Bengali bhadralok and the Bengali press: a study of the early nineteenth century

ABSTRACT Bengal occupies a special position in the history of Indian journalism as the journey of the first English newspaper and, after that, the first vernacular newspaper, started from here. The country had the tradition of writing newsletters, but newspapers were a European import. Unlike other means of communication, newspapers were free from direct government control and they flourished mostly as private endeavours. This apparent independence was often undermined by the indirect influence exerted by the state which was run by a mercantile company in the first half of the nineteenth century. The present paper probes to seek the reasons behind the late arrival of newspapers in Bengal/India, then their negotiations with the state power and finally their reincarnation in the hands of the socio-religious reformers of the Bengali bhadralok section. The Bengali press burgeoned under the patronage of this group, which can be closely linked with the bhadralok’s intent of appropriating and communicating knowledge. To fulfil this aim, they also established different Sabhas or associations and brought out newspapers as the mouthpiece of those organisations. These Sabhas and the newspapers associated with them worked together in establishing the locations of knowledge production and its dissemination; thus, influencing public debates in the first half of the nineteenth century.