''Saraswati'' was the first

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

monthly magazine of India. Founded in 1900, by

Chintamani Ghosh Chintamani Ghosh (1844 – 11 August 1928) was an Indian publisher and printer. He founded The Indian Press, in Allahabad and started ''Saraswati'', the first Hindi magazine in 1900. He was considered as Caxton of the Hindi world. Life Chinta ...

, the proprietor of Indian Press, in Allahabad, its success under the editorship of littérateur Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi (1903–1920), led to flourishing of modern Hindi prose and poetry especially in

Khariboli dialect Kauravi ( hi, कौरवी, ur, ), also known as Khaṛībolī is a set of Western Hindi varieties of Shauraseni Prakrit mainly spoken in Northwestern Uttar Pradesh. Standard Hindi and Urdu are based on Khariboli, specifically on its De ...

. It became the most influential periodical in the

Hindi literature Hindi literature ( hi, हिन्दी साहित्य, translit=hindī sāhitya) includes literature in the various Hindi language which have writing systems. Earliest forms of Hindi literature are attested in poetry of Apabhraṃś ...

during the first two decades of the 20th century.

History

Based in

Georgetown, Allahabad George Town is an upper-class neighbourhood locality in Allahabad, India. Built in 1901, it is a residential area in the central part of the city mainly occupied by the white collar workers. It also houses a large number of hospitals and clinic ...

, Ghosh founded Indian Press in 1884, mainly to published educational books, though gradually shifted to publishing general interest books. However, Ghosh didn't have much experience in publishing literary works. Thus in late 1899, he wrote to '' Nagari Pracharini Sabha'' in Varanasi, which worked for promotion of

Devnagari Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the ...

script, seeking help with editor and writers for founding a literary Hindi magazine. Eventually, first issue of Saraswati was published on 1 January 1900. The other famous

publications of Indian press was children's magazine Balsakha, weekly newspaper "Deshdoot", magazines for farmers "Hal" etc. Indian Press was also the earliest promoters and publisher of

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

's work, including '' Geetanjali'', whose rights he held till 1922 before transferring it to Viswa Bharati University. Dwivedi, the doyen of modern Hindi literature, remained its editors from 1903 to 1920, and provided a platform for upcoming writers in Hindi, where many writers of repute, including

Premchand Dhanpat Rai Srivastava (31 July 1880 – 8 October 1936), better known by his pen name Premchand (), was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindustani literature. Premchand was a pioneer of Hindi and Urdu social fiction. He was one of ...

and

Maithili Sharan Gupt Maithili Sharan Gupt (3 August 1886 – 12 December 1964) was one of the most important modern Hindi poets. He is considered one among the pioneers of ''Khari Boli'' (plain dialect) poetry and wrote in Khari Boli dialect, at a time when most Hin ...

got published. Through the magazine, he not only gave a new direction to

by bringing in his social reformist agenda, but also exerted his lasting influence of the formation of style and sensibility during this twenty-year period of Hindi literature. Today it is known as "Dwivedi Yuga" (Age of Dwivedi) after him. Other eminent editors of Saraswati were Padumlal Punnalal Bakshi of

Rajnandgaon Rajnandgaon is a city in Rajnandgaon District, in the state of Chhattisgarh, India. the population of the city was 163,122. Rajnandgaon district came into existence on 26January 1973, as a result of the division of Durg district. History ...

Thakur Srinath Singh Thakur may refer to: * Thakur (title), a feudal title and surname used by erstwhile nobility of India * Thakar (tribe), an Adivasi tribe of Maharashtra, India * Thakur village, a residential locality in Mumbai, India * Thakur Anoop Singh (born 198 ...

and Devidutt Shukl. In 2013, President of India, Pranab Mukherjee while unveiling a statue Ghosh at Jagat Taran Girls' Inter College, Allahabad, remembered his "great contribution towards promoting Hindi language and literature." After the interval of 40 years, i.e. after 1980, publication of ''saraswati'' was revived and it is now being published since 2020 by Indian Press. In 2020 Devendra Shukla was appointed its editor. In January 2022 Ravi Nandan Singh and Anupam Parihar were appointed editor of the magazine.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{cite book, last=Mody, first=Sujata Sudhakar, title=Literature, Language, and Nation Formation: The Story of a Modern Hindi Journal 1900--1920, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9VUtAG9GJjAC&pg=PA37, year=2008, isbn=978-1-109-10083-9 1900 establishments in India Hindi-language magazines Literary magazines published in India Monthly magazines published in India Magazines established in 1900 Mass media in Allahabad