Panchanan Karmakar
{{infobox person
| name = Panchanan Karmakar
| native_name = পঞ্চানন কর্মকার
| native_name_lang = bn
| birth_place = Jirat, Hooghly, Bengal Presidency, British India
| death_date = 1804
}}
Panchanan Karmakar (Mallick) (died c. 1804) was an Indian Bengali inventor, born at Tribeni, Hooghly, Bengal Presidency, British India, hailed from Serampore. He assisted Charles Wilkins in creating the first Bangla type.{{cite book |last=Islam |first=Sirajul |year=2012 |chapter=Panchanan Karmakar |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Panchanan_Karmakar |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Hossain |editor2-first=Ayub |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=Asiatic Society of Bangladesh |access-date=2016-03-21 |archive-date=2016-04-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403121143/http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Panchanan_Karmakar |url-status=live}}{{cite news |last1=Datta |first1=Rangan |title=How a blacksmith from Serampore created the first Bengali typeface 250 years ago |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/my-kolkata/people/how-panchanan-karmakar-a-blacksmith-from-sodepur-created-the-first-bengali-typeface-200-years-ago/cid/2089463 |access-date=3 April 2025 |agency=My Kolkata |publisher=The Telegraph |date=18 March 2025}} His metal Bengali alphabet and typeface had been used until Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar proposed a simplified version.{{cite web |url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Vidyasagar,_Ishwar_Chandra |title=Vidyasagar, Pundit Iswar Chandra |website=Banglapedia |accessdate=March 20, 2016 |author=Ghulam Morshed |archive-date=December 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225011713/http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Vidyasagar,_Ishwar_Chandra |url-status=live}} Apart from Bangla, Karmakar developed type in 14 languages, including Arabic, Persian, Marathi, Telugu, Burmese and Chinese.
Early life and career
File:A Grammar of the Bengal Language.png
Karmakar was born in Tribeni.{{Cite web |script-title=bn:পঞ্চানন কর্মকার |url=http://onushilon.org/corita/poncan-kormokar.htm |access-date=2021-07-04 |website=onushilon.org |archive-date=2021-07-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709183714/http://onushilon.org/corita/poncan-kormokar.htm |url-status=live}} His ancestors were calligraphers; they inscribed names and decorations on copper plates, weapons, metal pots, etc. One of Panchanan Karmakar’s ancestors was known for carving designs on swords, shields and armours for one of the nawabs of Bengal, Alivardi Khan. He received the title of Mullick.
Andrews, a Christian missionary, had a printing press at Hughli. In order to print Nathaniel Brassey Halhed's A Grammar of the Bengal Language, he needed a Bangla type. Under the supervision of English typographer Charles Wilkins, Karmakar{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SdUFVbSLBJgC&pg=PA50 |title=Book History - Ezra Greenspan, Jonathan Rose |date=September 2003 |isbn=0271023309 |accessdate=2015-06-02 |last1=Greenspan |first1=Ezra |last2=Rose |first2=Jonathan}} created the first Bengali typeface for printing.{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/worksedbyerrost00unkngoog |page=[https://archive.org/details/worksedbyerrost00unkngoog/page/n282 273] |quote=charles wilkins. |title=Works [ed. by E.R. Rost]. - Horace Hayman Wilson - |via=Internet Archive |year=1865 |accessdate=2015-06-02}}{{Cite news |script-title=bn:পঞ্চানন কর্মকার, তাঁর হাতেই ছাপার হরফ পেল বাংলা |url=https://eisamay.com/cover-story/panchanan-karmakar-bengali-printing-alphabet-maker/articleshow/71202265.cms |access-date=2024-06-10 |work=Ei Samay Sangbadpatra |language=bn}}{{Cite journal |last=Sarkar |first=Krishna Kumar |date=2024-01-01 |title=Bangla Haraf Nirmata Panchanan Karmakar |url=https://www.academia.edu/113768090/Bangla_Haraf_Nirmata_Panchanan_Karmakar |journal=Paschimbanga Itihas Samsad}}
In 1779, Karmakar moved to Kolkata to work for Wilkins' new printing press. In Chinsurah, Hooghly. In 1801, he developed a typeface for British missionary William Carey's Bangla translation of the New Testament.{{cite news |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Flower-power-resurrects-Carey-legacy/articleshow/11815226.cms |title=Flower power resurrects Carey legacy |date=February 9, 2012 |accessdate=March 20, 2016 |newspaper=The Times of India |author=TNN |archive-date=January 5, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170105094801/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Flower-power-resurrects-Carey-legacy/articleshow/11815226.cms |url-status=live}} In 1803, Karmakar developed a set of Devnagari script, the first Nagari type to be developed in India.
References
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External links
- [https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Panchanan_Karmakar Panchanan_Karmakar in Banglapedia]
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Category:Indian typographers and type designers
Category:People from Hooghly district
Category:19th-century Indian designers
Category:18th-century Indian inventors
Category:19th-century Indian inventors