This Poila Baisakh (Bengali New Year), Kolkata is in for a real treat.
A landmark show titled HARAF will for the first time ever unveil to the world the original wooden blocks - hand carved and as tiny as a centimetre in size - that gave the world the Bengali language in printed form.
Over two centuries after his death, the invaluable work of Panchanan Karmakar - the man who is referred to as the Father of Bengali typography - including hundreds of the first "harafs" or blocks he etched that led to the first ever book in Bengali and subsequently gave the world a manual to learn the language - will be opened up in an iconic show by his great great granddaughter Priyanka Mullick.
Preserved in pristine condition for over 200 years in his house in Serampore and never believed to have existed are also the original machines Karmakar used to develop the first ever typeface for print in Bengali.
The wooden Bengali alphabet and typeface developed by Karmakar were used until Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar created a simpler version in later years.
Bengalis are today the third-largest ethnic group in the world, after the Han Chinese and Arabs.
With about 226 million native and about 300 million total speakers worldwide, Bengali is one of the most spoken languages, ranked sixth in the world.
Bengali vocabulary includes words borrowed from Sanskrit, Persian and English.
India accorded Bengali the status of a Classical Language on October 3, 2024.
The historic show - being curated and designed by Kolkata's creative giants - Kounteya Sinha and Oiendrila Ray Kapur will also show over 100 rare manuscripts made on palm leaf besides a copy of the first ever newspaper and the first ever Bengali book published in Asia.
The show which opens on April 11 for the public will go on till April 15 - the Bengali New Year.
Such a historic repertoire couldn't have been showcased in a more regal setting than that of Khelat Bhavan - a nearly 200 year old princely private home - in what is one of Kolkata's greatest architectural wonders.
Mullick said "I am a direct descendant of the Karmakar brothers. Since Panchanan had daughters, following his early demise, his lineage continued through his own brother, Gadadhar Karmakar (who is my great grandfather in terms of a direct bloodline). Karmakar is our family라이브 바카라 original surname, originating from the caste – Kamar (sculptors). However, during the reign of Nawab Ali Bardi Khan in Bengal, he gave us the surname ‘Mullick’ as an Upadhi. Since then, Mullick has been used as our official surname for more than four generations now. I am the only daughter of the late Biman Mullick who spent his entire life documenting and preserving this incredible heritage of Bengal".
"I live in Mumbai. In August 2024, I lost my father to a cardiac arrest following which I decided to move back to Serampore. While we had to let go of the front portion of our ancestral home, the same land which belonged to Panchanan Karmakar wherein he founded the type-foundry, I was determined to keep whatever is left. The pressure to let go of old houses is quite high in smaller towns like Serampore and only few people understand the importance of heritage and preservation. I moved back to ensure that under no cost our ancestral house and the legacy my forefathers left behind is destroyed," she added.
Mullick said that the list of objects on display at the historic show would include "Panchanan Karmkar라이브 바카라 invention – the typeface, the Bengali types that were carved by him, a copy of Samachar Darpan, the first ever newspaper published in Asia, a copy of the first book that was printed in Asia – A Grammar of Bengal Language, the hand-moulds, built based on the Johannes Guttenberg technology of printing, a demonstration of how the fonts were produced in bulk from one mother type carved by Panchanan, big machines which were later sent by the British government to enable bulk production of types to boost the rate of printing".
"We will also have scripts in Bengali on handmade paper and palm leaves that were used for formal communication prior to the advent of printing on paper and the motherboard of Bengali types that were used in the Adhar Type Foundry (Adhar Chandra Karmakar was the son of Panchanan라이브 바카라 brother)," Mullick added.
Mullick who is now in her 20s and works with the National Centre for Performing Arts in Mumbai has inherited all of her great great grandfather's original objects of tremendous historical value for both Bengal and India.
An English typographer and Orientalist who supervised Karmakar's work was Charles Wilkin. He was also the first translator of the Bhagavad Gita into English and introduced the term "Hinduism".
Interestingly, it was Karmakar who later developed typefaces in more than 40 other languages including Indian languages as well as Arabic, Persian, Burmese, Japanese and Chinese. Karmakar's work enabled the printing of the first ever book in Bengali – ‘The Grammar of Bengal Language’, by Nathaniel Brassey Halhed. It also enabled the printing of Bengal라이브 바카라 first newspaper – Samachar Darpan. The advent of the typeface also birthed several local press and newspapers which became the voice of the common people in Bengal and later contributed politically. Karmakar also developed the first Nagari type in India to print William Carey's Sanskrit grammar. With Karmakar's help, the Serampore Mission established a foundry for making type, which eventually became Asia's largest type foundry. Karmakar's work gave way to radical printing in Bengal that created a huge opportunity for education and journalism to grow in the former capital of India.
"The 250 year old house that you see today used to be the residential area of my forefathers who ran the Adhar Type Foundry. While a lot of the members moved to the other parts of Bengal including Kolkata, Shantiniketan, Murshidabad etc, for employment or marriage in case of women, my own grandfather and father resided in this house, and I grew up in it and still have my every-day lunch there to make sure that the house is not entirely abandoned. My parents continued to visit it everyday and did annual maintenance to restore the house in good condition".
