Felorox at 16:32, 28 June 2025

2025-06-28T16:32:43Z

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{{short description|Printing press}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox publisher
|name=Lodhiana Mission Press
|founder=John Newton<br>James Wilson
|founded=December 1835
|topics=Christian proselytism<br>Christian evangelism
|caption=Title-page of 'A Dictionary of the Panjabi Language' by the Ludhiana Mission (1854)
|image=Title-page of 'A Dictionary of the Panjabi Language' by the Ludhiana Mission (1854).jpg
|country=[[British India]]
|headquarters=[[Ludhiana]]
|parent=The Ludhiana Mission of the [[Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)|American Presbyterian Church]]}}

The '''Ludhiana Mission Press''', archaically spelt as '''Lodhiana Mission Press''' and also known as the '''American Missionary Press, Ludhiana''', was a press of the Ludhiana Mission established by [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]] missionaries in [[Ludhiana]] in 1835.{{Efn|The printing press sometimes referred to itself as 'The American Presbyterian Mission Press' in its publications.|group=note}}<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Lent |first=John A. |date=1980 |title=The Missionary Press of Asia, 1550 - 1860 |url=https://www.nomos-elibrary.de/10.5771/0010-3497-1980-2-119.pdf?download_full_pdf=1 |journal=Communicatio Socialis |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=119–141|doi=10.5771/0010-3497-1980-2-119 }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Bhagat |title=The Encyclopedia of Sikhism |publisher=Patiala Punjabi University |year=2002 |isbn=8173801002 |editor-last=Singh |editor-first=Harbans |edition=4th |volume=1: A–D |pages=71 |chapter=Akhbar Ludhiana}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Oberoi |first=Harjot |title=The Construction of Religious Boundaries: Culture, Identity, and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition |date=15 December 1994 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=9780226615929 |edition=Illustrated |pages=273 |chapter=The Interpretive Process}}</ref> It was the main source for Christian literature in the [[North-Western Provinces|northwest provinces]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shaw |first=Graham W. |date=Winter 1979 |title=The First Printing Press in the Punjab |journal=The Library Chronicle |pages=159–179}}</ref>

== History ==

=== Background ===
In 1833, the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Mission of the United States of America sent two missionaries, John C. Lowrie and William Reed, to India (alongside their wives).<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Kaur |first=Maninder |date=May 2018 |title=The American Presbyterian Mission in Colonial Punjab: Contribution in Social and Religious Fields (1834-1930) |url=http://www.socialresearchfoundation.com/upoadreserchpapers/5/210/1807140521371st%20maninder%20kaur.pdf |journal=Remarking an Analisation |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=101–107}}</ref> After arriving in India, they were advised by fellow missionaries, Alexander Duff and Charles Trevelyan, to target the [[Punjab]] and [[Sikhs]] in-specific for Christian evangelization efforts.<ref name=":2" /> Sikhs were thought to be good candidates for Christian prosletyzation and especially susceptible to Christianization because they rejected the [[idolatry]] and [[Caste|caste system]] prevalent in [[Hinduism]] and were viewed as a community with an independent-mindset.<ref name=":2" /> The British political agent stationed at Ludhiana, [[Claude Martin Wade]], invited the Presbyterian missionaries.<ref name=":2" /> The wife of John Lowrie passed away and William Reed left India, so John proceeded to Ludhiana with the intention of establishing a school.<ref name=":2" />

=== Establishment and work ===
In November 1834, John Lowrie of the [[Presbyterian Mission Agency|American Presbyterian Mission Society]], established the first Presbyterianism [[Christian mission|mission station]] in Ludhiana.<ref name=":2" /> It was the first American Presbyterian Mission Station established outside of the United States of America.<ref name=":2" /> Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the Sikh ruler of the independent Sikh kingdom to the northwest, invited John Lowrie to establish a school in his empire for the offspring of nobles but the plans fell-through because the Maharaja opposed the missionary practice of teaching the [[Gospel]] in study of literature and science.<ref name=":2" />

