Panchanan Karmakar
| Panchanan Karmakar | |
|---|---|
| Native name | পঞ্চানন কর্মকার |
| Born | Triveni village, Hooghly district, Bengal Presidency, British India |
| Died | 1804 |
Panchanan Karmakar (died c. 1804) was an Indian Bengali inventor. He invented the Bangla font.[1] His wooden Bengali alphabet and typeface had been used until Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar proposed a simplified version in 1780.[2] Apart from Bangla, Karmakar developed type in 14 languages, including Arabic, Persian, Marathi, Telegu, Burmese and Chinese.[1]
Early life and career
Karmakar was born in Triveni village in Hooghly district. His ancestors were calligraphers; they inscribed names and decorations on copper plates, weapons, metal pots, etc.[1]
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.[1] Under the supervision of English typographer Charles Wilkins, Karmakar[3] created the first Bengali typeface for printing.[4]
In 1779, Karmakar moved to Kolkata to work for Wilkins' new printing press.[1] In 1801, he developed a typeface for British missionary William Carey's Bangla translation of the New Testament.[5] In 1803, Karmakar developed a set of Devnagari script, the first Nagari type to be developed in India.[1]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Islam, Sirajul (2012). "Panchanan Karmakar". In Islam, Sirajul; Hossain, Ayub. Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
- ↑ Ghulam Morshed. "Vidyasagar, Pundit Iswar Chandra". Banglapedia. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
- ↑ "Book History - Ezra Greenspan, Jonathan Rose". Books.google.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
- ↑ "Works [ed. by E.R. Rost]. - Horace Hayman Wilson -". Books.google.com. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
- ↑ TNN (February 9, 2012). "Flower power resurrects Carey legacy". The Times of India. Retrieved March 20, 2016.