Azdarar

{{Short description|First Armenian language newspaper}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}

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| name = Azdarar

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| image = File:Azdarar.jpg

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| foundation = October 16, 1794

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| publisher = Harutyun Shmavonyan

| editor = Harutyun Shmavonyan

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| language = Western Armenian

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| headquarters = Madras, Madras Presidency, British India

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Azdarar ({{langx|hy|Ազդարար}}) (pronounced Aztarar in Western Armenian) was the first Armenian language newspaper ever published. It was established on October 16, 1794, in the city of Madras (now Chennai) in India by Father Harutyun Shmavonyan.{{cite book|author=Mesrovb Jacob Seth|title=Armenians in India, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day: A Work of Original Research|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BlreO8bmK30C&pg=PA598|accessdate=24 June 2016|year=1937|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=978-81-206-0812-2|page=597}}{{cite book|author=Sebouh Aslanian|title=From the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean: The Global Trade Networks of Armenian Merchants from New Julfa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l0Kn-DMl5ZoC&pg=PA87|accessdate=24 June 2016|date=4 May 2011|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-94757-3|pages=87–}}{{cite web | url=http://www.panorama.am/en/news/2015/10/16/armenia-press/1463641 | title=October 16 is Armenian Press Day | publisher=Panorama. | date=16 October 2015 | accessdate=24 June 2016}} It is also the first non-English newspaper to be published in India.{{cite book|author=Kartar Lalvani|title=The Making of India: The Untold Story of British Enterprise|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q4SlCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA383|accessdate=25 June 2016|date=10 March 2016|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4729-2484-1|pages=383–}} The monthly covered mainly cultural and historical issues.

Azdarar continued for a year and a half until March 1796. During that period, Father Shmavonian published 18 issues, 965 pages in total.