacular Education Society

23

' I , I I .,

,Ublish-ed another monthly magazine for· children, named 'Satyapradip', in January,1860. This was published regularlyr for consecutive five years and it proved its popularity. Another monthly magazine, named 'Abodh-Bandhu', appeared under tbe editorship of 1ogendranath Ghosh in 1866. Next year. he handed over the proprietary rights and editorship to poet BibarilalChakraborti. Abodh-bandhu first appeared in .186l and then it ran for a very short period. But neither proso no.r poems nor the materials printe4 in this magazine were suitable for juvenile readers. Majot part of Biharilal's 'Nisarga-sandarsan' and a portion of his "'Surabala' were printed in Abodh-bandhu. Perhaps most of the articles published in this magazine were Beharilal's own writings. We havo found no pictorial illustration excepting .one printed in issue of second yearfrom a wood cut block. Biharilal must be regar­ded as the pioneer in introducing book-reviews in a children's periodical like Abodh-bandhu as a regular feature.

In July, 1869, 'Jyotiringan', another juvenile ma_gazine, was published. The magazine contained monocoloured pic· tures drawn by an English artist and printed from a wood­cut block made after English model. The prime obje::t of the magazine was.to facilitate combination of moral teaching

·and pleasure for ladies, boys and gids. · After nine years, in 1878, Bharat Barshiya Brahma Samaj published an illustrated fortnightly for juvenile readers. The

.name of the magazine was 'Balak-Bandhu'. The editor of Balak Bandhu was Brahmananda Kesab Chandra Sen, a great teligious and social reformer of. India. ·Balak-Bandhu was the first Bengali fortnightly for juvenile readers.· Its object was to provide education with pleasure. In almost every issue

. a few verses composed by boys and girls were published. Even the translation of some poems by young boys were published. With its twentieth issue · the convention of publishing national and international news in the first page

. was introduced. The fortnightly did not live long and nor regular either. .On 15th De~mber,. 1881 'Balak Band.bu' reappeared as a.mpnthly only to disappear soon. In 1886, it

24

became a fortnightly, as·it was origi11ally and met. its end soon. Then it 1891• it again appeared as a monthly. It contained scientific articles, stories, parables. poems and verses, riddles, grammar and· arithmetical treatises, and method of correct Bengali composition. The language use.d in Balak Bandhu was as matured as that of the twentieth century. It was simple, lucid and elegant. We find in every issue of Balak Bandhu a few monocoloured pictorial illustrations, the artists remained .anonymous. As a matter of fact, Balak Bandhu ushered in . a new era in the history of Bengali children's periodicals.

In 1880, another juvenile monthly magazine was published under the title of 'Bala!k-Hitaishi', which was edited by Janaki Prasad De. The first Bengati weekly magazine for juvenil' .readers was published in November, 1881. Its name was "Aryakahini'.

Then appeared on 1st January, 1884, "Sakha" the famous monthly magazine for children. For the first three years from 1883 to I 885 it editor was Pramada Charan Sen, who was also its founder. This poor man made enormous sacrifices and suffered a good deo.l of hardship for the sake of this periodi­:cal. Unfortunately, on 21st June, 1885, he breathed his last. prematurely. Then, from July, 1886, Pandit Sibnath Sastri took up the editoaship, which h~ shouldered till the end of 1886. Then for the next one year (1887) it was edited by Annadacharam Sen, who was succeeded by Nabakrishna Bhattacharya, Due to his endeavours Sakha could survive for :another three years, i.e. upto 1890. In 1894, Bhubanmohan Roy published another magazine named 'Sathi', and to keep the memory of Sakba going he renamed it as 'Sakha 0 Sathi'. 'Sakha was so tremendously popular among the children ·Of Bengal that even to day the surviving readers often recollect the sweet memory of the most favourite journal of their childhood days.

Upendra Kisore Roy Chowdhury, an immortal name in the history of Ben~ali juvenile literature, was one of the regular contributors to Sakha. 'Sakha' ·was enriched with scientific and historical ·essays and the stories were like its

2S

I !

predecessors'. Though it mainly followed the ways of Balak Bandhu, it has some original feature. One of them was the publication of short biographies of great men of foreign lands and the picture, we find in the pages of Sakha, were very distinct and admirable, though they · were printed front wood-cut blocks.

