Bharati / Bharati o Balak (Calcutta, 1877-1926)

Bharati on FID4SA Repository

This periodical is a landmark both in the evolution of Bangla literature and in the rise of prominent women writers and editors. It was published from the Tagore family of Jorasanko and was often acknowledged as a Tagore family magazine. When Swarnakumari Debi took the responsibility of its publication from Dwijendranath Tagore in 1884, it became the second Bangla periodical to be edited by a woman, the first being "Anathini" by Thakomoni Debi (1875). It became also the first well organised, widely circulated and well acclaimed monthly in the Bangla language. The periodical was not established to support the women’s cause, but Swarnakumari turned it into a women’s magazine. When the publication of "Bharati" ceased in 1333 B.S (1926), it set a record of the first longest surviving Bangla monthly. In the golden jubilee year of "Bharati" many of the contemporary women writers acknowledged it as their first stepping stone on the way to becoming a writer.

Editors:

Dwijendranath Thakur, 1877-1884
Swarnakumari Debi, 1884-1895, 1908-1915
Hiranmayi Debi, 1895-1898
Sarala Debi, 1895-1898, 1903-1908, 1924-1926
Rabindranath Thakur, 1898-1903
Sourindramohan Mukhopadhyay, 1915-1924
Manilal Gangopadhyay, 1915-1924

Note: The periodical in Bengali language started publishing in 1877, in 1894 another periodical "Balak" edited by Jnanadanandini Debi merged with the periodical and continued as "Bharati o Balak" for six years.

Custodian of microfilm copies:

Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, Kolkata, W.B., India

Vol. 1, no. 1 [Baisakh, 1284 (April, 1877)] - Vol. 50, no. 6 [Aswin, 1333 (October, 1926)]

Custodian of paper copies:

Bangiya Sahitya Parishat, Kolkata, W.B., India