"Following the demise of my father, I am questioned everyday about my intentions with the house. Given the rampant urbanisation that is ongoing in Serampore, I have been approached by other businesses who wish to transform the house either into a school, an eatery or worse, a banquet hall. While these propositions are enticing since they will bring a sizable income and allow me to better maintain the house and invest in its upkeep, the historic relevance will be lost in the cause and that is something I am not willing to give up under any circumstance. I am keen on restoring the house and converting it into a well-deserved museum for students, tourists, historians and everyone else".
"My father, Biman Mullick, was born and raised in Serampore. He spent the 67 years of his life in the same residence. He was a trained pilot who had to retire from his career under family pressure to look after the business. He spent his whole life trying to safeguard this precious history of Panchanan Karmakar and was the only person in his generation in the family who took interest in the preservation of this legacy. He retrieved whatever could be saved during the demolition of the press and kept them under his private custody to prevent theft and misuse. Others were of the opinion to give them away to some local body who could take care of it but he was vehemently against it. I grew up watching him spend his evenings reading up about Panchanan and his notable work. He would often meet people from Serampore College and the Mission to factcheck the historic events and make sure he makes notes of it".
"He even spent days and evenings and hosted a range of guests – from students to documentarians, visitors, historians, dignitaries from Denmark, Japan, Britain who were more interested in our history than our own countrymen. However, his dedication was rarely encouraged. A lot even borrowed artefacts and failed to return it responsibly. Not a single penny was ever charged by him for any visitor and absolutely nothing in return, only the earnest request to present Panchanan라이브 바카라 work in a bigger forum. From an early age, he would make me sit next to him during these sessions of entertaining guests as he would impart all his knowledge on the subject. My father라이브 바카라 selfless dedication to the cause always inspired me to take this up as a project at some point in life".
Multi award winning journalist and one of India's most revered storytellers Kounteya Sinha - who is curating the show said "The objects to be shown at the historic exhibition need to be saved for posterity. It probably is. Bengal's greatest relics that might not stand the test of time, if not conserved and celebrated. Most antiquities of tremendous value are lost in India every single day because of lack of upkeep. This show hopes to bring the focus on what has never been seen in over 250 years and is the intrinsic DNA of Bengal. Not just the harafs, but Karmakar's stunning house in Serampore also needs to be declared a heritage site of tremendous importance and converted into a more permanent museum in order to save it".
Oiendrila Ray Kapur - the Creative Director of the show who was just recently announced as the Design Icon of East India 2025 said "We couldn't have asked for a better venue for the show than Khelat Bhavan. A heritage show in a heritage structure - celebrating Bengal all through. I intend to turn the 180 year old Khelat Bhavan into a venerable museum not just celebrating Karmakar's incredible work but also Bengal's creative legacy as a whole".
Several studies say Bengali as a language has more than 100,000 unique words and is borrowed from Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Sanskrit, Japanese, Dutch, Portuguese, French and English.
Karmakar belonged to a family of sculptors who were in the business for several generations. He was known for the finesse he delivered in his sculptures and had sharp skills to carve very intricate and delicate designs on metals. When the British were scouting for artists and sculptors who would be able to replicate the Gutenberg technology, their own craftsmen failed to design the Bengali font on the narrow tip of a metal/wooden block.
"Following which, they started to source local artists in Bengal who failed as well. A gentleman then recommended the British officials to meet the Karmakar brothers and give it a try. While the officials were hesitant to appoint the brothers this mammoth task given that both the brothers were quite young, they were delightfully surprised when the first batch of Bengali fonts were delivered. After only a few attempts, Panchanan was able to do the impossible, develop the first ever typeface (Haraf) for print in Bangla," Mullick said.
Karmakar passed away in 1804 at the age of 54.
Serampore is a town on the banks of the Hooghly River and roughly 20 kms from Kolkata.
It was part of Danish India under the name Frederick Nagore from 1755 to 1845. It used to be one of most thriving centres for trade Items such as silk and cotton given the advantage of its geographical location. Besides its rich colonial history, Serampore is popular for the five following reasons. Serampore was a pilgrimage site for Hindus for almost 700 years before the colonial period. The second oldest Rath Yatra in India began in Serampore.
The Denmark Government, as a part of its restoration project has rebuilt The Denmark Tavern, St Olav's Church and inaugurated a museum to maintain the historic and cultural relationship between two countries. These developments have paved the way for tourists visiting and staying in Serampore. The Serampore College, the first Theological University of Asia, was founded in 1818 by Rev Dr William Carey the Father of Modern Mission. Established in 1818, it is the fourth oldest college in the country after Old Seminary, Kottayam, CMS College, Kottayam and Presidency College in Kolkata, and one of the oldest continuously operating educational institutes in India.
The Serampore Mission on the other hand was India's first Christian missionary organization, established in 1800 by William Carey, Joshua Marshman, and William Ward. William Carey was instrumental in translating the Bible into Bengali, Oriya, Marathi, Hindi, Assamese, and Sanskrit, as well as parts of it into 29 other languages and dialects, following the advent of fonts by Panchanan Karmakar.
The Serampore Mission Press produced 212,000 books between 1800 and 1832, including a Bengali translation of the Gospel according to St Matthew in 1800. Serampore was also the hub of printing and home to the first type foundry in Asia. Printing techniques, inspired from the West, were adapted to suit local needs and it paved the way for printing not just on paper but even on textiles.