The aim of the magazine, as declared by the editor in its first issue, was the development of character of our children and spread of knowledge among them through the stories and articles. The editor himself composed an excellent moral. 'Bhimer Kapal' which was published serially from the first year. 'Sakha' was undoubtedly much more advanced in printing, illustration and composition than its predecessors.

In 1883, monthly magazine, 'Balika' was published from Dacca, under the editorship of Akshoy Kumar Gupta. In the same year (1883) another monthly named 'Suniti' was published by Bhudhar Chottapadhaya. Its aim was to introduce Aryan culture to our children and youth and to instil Arayan spirit in their heerts.

We do not know how far it could achieve its noble aim but it disappeared after it was one year old. The same year saw the publication of 'Balyabandhu' which was edited by Rev. J. E. Pen, and the object of which was to propagate Christianity among the children.

The appearance of 'Balak' an excellent monthly Magazine~ in 1885, under the editorship of Jandanandini Devi, wife of Satyendranath Tagore, is a memorable incident in the history of Bengali periodicals. In the first issue of Balak we find Rabindranath's famous poem, "Bristi pare tapur tupur nadey elo ban". In the page of 'Balak' we also find Rabindranatb Tagore's famous novel 'Rajarshi' and most of his short humourous plays, now included in his 'Hasyakautuk'. Many of its contributors were members of the Tagore family. Balak also followed the tradition of publishing scientific and histori­cal essays, travels, stories, poems, plays, synopsis of news and articles by children ·themselves. After a year Balak merged with "Bharati", a monthly for adults.

26

We have come to k_now the publication of a monthly,. named 'Siksha', in 1888, by Students Association of Banagrm •. Brajendranath Bandopadhyay mentioned the name of 'Sisu­bandhab' a monthly magazine, published in 1890 and edited

by 0. M. Roose. The seed sowed by 'Digdarsan' in 1881 in the field of

Bengali juvenile literature had sprouted forth and grown into a big plant full of twigs and boughs, flowers and foliages in seventy-seven years. The growth was manifested in 'Mukul'· published in 1895, edited by Sibnath Sastri. All the great talents like Rabindra:iiath, Jagadish Chandra, Ramendrasundar,. Acharya Jogesh Chandra, Ramananda Chattapadhyay, Bipin Chandra Pal, Jogindranath Sarkar, Girindra Mohini Dasi,_ Nabakrishna Bhattacharya and Hemendra Prasad Ghosh, who enhanced the wealth and majesty of the treasure of Bengali literature with valuable gems were the regular contributors of Mukul. Stories and poems, scientific and geographical essays, a~counts of travels and animal studies, biographies •.. riddles were published regularly in Mukul. The editor himself replied to. readers' ·· querries. Children contributed to Mukul and in the second issue of the second year we find a narrative poem. 'Nadi' by Sukumar Roy, a child of 8. In course of time, this very child proved himself to be a genius and left behind him an immortal fame for his unique creation of humourou~ dramas, poems and stories for children.

In 1896, a monthly, 'Saisab Sakha' was published, the editor was Gurupra,sanna Dasgupta. In 1898, an educational monthly magazine was published. The name was "Anajali'~ and it was edited by Rajeswar Gupta. In the second page of the first issue, the editor declared that its mission was to educate our children. Besides a few stories and poems, all its articles were dry and boring. We think it was more useful to the guardians and teachers than to children.

In 1898, another magazine, named 'Kusum' was _published under the initiative of a few students. In the concluding year of · the nineteenth century, Basantakumar Basu published a

·monthly magazine, named 'Prakriti'. One of the four aims of-

27

r ,,

,,,

this periodical, as stated by the editor, was to i!Dpart and improve the knowledge of the students in their own language. It was doubtful whether they could live up to their objectivef as it was under the supervision of school or college 'Students; The editor expressed his desire of having the school student$ as both subscribers and · contributors. But from the compo­

·sition and subject matters of the articles i~ appeared that the magazine was not suitable for the juvenile readers. We find ·in Prakriti two essays, one short story and a poem by Dakshina Ranjan Mitramajumdar. But these were much too inferior to his classic creations like 'Thakurmat Jhuli'.

