The spread of print in colonial India : into the hinterland

This study focuses on the spread of print in colonial India towards the middle and end of the nineteenth century. Till the first half of the century, much of the print production in the subcontinent emanated from presidency cities such as Calcutta, Bombay and Madras, along with centres of missionary production such as Serampore. But with the growing socialization of print and the entry of local entrepreneurs into the field, print began to spread from the metropole to the provinces, from large cities to mofussil towns. This Element will look at this phenomenon in eastern India, and survey how printing spread from Calcutta to centres such as Hooghly-Chinsurah, Murshidabad, Burdwan, Rangpur etc. The study will particularly consider the rise of periodicals and newspapers in the mofussil, and asses their contribution to a nascent public sphere. Cover 1 Title page 1 Copyright page 2 The Spread of Print in Colonial India: Into the Hinterland 3 Contents 4 Introduction 5 The Case of Colonial Bengal 7 Reading the Archives 11 Prologue: The Three Journeys of Gangakishore Bhattacharya 13 1 Out of Serampore 17 True to Type 19 Spreading the Net 22 Going West 23 The Trail of Textbooks 32 The Rise of English 35 2 Out of Calcutta 41 The Pre-Catalogue Period 44 Returns of the Raj 49 Twin tales: Hooghly-Chinsurah 56 Life after the Baptists: Serampore Redux 63 Patronage and Print: Burdwan 68 Changaripota: A Railway Story 72 The Village Rises: Kumarkhali 75 A Bend in History: Murshidabad 79 New Directions: Rungpore 83 Conclusion: The End of a Beginning? 85 Epilogue: The Many Beatitudes of Kangal Harinath 91 List of Abbreviations 94 References 95 Acknowledgements 102