https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Fardunjee_MarzbanFardunjee Marzban - Revision history2026-07-31T13:50:11ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Fardunjee_Marzban&diff=464547&oldid=prevLolitaErurf at 01:43, 25 March 20252025-03-25T01:43:23Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Printer and newspaper editor}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2018}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2018}}<br />
'''Fardunjee Marzaban''' or '''Fardoonjee Marazban''' (22 August 1787– 17 March 1847)<ref name="Buckland_278">CE Buckland, ''Dictionary of Indian Biography'', (New Delhi: Cosmo Publications, 1999), p. 278</ref> was, among other things, a printer and a newspaper editor. He established the first vernacular printing press in [[Bombay]], India.<ref name="Priolkar_78">AK Priolkar, ''The Printing Press in India: Its Beginnings and Early Development'', (Mumbai: Marathi Samsodhana Mandala, 1958), p. 78</ref> He also started India’s oldest running periodical called the ''[[Bombay Samachar]]'', which was printed primarily in Gujarati. He pioneered vernacular journalism in India,<ref>see endnote: Arun Chaudhuri, ''Indian Advertising: 1750 to 1950 A.D.'', (New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill, 2007), p. 256; see also: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bombay-times/Culture-talk/articleshow/1809179847.cms (retrieved: 31 August 2010)</ref> as also the production of Gujarati types.<ref>These types were not, however, very elegant, but it must be remembered that these resulted from a pioneering enterprise. Gujarati types would be improved by Ganpat Kishanji and Javji Dadaji. See Priolkar, ''The Printing Press in India'', pp. 78, 101-2.</ref><br />
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==Life and work==<br />
Fardunjee Marzban was born at [[Surat]]<ref name="Naregal_178">Veena Naregal, ''Language Politics, Elites, and the Public Sphere'', (New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, 2001), p. 178</ref> in 1787 into a family of [[Parsi]]-[[Zoroastrian]] priests in [[Gujarat]], and initially trained for the priesthood. His father and grandfather had been scholars of Zoroastrian religious literature (i.e. Middle Persian and Avestan texts), and Marzban followed their example.<br />
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In 1805, Fardunji went to Bombay<ref name="Buckland_278"/> and learnt Persian and Arabic languages under Mulla Feroze. In 1808, Fardunji opened a book-bindery.<ref name="Priolkar_78"/><br />
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It was while working as a book binder that he met the printer Jijibhai Chhapghar. Perhaps it was his interaction with Jijibhai Chhapghar that inspired Fardunji to open an Indian printing press.<ref>paraphrase of a quotation in Priolkar, ''The Printing Press in India'', p. 73</ref> [[File:A Page from the Gujarati translation of 'Dabistān-i Mazāhibm' prepared and printed by Fardunji Marzban (1815).jpg|thumb|A Page from Fardunji's ''[[Dabestan-e Mazaheb|Dabistān-i Mazāhibm]]'' (1815)]]<br />
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The press was set up in 1812, but the first book would not be printed until 1814. This book would be an Almanac for the Hindu [[Samvat]] Year 1871.<ref name="Priolkar_78"/> No copy of the work survives.<ref name="Priolkar_78"/><br />
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Between 1814 and 1822 he printed several other works. In 1815 he printed a Gujarati translation of the Persian book ''[[Dabestan-e Mazaheb|Dabistān-i Mazāhibm]]'',<ref name="Buckland_278"/> which he had himself prepared. The work was priced at Rs 15 per copy.<ref name="Priolkar_78"/> In 1817 he published a Gujarati translation of the [[Khordeh Avesta]].<br />
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Later, he would also publish translations of the ''[[Shahnameh]]'' in 1833, the ''[[Gulistan of Sa'di|Gulistan]]'' in 1838, the ''[[Bostan (book)|Bostan]]'' (posthumously in 1849). He even published a Persian dictionary in 1833.<ref name="Buckland_278"/><br />
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Fardunji’s ''[[Bombay Samachar]]'', which started off as a weekly paper, priced at Rs 2 per month,<ref name="Naregal_178"/> was turned into a daily in 1832.<ref name="Priolkar_78"/> It would serve as a template for the foundation of several other Parsi-run newspapers, including the Indian Spectator (later the Voice of India) and the Bombay Times (now a supplement of the Times of India).<br />
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1832 was not a fortuitous year for Fardunji Marzban. He had to withdraw from the Bombay Samachar that year. It appears that his printing Gujarati translations of Parsi scriptures caused great controversy. In addition to this, he also lost his trading ship (which traded with China) that he owned. The ship was called ''Hindustan''. Perhaps because of these double losses in his journalistic enterprise and trade, he had to leave Bombay.<ref>In a footnote, Naregal, ''Language Politics, Elites, and the Public Sphere'', p. 178</ref><br />
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He went to Daman, then a Portuguese settlement, where he practiced medicine.<ref>The Portuguese settlement would then have been the joint territory of Goa, Daman and Diu. See Buckland, ''Dictionary of Indian Biography'', p. 278; and Naregal’s footnote, ''Language Politics, Elites, and the Public Sphere'', p. 178. Also, Buckland qualifies that it was an ‘oriental’ medicine that Fardunji practiced.</ref> He died on 23 March 1847.<ref name="Buckland_278"/><br />
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==Notes==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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==References==<br />
{{refbegin}}<br />
* {{citation|last=Darukhanawala|first=Hormusji Dhunjishaw|title=Parsi Lustre on Indian Soil|volume=1|year=1939|publisher=G. Claridge|location=Bombay}}<br />
{{refend}}<br />
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==See also==<br />
*[[Bhimjee Parikh]]<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Marzban, Fardunjee}}<br />
[[Category:1787 births]]<br />
[[Category:1847 deaths]]<br />
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[[Category:People from Surat]]<br />
[[Category:Businesspeople from British India]]<br />
[[Category:Journalists from British India]]<br />
[[Category:Parsi people]]<br />
[[Category:Indian newspaper founders]]<br />
[[Category:People from Bombay Presidency]]</div>LolitaErurf