Some· compositions of Surendranath ·nas Gupta and Kumudranjan Mallick also wete published in Pakriti. Of course, those were not suitable for the school students •. Botb. in contents and composition Prakriti, could not show any

·variety or novelty and it simply followed the steps of the other contemporaries. The editor of Prakriti tried to impart some -ethical lessons through some valuable English quotations. The span of Prakriti's life was not more than four years.

A comparison between the childrens' periodicals of the past century and those of the present, reveals bold eforts•and

·experiments of the nineteenth century. They served as beacon lights to the periodical~ of this century. Of course, there baa been a tremendous progress in. printing, blocks and papers and many artists have earned fame just by illustrating and decora­ting the childrens' magazines.

At the begining of the twenteeth century, perhaps ther~ ·was no juvenile periodicals. In 1907, 'Nababidhan Brahmo Samaj published an illustrated monthly, named 'Prakriti'. Their articles could not attain very high literary standard, but they were quite appropriate for young boys and girls. In Prakriti some of the scientific essays of Acharaya Jogeschandra were published. A year after the publication of 'Prakriti' an

,article of Jogeshchandra, named "Chini" (Sugar) was pub­lished. It explained in the form of a story, )low sugar can be produced from the mixture of coal and water. Among tbe .new features in Prakriti, 'Atnader Oeser Katba' and. 'Swasthya

~

_,.Raksha' were noteworthy. In the first, one would find the, Geographical account!~ ~f Bengal and India as a whole, and, in the second the .tules of Hygiene were pUblished regularly. Another feature was to compose story from a given picture. 'Prakriti' survived for more than eight years.

In 1910 another illustrated juvenile monthly 'Toshini' was published from Dacca under the editorship of Anukul Sastri.

The animal life and the Bengali translation of Rabinson Crusoe published in Toshini were very pleasing to children .• ln the fifth year a few issues of 'Toshini' contained some poems.· composed by boys and girls. Of course, on the whole the literAry standard of the poems published ~n 'Tosbini' were not very high. In 'Toshini' we find novels. stories, essays, poems and one or two plays. · '

In 1912 an illustrated juvenile monthly magazine, named. •sisu' was published in Calcutta, under the supervision of Baradakanta Majumdar.

Till1912 childrens' periodicals were founded and run either by some individuals or by some religious institutions. From. 1912 business establishments started taking interest. It started with the Sandesh. Editor of the Sandesh, Upendra Kishore· Roy Chowdhury was the proprietor of Messrs. U. Ray & Son~ the famous blockmaker. History of the periodical were dlosely associated with the history· of the firm. After the-, stoppage of the Sandesh, another publishing concern started a journal edited by· the proprietor himself.

"Mouchak" the wonder among the children journals started in April 1920, and is still continuing. All the well­known authors have enriched it with their contributions. In· the very first year it was blessed with the co-operation of Abanindranath Tagore. His Buro Angla was . published from first issue. . ,•{n the year 1921 "Amar Desh" under the editorship of Sisir-

Kumar Mitra, and "Anjali" under the editorship of Phanindra Nath Paul and Dhirendranath Mukhopadbyaya were published.

In 1923 came into being another juvenile journal of distioc- · tion 'Khokakhuki'. Nisikanta sen was its editor. He had

19

I !

i I

'I

II)

i I I , !

great knack in editing juvenile journals. It soon achived -quite good circulation. In the same year was published . "Phuler Renu". It is not known how long it lived and who was its editor, In 1927 was published the :'Yadughar" under the joint editorship of Premankur Atarthi and Girija K. Bose, but it did not last long. The same year saw the publication

.of the "Pattari" under the editorship of Biren Roy. Next year Mohini Mohan Mukhopadhyay joined as editor. In that very year was published another monthly the "Benu" edited by Bhupendra Kishore Rakshit Roy. But tbe Benu could not play long for its audience. In 192-J, appeared from Dacca now in Bangia Desh, another juvenile monthly "Rajbhog". StJdhangeu Sekher Gupta and Satyendra Sankar Das Gupta were its joint editors. The "Rajbhog" also enjoyed .a very short life. In 1927 appeared "Ramdhanu". The journal was founded by Bisweswar Bhattacharya, who· offered the editorship to his son Manoranjan Bhattacharya,

:Since his untimely demise his youngest brother Kshitindra Narayan Bhattacherjee is editing the journal very ably.

In 1928 ''Chitra" was published under the joint editorship .of Mohanlal Gangopadhyay and Sati Kanta Guha. In· 1929 was published the Maspayala under joint editorship of Kshitish Ch. Bhattacharya and Akhil Neogy. It was the, .,cheapest juvenile journal of those days. For its get-up and. richness of articles it soon earned popularity ; but o~ing to paucity of funds it could not survive for long. It was, however, republished a few years later, but it met the same · fate after a f~w .. months of its re-appearance. From Rangpur in North Bengal was published 'Arun' .in 1927. It was edited by Sitesl:l Chandra Khan. The Calcutta Y.M.C.A. published ·"(;hat,ra .Sakha" under the editorship of C.S. Pattarson a few months before the "Maspayala" was published. But the pape,r pould not last long, nor could it earn any popularity. In 1930 we come to know of a periodical-"Naba Aloke", ~o furthar details are available about it. In that year was published the "Saji" under the editorship of Lalit Moban ;Mqkherjee. That , sam~ year Priya . Nath Das brought

3Q:

out the "Ankur". Tl\en in 1934 was published the ''Mohan Benu" under the editorship of the Sri Rabindranath Sen, and ''Dhruba" with Birendranath Ghosh as its editor. In 'this year the journal Ragmasal was published which lasted for twelve years. During that time five editors looked after its publication. The first editor was Premendra Mitra, followed by Hemendra Kumar Roy and Satikanta Guha, next came joint editors Kamakshi Prosad Chatterjee and Debiprosad Chatterjee. Pravat Kiron Basu, known as Kakababu edited the journal "Jalchabi". Probhat Kiron Basu was a poet and story teller of repute. One year after that Provat Kiron Basu brought out another journal the "Bhaibon". In year 19 38 •Pathsala' under editorship of Harendra Nath Sen, "Alo" under joint editorship of Ramaprasad Mitra and Kumudranjan Das, "Sisu Saogat" under editorship of Md. Nasiruddin, "Kachi Katha" under editorship of Nihar Ranjan Sinha and Anil Kumar Chakraborty from Krishnagar were published. In 1938 "Chalakhata•• was published under the joint editorship of Bani Debi and Minati Ghosh. Then in 1940 Rabiranjan Mitra Majumdar edited and published the 'Rupkatha' and Bijan Kumar Ganguly published and edited the 'Sikha'. In 1941 was brought out the 'Kishore Bangia' under the editor­tbip of Arup, the pen name of Swami Premaghananda. It was a periodical of distinctive character.

'' Adarsha" was the first juvenile fortnightly in Bengali. It was published in 1931. Its editor was Harishikesh Bhowmik. But it was very shortlived. N~xt came out in 1346 "Kishore All&" under the editorship of Keshab Chakraborty. Though tbortlived, it created a stir in the juvenile world for some­time. In 1951 was published the "Kishorbarta" but it could

not live long. Junenile weeklies are limited to a few names. Even then

it is not yet certain which one came out first. In 1939 under the joint editorship of Kshitish Bhattacharya and Bisu Mukherjee was published "Rabibar". So far our knowledge aoes this was the first of its kind in Bengali. It was rather short lived and was irregular in appearance. After nine years

'31

of the abdve attempt was published .. Chotoder Mahal'', undw the editorship of K.hagendranath Mitra. It ceased publication after a few weeks and two years later it reappeared under the same editorship. In the year 1950 under the same editorshiP' of Khagendra Nath Mitra was published 'Natun Manus'. It could not last long either.

