Patrakar Din: In memory of Balshastri Jambhekar, who started first Marathi newspaper

The Maharashtra Government has declared Patrakar Din on January 6 on the occasion of Balshastri Jambhekar's birthday. This day is celebrated in the state of Maharashtra.

Contribution of Jambhekar to journalism

Balshastri Jambhekar is the first poet of Marathi language. He started the first Marathi language newspaper Darpan on 6th January 1832. The last issue of Darpan was published in July 1840.

With the help of Govind Kunte (Bhau Mahajan), he launched Darpan, the first newspaper in Marathi. The first issue of 'Darpan' was published on 6 January 1832. In order to reach the masses, 'Darpan' was compulsorily produced in Marathi language.

At the same time, a column was written in 'Darpan' in English language so that the English rulers could understand the problems and feelings of the locals.

Difficulties faced to run newspaper in British Era

As the concept of a newspaper was not rooted in the minds of common people at that time, 'Darpan' did not get a large number of subscribers initially. But as this concept took root in society, so did the thoughts in it and the response kept increasing. Running a newspaper and gaining readership was a very difficult task during the British era. But during this period too, reformers ran their newspapers by not accepting any principle of profit. Balshastri Jambhekar's Darpan was the pioneer of such newspapers.

Published on: Thursday, January 05, 2023, 03:43 PM IST