প্রসঙ্গ আঞ্চলিকতা: উনিশ শতকের কলকাতা ও বটতলা
Abstract:
Kolkata, previously called Calcutta grew as a big city and the capital of the British Empire since 1773. The East India Company treated the city next to London and decorated it superbly in the early 19th century. British officials had many scopes of
enjoyment like the theatre, ball dances, etc. but they left a huge number of native people in poverty and misery. The natives lived in a very unhygienic environment
and were deprived from education. It was the time when books began to be published in the Bengali language, but books were still expensive. The poorer section of people found a space for literature and entertainment in the ‘Bottola’
culture. A press under a big banyan tree in Sovabajar began publishing books at a very low cost. In the next few decades almost thousand presses were established. The paper quality was very sub-standard and they appointed some canvassers in the remote villages. The books content of these books were gossip, sexual narratives and scandals and similar subjects of low culture. However, scholars of literature and sociology acknowledge that they contributed to vernacular
education for women and the poor. Books were on nijamat laws, quack treatment, family matters, etc. by the ‘bottola’ presses.
In this essay I tried to explore economic and sociological aspects of ‘bottola’ publication. I consider the fact that in the nineteenth-century readers in Kolkata belonged to different tastes, demands and intellectual capabilities. Bengali publication was divided broadly for people of two different classes: the rich and the poor. ‘Bottola’ presses served the poorer section of society. These publishers could access the most interior villages as a wandering market of books. Thus ‘bottola’ surely claims the honour of being an institution of public literature.
In this essay I tried to explore economic and sociological aspects of ‘bottola’ publication. I consider the fact that in the nineteenth-century readers in Kolkata belonged to different tastes, demands and intellectual capabilities. Bengali publication was divided broadly for people of two different classes: the rich and the poor. ‘Bottola’ presses served the poorer section of society. These publishers could access the most interior villages as a wandering market of books. Thus ‘bottola’ surely claims the honour of being an institution of public literature.
Readers can download the Abstract and the Article clicking following buttons:
