Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Indian artist & writer}}

{{more citations needed|date=December 2009}}

| name              = Upendrakishore Roy Chowdhury

| image              = Upendra Kishore Ray real.jpg

| caption            = Upendrakishore Roy Chowdhury

| birth_place        = Moshua, [[Kishoreganj District]] in [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]] (now in [[Bangladesh]])

| death_place        = [[Giridih]], [[British India]] <br /> (now in [[Jharkhand]], [[India]])

| spouse            = Bidhumukhi Devi (Daughter of [[Dwarkanath Ganguly]] and step daughter of [[Kadambini Ganguly]])

| children          = [[Shukhalata Rao]]

 

'''Upendrakishore Roy Chowdhury''' ({{lang-bn|উপেন্দ্রকিশোর রায়চৌধুরী}}), (born '''Kamadaranjan Ray'''; {{lang|bn|কামদারঞ্জন রায়}}) (12 May 1863<ref name="birthdate"/> – 20 December 1915), was a [[Bengali language|Bengali]] writer and painter. One of his written book is ''chotoder shera biggan rochona shongkolon''. He was the son-in-law of [[Dwarkanath Ganguly]]. He was also an entrepreneur.He was the first person who introduced the colour printing in bangal.He started the first colour childrens magazine ''[[Sandesh (magazine)|Sandesh]]'' in 1913.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Sengupta |editor-first1=Subodh Chandra |editor-last2=Basu |editor-first2=Anjali |date=1998 |orig-year=First published 1976 |edition=4th |title=Saṃsada Bāṅālī caritābhidhāna |type=Biographical dictionary |language=bn |page=67 |isbn=81-85626-65-0}}</ref>

According to the history of the Ray family, one of their ancestors, Shri Ramsunder Deo (Deb), was a native of [[Chakdaha|Chakdah]] village in [[Nadia district]] of present-day [[West Bengal]], [[India]]. In search of fortune he migrated to Sherpur in East Bengal. There he met Raja Gunichandra, the zamindar of Jashodal, at the zamindar house of Sherpur. King Gunichandra was immediately impressed by Ramsunder's beautiful appearance and sharp intellect and took Ramsunder with him to his zamindari estate. He made Ramsunder his son-in-law and granted him some property in Jashodal. From then on Ramsunder started living in Jashodal. His descendants migrated from there and settled down in the village of Masua in Katiadi upazila of Kishoreganj district.<ref name = "sukumar1">''Sukumar Samagra Rachanabali 1'', 1960, Asia Publishing Company, p 1</ref>

Upendrakishore first introduced modern blockmaking, including half-tone and colour block making, in South Asia. When the reproduction using woodcut line blocks of his illustrations for one of his books, ''Chheleder Ramayan'', were very poor, he imported books, chemicals and equipment from Britain to learn the technology of blockmaking.  After mastering this, in 1895 he successfully set up a business, [[U. Ray and Sons]], of making blocks at 7, Shibnarain Lane, which then became his residence-cum-workplace. He experimented with the process of advanced blockmaking, and several of his technical articles about blockmaking were published in the Penrose Annual Volumes published from Britain.<ref name="worldcat.org">{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/essays-on-half-tone-photography-a-facsimile-of-the-essays-as-they-appeared-in-penroses-pictorial-annual/oclc/908703157&referer=brief_results|title=Essays on half-tone photography: a facsimile of the essays as they appeared in Penrose's pictorial annual|first1=Upendra Kishore|last1=Ray Choudhury|first2=Siddhārtha|last2=Ghosha|date=21 August 2014|via=Open WorldCat}}</ref> In his own lifetime, a printing expert from abroad commented that Upendrakishore's contribution was far more original than that of his counterparts in Europe and America, “which is all the more surprising when we consider how far he is from hub-centres of process work”.<ref name="A man of primary colours">{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/1130509/jsp/opinion/story_16873675.jsp|title=A man of primary colours|work=The Telegraph|access-date=3 June 2018}}</ref> He also went on publishing books, but initially he had them printed in other printing presses. His residence and business was located at 22, Sukeas Street (now the premises has been renamed 30B, Mahendra Srimany Street) from 1901 to 1914.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://streetsofcalcutta.com/absu-an-unique-photowalk/|title=Streetsofcalcutta.com|website=streetsofcalcutta.com}}</ref> The ''Sandesh'' magazine was first published here in 1913 (Baisakh Bengali year 1320).

In 1914 he founded what was then probably the finest printing press in South Asia, [[U. Ray and Sons]] at 100 Garpar Road. Even the building plans were designed by him <ref name="dailyasianage.com">{{Cite web|url=http://dailyasianage.com/news/73708/?regenerate|title=A pioneer of Bengali printing industry &#124; The Asian Age Online, Bangladesh|first=Feature|last=Desk|website=The Asian Age}}</ref> He quickly earned recognition in India and abroad for the new methods he developed for printing both black & white and colour photographs with great accuracy of detail. It was with the intention of running this business that his son [[Sukumar Ray]] spent a few years at the [[University of Manchester]]'s printing technology department.<ref name="ModernReview" />

==Technological Innovations==

[[File:100 A Garpar Road Kolkata Heritage Building Tag by KMC.jpg|thumb|House of Upendrakishore at 100 A Garpar Road Kolkata Heritage Building Tag by KMC]]

"Cheleder Ramayana" was the first book by Upendrakishore Roychowdhury. Upendrakishore embraced the liberal religious movement of [[Brahmo Samaj]] in 1883, after the death of his foster-father and he was a deeply religious man.  But his scientific bent of mind is reflected in the numerous science articles he wrote for children. He published two remarkable books on popular science, which were classics in the Bengali language.  "Sekaler Katha" described the geological history of Earth and the ancient animals like dinosaurs.  Äakasher Katha" was an enthralling account of astronomy.<ref>His obituary, published in the Bengali magazine, "Prabashi", Magh, Bengali year 1322, 15th volume, 2nd part [compiled following a speech delivered by his son Sukumar Ray in his memorial service].</ref> His scientific interests were further nurtured by his close friendship to the scientists [[Jagadish Chandra Bose|Jagadishchandra Bose]] and [[Prafulla Chandra Ray|Prafullachandra Ray]], all of whom lived and worked very close to each other.<ref name="Chakrabarti1997" /> He also published a well known collection of children's stories called ''[[Ţunţuni'r Boi|Tuntunir Boi]]''.