In 1954 "Danpiteder Asar" was published. Then in 195& was published 'Sri Charanesu'. In 1958 was· published the,_ 'Fulki' under the editorship of Profulla Roy. It did not live long. In the same year was published from Howrah 'Abhinava~ Agrani with Dilip Kumar Bag as its editor.

In 1948, an event happened which was as significati'C: as it was revolutionary. The significant event was the publication of "Kishore" a ~aily newspaper for the children, under the: editorship of Khagendra Nath ·Mitra on the 4th of April 1948~ Unfortunately it could not live for more than eight months~ The Kishore was quite distinctive in catering the news, language, spelling and contents. Set'.ltences were short but colloquial,_ and easily understandable. The news covered were those­that the boys and girls should know and club-news occupied a good deal of space. Its reporters were all young boys and they collected news from all ovet Calcutta, Usual news were purchased from the Reuters and other news offices. It haG> its cinema corner, our village, sports, children of the o~lter ·tands, news of clubs and associations besides other topics. The most popular one was our village which was written by village school boys. Photos, sketches, cartoons, alpano appeared regularly in Kishore, Editorials were topical. It enjoyed the glory of being the fi.rst and only daily news paper­for boys and girls published in India.

32

members of Academy in publishing this book. 1 am also thank­ful to Sbri Anil Chandra Chakrabarty for proof reading which helped to publish the book in short time. To conclude, I must express my gratitude for the troubles taken by Mr. Gote Klingberg of the Gothenburg University, Sweden and President of the ''International Rese~rch Society for Children's Litera-· ture" for encouraging me in my work with his Foreword.

Provasb Ronjan Dey,

Jogindra Nath Sarker Aabanindra Nath T~ore

Upendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury Kulada Ranjan Roy

lllCJll b1

ful to helped ex pres Kling! of the ture"

J'ramada RaJ jan R0y

Sunirmal Bose

Sukha Lata Rao

Sukumar Roy

.lt'artick Das Gupta Daksbina Ranjan Mitra Majumder

Mohan La! Gangopadhya Mani Lal Gangopadbya

memh ful to helped ex pres Klingl of the ture"

Sourindra Nath Mukherjee

Sukumar Dey Sarker

Khagendra Nath Mitra

Rabindra Lal Ray

ONE

The dawn of the 19th century saw the beginning of B~ng~li prose. It was during this period the children's literature·; of Bengal was also born. The missionaries of Serampore laid its foundation by bringing out the first chiidren's journal " Digdarshan". But the first leap towards _consolidation of children's literature was the establishment of the School Book Society to prepare and publish cheap books useful for schools. The members of the Society were-Radhakanta Deb, Ram Kamal Sen, Maulvi Hyder Ali, Maulvi Mohammed Rashid and Mritunjoy Tarkalankar. The British paramount power assisted it to meet the ever increasing demand for text books in the schools, set up to produce clerks. The children's literature in Bengal, thus had its roots in the text books and in the domain of education. The accent was on making these text books as interesting and easy reading as possible;· In their seventh report the Society congratulated .itself that their efforts for the improvement of Bengali language had been crowned with success. The writer~ of · books published by them were Radhakanta Deb, Tarini Charan Mitra. Ramkamal Sen, Tarachand Datta, and Captain Stuart. Stuart's book was "Itihas Katha", which was subsequently renamed as ·•Vpadesh Katha'. Besides a short history of England, it contained a few advices with a dictionary as an appendix.

Rujn Rammohan Roy and Clark Marshman, were colla­hornlorN of Digdarshan. Raja Rammohan wrote on scientific topic!! und his eiTorts were original.

" Nitikatha" was published in 1818 and it was -divided into three parts. After Nitikatha, Tarachand Datta's ''Manoran­jnnctihas" was published in 1819. It was not a text book but rneroly a collection of eighteen stories and essays. • The book

• wus first published as one volume. . Later owing to its popu­, Jarity u second volume w~s publi~hed.