''Prabasi'' () was a monthly

Bengali language Bengali, also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Bangla (, , ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. ...

literary magazine edited by Ramananda Chatterjee.

History and profile

''Prabasi'' was founded by Ramananda Chatterjee in 1901 and ran for over 60 years. It published many important Bengali authors, the most significant being Nobel laureate

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

who published regularly in it from 1914 until his death. "It is no exaggeration to say that agore'smajor creations reached Bengali homes through 'Prabasi''" There were over 350 contributors during its existence, including most of the major poet and prose writers of the day. The '' National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh'' said "Prabasi's fame remains almost unsurpassed by any other Bengali periodical." From 1901 to 1905 it was published in

Allahabad Prayagraj (, ; ISO 15919, ISO: ), formerly and colloquially known as Allahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi, Varanasi (Benar ...

. Then it was headquartered in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

. When ''Prabasi'' first appeared, it pioneered a mix of book excerpts, poetry and one-act plays, alongside reviews and essays. It also included serialized fiction, including Rabindranath Tagore's '' Gora'' (1907-1909). It also included articles on history, art, archaeology, sociology, education, literature and literary theories, scientific topics, and travelogues. The magazine was known for its art and illustrations. It was the first ever periodical in Bengali to feature a reproduction of a photograph on its cover purely for the sake of illustration. ''Prabasi'' gave the chance to women to prove themselves as writer. "Prabasi" literally means a "Bengali living outside Bengal",''Indian Book Reporter''
volume 3, pp. 6-7 which can be translated as "Exile". Chatterjee wrote in 1903, "In truth, we are Indians first and Bengalis next." The sister magazine of ''Prabasi'' was '' Modern Review''. Because of the initial poor sales of ''Prabasi'', Ramananda Chatterjee launched ''Modern Review'' in 1907, targeted to English-speaking Indians. ''Modern Review'' was a great success and was read nationwide.

Authors and works

Some of the authors and works featured in the magazine include: *

Premendra Mitra Premendra Mitra (4 September 1904 – 3 May 1988)Samsad Bengali Charitabhidhan Vol.II edited Anjali Bose, Published by Sagitta Samsad, Kolkata, Edition January,2019,Page-240 was an Indian poet, writer and film director in the Bengali language. ...

* Nirad C. Chaudhuri * Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay * Dwijendranath Tagore * Gopal Chandra Bhattacharya * '' Aranyak'' by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay * Sarasibala Basu * Mukunda Das * Jogesh Chandra Bagal * Annapurna turkhud

References

{{Reflist Bengali-language magazines Bengali-language literature Defunct literary magazines Defunct magazines published in India Literary magazines published in India Magazines established in 1901 Magazines with year of disestablishment missing Mass media in Prayagraj Mass media in Kolkata