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II
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..
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. soo 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
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Foreword
Preface
CONTENTS
One : Children's Books
Two :Children's Periodicals
v
VII
I
22
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. 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
')
c o ~ l c a l 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 Euro-
peans 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
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I
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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 mate-
rials to researchers, publishers, libraries and organisations
working for children's literature. The Academy organised
National Seminar on Childrens 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 partici-
pated 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, Anil
hfJJ*d to,publiab tbe:book in short t1me. To 1-must
!. '. . :, . '
apwa my aratit.,.de for the troubles taken by Mr. Gote
K,liaabera of the University, Sweden and President
of the '.'IQternatioaal Resew;ch, Society .for Children's.
ture" for me iri my with his. Foreword.
. ProJaah :a.J.ao Dey.
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Joaladra Nath Sarker
Aabanindra Nath
Upendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury
Kulada Ranjan Roy
mem
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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
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men
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he1p
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exp1
Klill
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ture
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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
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 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
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.tanoran-
janetihas" was publishedin-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
I , ', L
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ManoraDjanetihas was followed in 1820 by Ram Kamal
"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, 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. Bengali, lent a peculia-
rly alien twist to '!fhe language. The Bengali of the
essays were more Sanskritic than ever before and they lacked
punctuatioa marks.
Wood's Henry" was published in 1824,
: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 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
stories, dramas and poems.
In 1838 .Gopal Lal Mitra's "Jnan was
published. It frankly admited that it.. .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
Soon the need for juvlnile literature and scbool,books were
felt to promote our dch cultural heritage and e.lU'ich our
mother tongue. Datta was ll contemporary of
Vidyasagar, both beina::born in the same year (1820). They
left the deepest impressiotl on the children's of . theit
days. Their style served as example to muy a literatures
of later days and both of them did a 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'
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 Society-the
Society itself wind after twelve years of 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
merely one of text bookS. The unrhythmic la1:1guaae, hackoe ..
3
;ted style and inclination to imitation have all acted as
ments to its success.
Several years following 1840 was the period of the
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 were being added
to them. It was Vidyasagar who lifted Bengali
Jiterature 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 indomitable-
personality". 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 this-
change. 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 "Katha-
mala", "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. 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
readers beyond the : orbit of schools. The sacred touoh of
Vidyasagar purified the children's literature of all the previous-
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 ...
... '- r. UBodhodaya".
,:4
Manjari" were his works for the chi.biren. 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 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 Samaj", transcribed in
English as .the Vernacular Literature Committee. With it was
incorporated "Gurhasthya Bangia Pustak Sangraha". The
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 revised by
Vidyasagar: UAkhyan published in 1863 was
haps .Vidya&agar!s last 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, 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,"
contained a number of sGientific essays land some were inten-
sely' patriotic which could inspire 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 1853-1856 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 tran-
slated a few pieces from Hans Anderson. His. "Duck
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
6
I

came out in 1859. It was illustrated with 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 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
a Sanskrit couplet a then illustrating the same. Bengali
writings by then had, advanced beyond Sanskrit infiuence,s
with pauses based English syntaxes.
. 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
that it was not a prescribed text book.
1
As

