New publications to explore 'unknown' Upendrakishore

Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey, TNN | May 11, 2013, KOLKATA: There will be an array of literary activities in the city over the weekend with the publishers and educational institutions gearing up to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury, the illustrious scion of Ray family.
Though it is widely believed that the birthday is on May 10, his family maintains that the writer, painter, violin player and technologist was born on May 12.

While most of us know of Upendrakishore the writer, the fact that he had revolutionized printing technology in the 1890s, studied and wrote extensively on Indian classical music and mythology is almost forgotten today. However, thanks to some offbeat literary efforts that readers will once again get a taste of Upendrakishore's lost works.

A century and 10 years back, Upendrakishore had written a series of travelogues on Darjeeling during his visits to the hill station. These pieces were published in magazines like Shankha, Mukul and Sandesh. Charchapod, a publisher, has been able to retrieve most of these articles and are bringing them back in a book titled 'Darjeeling'.

A keen student of Indian classical music, Upendrakishore had written a series of articles entitled Bharatiya Sangeet. In Sadhana magazine, he wrote a landmark article, Sangeet-o-Chitra Vidya, where he compared the earliest artworks of India with its music. Sutradhar, another publisher, has managed to retrieve all of these articles and is publishing them as a book.

Being a Brahmo, Upendrakishore also wrote a large number of hymns or Brahmo Sangeet. Some of these songs were sung by Satyajit Ray's mother Suprova Ray and wife Bijoya Ray. "We are publishing CDs of these songs as our tribute to the great master," said Suman Bhowmick, spokesperson of Sutradhar.

Moreover, a seminar is being organized at the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj on Sunday to discuss the new waves that Upendrakishore brought into printing technology. Also, Jadavpur University is mulling a publication that would highlight the achievements of U Ray and Co, the press he had started. The Ray family-run Sandesh magazine is also bringing out a special Upendrakishore number next week, promised editor Pranab Mukhopadhyay.