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The Workers of BattalaArticle
The World of Battala PrintOverview
Battala Print CultureModule
19th century
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Colonial Calcutta is often described in terms of the duality of the ‘black’ and ‘white’ towns—the ‘native’ quarters, with its cramped streets and bustling bazaars, and the ‘sahib’ quarters (the area between Chowringhee Road, Park Street, Theater Road, and Wood Street) with wide roads and neo-…
in Article
The banyan tree (bat in Bengali; Ficus benghalensis), it is said, derives its name from the Indian banyan or merchant, by the way of Portuguese and English travelers who witnessed Indian merchants resting, praying, or conducting business under the shade of the said tree. Henry Yule and Arthur Coke…
in Overview
'Battala literature' is a phrase used in modern day scholarship to indicate the various products of the printing presses that had emerged in and around Battala in Calcutta in the nineteenth century, primarily in Bengali. The phrase has a certain association with poor or dubious quality, which…
in Module