“Every time I sit here I visualise three Englishmen and a lady disembarking from a ship on these banks. Their faces kind, but determined, as if eager to take the challenge of transforming this commercial centre of Bengal into the epicenter of its renaissance,” said Soumajit Saha, a former student of Serampore College, sitting on the bank of the Hooghly river in Serampore.
The magnificent main building of Serampore College overlooking the same river stands testimony to the fact that the four missionaries indeed achieved their goal.
Saha was referring to Joshua Marshman, Hannah Marshman, William Carey, and Willam Ward, who landed here in the beginning of the 19th century.
“These four English missionaries established more than 100 schools in the area and initiated social reforms that brought about significant changes in the society. The first ever girls’ school in the area was also established by Hannah,” said Amrita Chatterjee, a Serampore resident, who also teaches at Serampore College.
If you are a first-time visitor to Serampore, situated some 25 km away from Kolkata, you almost certainly would perceive it as just another unplanned, over-crowded suburban town. But make no mistake; this particular place was the seat of the Bengal renaissance during the first half of the 19th century.
In the early 1750s, zamindar Raja Manohar Roy of Sheoraphuli built a Ram-Sita temple in a village called Sripur at that time. The ruins of the temple exist till this date near Bothtola.
“Legend has it, that the town got its present name from this very temple. After the temple came up, the place came to be known as Sitarampur, which ultimately boiled down to Srirampur or Serampore,” Chatterjee said.
The area was an important commercial centre during the Mughal period. The textile industry here, apart from agriculture and fishing, thrived on the Hooghly banks.
“The Danes came here in the mid 1750s. The Danish East India Company paid Rs 50,000 to Nawab Alivardi Khan and obtained permission from him to do business in the area. The foreigners bought land and constructed a port and a factory in 1755. The Danes christened the place Frederiksnagore, and the place was known by this name till 1845, when the British bought the area from the Danes and restored its original name,” added Saha, who had History as one of his subjects while he was at Serampore College.
In 1800, Carey established the Serampore Mission Press, which used wooden types, the first of its kind in Bengal. This was one of Carey’s most important contributions and he came to be known as the Father of Bengali Prose.
“We should not forget the contribution of Panchanan Karmakar, a local, who crafted these wooden types,” Chatterjee said.
The press published the Bible’s Bengali translation – Hitopadesh and Kathopakathan. Samachar Darpan, a Bengali daily was started in 1818 with Carey as its editor. The first issue of the English daily A Friend of India, which ultimately came to be known as The Statesman, was also published during this time.
The Serampore Mission Press printed 2,12,000 copies of books in 40 languages during 1801- 1832. The Carey museum at Serampore College preserves several publications of the Serampore Mission Press.
The most important contribution of Carey, Marshman and Ward came in 1818 when they established the Serampore College. This institution of higher education continues to be a premiere college till date and attracts visitors from all over the world.
It also works as a university through the Senate of Serampore College (University) apart from being a separate college. “This was the first college in entire Asia to award a degree,” Chatterjee said.
Currently the Serampore University only gives out degrees in connection with Theology. Institutions in several parts of India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka are affiliated to this university. The town today has two other higher education institutions – the Serampore Textile College and the Serampore Girls’ College.
Carey died in 1832 and his grave, along with those of the others, still exist in Serampore. Recently, in 2009, the graves of the Serampore trio were restored by the West Bengal Heritage Commission. The Serampore College continues to celebrate the reformer’s birthday every year with varied programmes.