According to Sahar Afshar, the Ludhiana Mission was established in Ludhiana, Punjab for the following reasons:<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Afshar |first=Sahar |url=https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/14181/1/Afshar%2C%20Sahar%20PhD%20Thesis%20published_Final%20version_Submitted%20Apr%202022_Final%20Award%20Jan%202023.pdf |title=Gurmukhi printing types: an historical analysis of British design, development, and distribution in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries |date=April 2022 |publisher=Birmingham City University |pages=115–153 |chapter=4. The onset of Gurmukhi printing in India}}</ref>

* Natives who came across as "less biased" in their attachment to what the missionaries perceived to be pagan ways.<ref name=":4" />
* An eagerness amongst natives to become acquainted with the English language.<ref name=":4" />
* A comparatively healthy population.<ref name=":4" />
* A destitution of Christian missionary instruction in the region.<ref name=":4" />
* The proximity of Punjab to regions such as Afghanistan, Tibet, and Kashmir, with which established trades were already in place commercially linking the Punjab to them.<ref name=":4" />
* The city of Ludhiana (to which they referred as ''Lodiana'') was chosen for its accessibility potential, possibly even being able to surpass Calcutta in this regard.<ref name=":4" /> Plans were being drafted for steamship routes connecting Bombay and England together.<ref name=":4" /> The Sutlej River located in Punjab was viewed as a convenient means of riverine travel for missionaries and travellers.<ref name=":4" />

In December 1835, two missionaries arrived at the Ludhiana Mission with their wives, they were John Newton and James Wilson.<ref name=":2" /> Earlier, before leaving Calcutta for their mission in Ludhiana, Newton and Wilson were gifted an old, wooden printing press, paper, and ink by Reverend William H. Pierce of the Baptist Mission Press.<ref name=":3" /> However, Newton and Wilson did not possess the technical know-how on how to operate the printing press, therefore Pierce instructed a Bengali compositor to go along with them.<ref name=":3" /> The printing press was founded by two Presbyterian missionaries, reverends John Newton and James Wilson, in Ludhiana in December 1835.<ref name=":0" />

In an 1886 work, recalling the establishment of the Ludhiana Mission Press, Newton states:<ref name=":4" />

{{Blockquote|text=When Mr. Wilson and I were first in Calcutta, on our way to Lodiana, we were advised to take with us a printing press. We accordingly bought an old-fashioned wooden press, (such as were still sometimes used in those days), together with a font or two of types, paper, and printing ink. These we got from the Baptist Mission Press, then working under the superintendence of the Rev. Wm. H. Pierce, a gentleman of most lovely character, who greatly befriended our predecessors as well as ourselves. We had, neither of us, any knowledge of press work, but Mr. Pierce gave us one of his own native compositors, to assist in inaugurating the work. In the course of the next year after our arrival, that is, in 1836, a small house was built, with three apartments, one for the types and press, another for blank paper and printed matter, and the third for a Book Bindery [sic].|author=John Newton (Allahabad, Allahabad Mission Press, 1886)|title=''Historical Sketches of the India Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America: Known as the Lodiana, the Farrukhabad, and the Kolhapur Missions; from the Beginning of the Work in 1834 to the Time of Its Fiftieth Anniversary in 1884''}}

The mission press published works in almost every language and script used in the Punjab.<ref name=":2" /> It focused a lot of its efforts on the distribution of literature in the Punjab.<ref name=":2" /> To spread Christianity, the missionaries of the press established Christian religious classes on Sundays, preached at the public ''[[bazaar]]s'', and handed-out their literature.<ref name=":2" /> In early 1836, John Lowrie, the founder of the Ludhiana Mission, returned home due to poor health.<ref name=":2" /> In 1836, a Bengali compositor from the Baptist Mission Press in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] gave instruction to John Newton on mechanical printing.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" /> Later in 1836 during the summertime, the first work of the Ludhiana Mission Press was published.<ref name=":0" /> In 1838, the mission press printed 57,743 [[Tract (literature)|tracts]] and 500 sections of the [[Bible]] to be distributed at festivals and missionary gatherings.<ref name=":2" /> In 1844, the press published a religious paper known as the ''Pilgrim's Progress''.<ref name=":2" /> In the same year, a Bible histories that was 128-pages in-length was also released.<ref name=":2" /> In 1845, a fire devastated the printing press.<ref name=":0" />
[[File:Title-page of 'Bible Diyan Kahaniaan' by the Ludhiana Mission Press, 1877.jpg|thumb|Title-page of 'Bible Diyan Kahaniaan' by the Ludhiana Mission Press, 1877]]
The mission press published some of the earliest works on the Punjabi-language, such as a study of its [[grammar]] (1851) and [[Lexis (linguistics)|lexis]] (1854).<ref name=":2" /> During the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|Sepoy Mutiny of 1857]], the press was burnt down by rebelling [[sepoy]]s.<ref name=":0" /> In 1868, the mission started publishing a religious newspaper called ''Makhzan-i-Masihi'' in Allahabad.<ref name=":2" /> The mission published a translation of the New Testament in Punjabi in 1868.<ref name=":2" /> In 1873, the mission press started publishing a weekly periodical in Persian and Urdu.<ref name=":0" /> This was the only Christian newspaper printed in the Urdu language at the time.<ref name=":2" /> In 1885, 25,000 copies of tracts and books were published by the press.{{Efn|It was reported that in 1888, the total number of pages printed up to the end of October the same year by the press was at-least 14,441,714 pages.|group=note}}<ref name=":2" /> By 1908, this figure had risen to 56,708 copies.<ref name=":2" /> The mission press had sold more than 11,000 Bible portions.<ref name=":2" /> In 1930, the mission press handed-out 38,000 pieces of literature (including both non-Bible literature and Bible portions) for free.<ref name=":2" />

The mission press employed eighty-two Muslims, three Hindus, and thirteen Christians.<ref name=":2" />

=== ''Lodhiana Akhbar'' ===
Between 1836 and at-least 1841, the press published a newspaper, ''Lodhiana Akhbar'' in the [[Persian language|Persian-language]], the first newspaper of the Punjab.{{Efn|Some sources name the newspaper as ''Akhbar Ludhiana'' or ''The Lodhiana Akhbar''.|group=note}}<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Some sources state the newspaper was created in November 1834 through the sponsorship of the [[North-West Frontier States Agency|British Northwest Frontier Agency]].<ref name=":1" /> Claude Martin Wade helped with the starting of the newspaper and about 30 copies were circulated.<ref name=":2" /> The first issues of the newspaper were in [[manuscript]] form.<ref name=":0" /> Early-on, each issue of the newspaper was four-pages in-length but by 1836 it began to start publishing eight-page issues.<ref name=":1" /> Its circulation was limited and depended on the requirements of the British East India Company but it had readership throughout the Punjab.<ref name=":1" /> The names of the editors and the subscription rate of the newspaper is unknown.<ref name=":1" /> It published articles based on stories from English newspapers.<ref name=":1" /> The primary topic the newspaper published on was happenings at the ''[[Durbar (court)|durbar]]'' (court) of the [[Sikh Empire]] under [[Ranjit Singh]].<ref name=":1" /> News from Lahore under the ''Sarkar-i-Khalsa'' dominated the front-page of the newspaper for several years.<ref name=":1" /> The stories covered in-detail the daily events at the Sikh court in Lahore, specifically writing on topics such as royal decrees to civil and military officials, and the visits of the ''[[Vekil|vakils]]'' (emissaries of independent and feudatory states) to the Sikh court.<ref name=":1" /> Many details of Ranjit Singh's personality can be deduced from the articles the newspaper published, such as stories of the Sikh ruler displaying empathy and also harshness to his subjects.<ref name=":1" /> The newspaper further reported on the state of the Punjabi peasantry under Sikh rule at the time, methods of revenue collection, land inheritances of Sikh nobles, and the law-and-order situation within its borders.<ref name=":1" /> The newspaper also reported on the celebration of festivals.<ref name=":1" /> The newspaper did not solely report on matters taking place within the Sikh Empire, it also reported on news from Ludhiana that were of local and general public interest, such as the opening of English-medium schools, feats and miracles made by religiously advanced individuals (''[[sadhu]]s'').<ref name=":1" /> The periodical sometimes reported on events that happened in more distant places, such as Calcutta, [[Leh]], [[Hyderabad]], [[Multan]], [[Bahawalpur (princely state)|Bahawalpur]], [[Balochistan|Baluchistan]], [[Kandahar]], [[Bukhara]], and [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|Khyber]].<ref name=":1" /> However, the newspaper explicitly did not report on the British activities in the Punjab through their political agencies at Ambala and Ludhiana.<ref name=":1" /> The newspaper avoided reporting on any matter related to the British Eats India Company or British policies at all but it freely reported on the troubles of the Sikh Empire (court politics, princely murders, power struggles, the Sikh military's power).<ref name=":1" /> The newspaper was written in a simple form of the Persian-language that was brief and omitting of verbose honorifical speech'''.<ref name=":1" />''' The newspaper was printed and published by the Ludhiana Mission Press until June 1841, when its production shifted to the Pashauri Mall Press, Ludhiana.<ref name=":1" /> The newspaper ceased being published in 1844.<ref name=":1" />