Madhusudan
became pioneer in publishing an extra 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
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
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 tran-
slation 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 Mukho-
padhya'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, pub-
lished 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
under the joint authorship of Long and Madhusudan Mukho-
padhya .. 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,
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 Chatto-
padhya'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 those 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 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 carne from the
immortal pen of Jogindtanath 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,ssons-
to 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.
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
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 produced. were literary classics
meant for home studylnd prize purposes. The contents were
quite different from earlierchildren's literature. Both childrenr
and' their guardians. , were grateful to Jogindranath. But
Jbgindranath Sarkar, to the idea of periodicals collec-
ted variety of poems,,,stories, essays on animals, puzzles,
and letters. Hence we may say that the 19th century juvenile"
journals paved the way for this.
Naba Krishna Bhattacharya, Upendrakishore Ro.y Chow-
dhury, Promoda Charan, Sen, Rajkrishna Roy, Jogendranath.
Bose were a few stalwarts of that age. Juvenile literature of-
this period drew heavily from the_ folk literature of
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.
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 his-
sitnplicity 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
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
the circle left' incomplete by Jogindranath Sarker.
All his writings appeared like 'paintings in the literary frame ..
and the sketches were superb. In 1896 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
derives pleasure. Petbaps none, before Rabindranath wrote
poem! from the points of the children. "Sisbu" bad earned an.
immortal place in Bengali juvenile literature.
Jogindranatb Sarkar, published his --Hasi Kbusbi
1
', 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
which was published in 1898. It also contained fairy
;tales. Another great work of Jogindranatb was the collection'
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 Cbbara" (rhymes-
ror the little girls). Most of the Cbbaras refer to little boys and
1
bnly a few to girls. It is difficult to date these chbaras.
11
Books on the lives and habits of animals were published in
19th century' but they were air school books. At the
1
beginning of the 20th century (t9(}lJ, Dwijendranatb Bose
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 inde-
pendent 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 Ill the line. Upendra
Kishore was the first :to introduce children to the pre-historic
.age. The bo.ok was ertitled 1"Sekaler and was
serialised in ''Mukul" and was, in 1903. All the
pictures were by the author himself. Several stories of "Ashare
.Oalpa" were 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 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 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 impro-
rved, 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 inexhaus-
tible source of delight to the readers but became a trend
setter as well. One them "Hind'\lsthani lJpakatha" was
writteQ, by Sita Santa It was, of course no
priginal work-a 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 . \yho introduced
.adventure stories in Bengali. His famous book "Jakher
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 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 "Tuktuke-
Ramayan'' 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 Debendra-
nath, 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
decade of the 19th century by various original writings.
But 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 PinCio as Panchtilal: Charu Chandra
-r6
/ -'/

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 anumber of
authors wrote on various topics to enrich the stores of kndw
ledge of our boys and girls. Thet;'e were poets,
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 in its introduction
no one before him attempted to write on botanical subjects.
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 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 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 litera-
tu.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 Chou-
dhuri 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 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
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 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
it to lash at the unhealthy prejudices ingrained in the
minds of our
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
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
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 litera-
ture. A year later 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 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 illustra-
ted, and the illustrations are of a very high
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 ~ s s o n s 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 Yogendra-
babu 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 regar-
ded 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 wood-
cut 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 1881 'Balak Band.bu'
reappeared as a.mpnthly only to disappear soon. In 1886, it
24
became a fortnightly, asit 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 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 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
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 histori-
cal 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 'Sisu-
bandhab' 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, 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
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
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 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 efortsand
experiments of the nineteenth century. They served as beacon
lights to the 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 decora-
ting the childrens' magazines.
At the begining of the twenteeth century, perhaps
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 pub-
lished. 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 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 '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 &
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 well-
known 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
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 .. 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",
furthar details are available about it. In that year was
published the "Saji" under the editorship of Lalit Moban
;Mqkherjee. That , 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 editor-
tbip 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. came out in 1346 "Kishore
All&" under the editorship of Keshab Chakraborty. Though
tbortlived, it created a stir in the juvenile world for some-
time. 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
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 newspaper for the children, under the:
editorship of Khagendra Nath Mitra on the 4th of April
Unfortunately it could not live for more than eight
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 those-
that 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
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 paper-
for boys and girls published in India.
32
members of Academy in publishing this book. 1 am also thank-
ful 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 Society for Children's Litera-
ture" for encouraging me in my work with his Foreword.
Provasb Ronjan Dey,
Jogindra Nath Sarker Aabanindra Nath
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
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 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 colla-
hornlorN 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 ''Manoran-
jnnctihas" 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