== Legacy ==
While initially unsuccessful, the mission and its press eventually found success at converting large sections of the Punjabi population, especially the downtrodden segments (such as [[Chuhra]]s and [[Meghwal|Meghs]]), to Christianity.<ref name=":2" /> In 1914, 3,523 people were baptized by the Presbyterian missionaries.<ref name=":2" />
{| class="wikitable"
|+Punjabi Christian population by year<ref name=":2" />
!Year
!Population
|-
|1913
|18,018
|-
|1916
|23,424
|-
|1917
|28,132
|}
According to Maninder Kaur, the works published by the Ludhiana Mission Press had an influence on Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims of the Punjab.<ref name=":2" /> The impact of the Christian mission and its press inspired the Hindu [[Arya Samaj]], the Muslim [[Anjuman (disambiguation)#Organizations|Anjumans]], and Sikh [[Singh Sabha Movement|Singh Sabha]] organizations of the late 19th century.<ref name=":2" /> These religious groups emulated the Christian mission and started working for the same social and religious effects for their own community, in specific regards to carrying out religious reforms, establishing religious educational institutions, opening orphanages, providing natural disaster relief, establishing medical facilities, and providing religious instruction.<ref name=":2" /> However, it also increased religious rivalries and fighting, leading to an increase in communal tensions.<ref name=":2" />

== Works published ==

* ''A Sermon for the Whole World'' (1836) – the first publication of the press and a Persian-language tract<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />
* ''Lodiana Akhbar'' (1836–1841) – four-page Persian-language newspaper{{Efn|After 1841, the newspaper was published by the Pashauri Mall Press, Ludhiana until 1844, when its production ceased.|group=note}}<ref name=":0" />
* [[File:Title-page of 'A Grammar of the Panjabi Language; With Appendices' by the Ludhiana Mission (1851).jpg|thumb|Title-page of 'A Grammar of the Panjabi Language; With Appendices' by the Ludhiana Mission (1851)]]''A Grammar of the Panjabi Language; With Appendices'' (1851) by John Newton<ref name=":2" />
* ''A Dictionary of the Panjabi Language'' (1854) by Levi Janivers<ref name=":2" />
* ''Makhzan-i-Masihi'' (1867–?) – religious paper printed at Allahabad<ref name=":2" />
* Translation of the New Testament into Punjabi (1868) by John Newton<ref name=":2" />
* ''Noar Ufshan'' (1873–?) – weekly Persian and Urdu newspaper by E. M. Wherry.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />
* ''Mangal Samachar'' ("good news") – tract<ref name=":2" />

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|group=note}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Presbyterianism in India]]
[[Category:Ludhiana]]

Ludhiana Mission Press - Revision history

Felorox at 16:32, 28 June 2025