It was once the “official publisher” of the Wadiyar royal family and part of a dream to modernise the then Mysore State. Hundred years later, Bangalore Printing and Publishing Company, popularly known as Bangalore Press, is today synonymous with calendars, diaries, panchangas (almanacs). The press, the brainchild of Sir. M. Visvesvaraya, is now set to celebrate its centenary year.
H.R. Ananth, managing director of Bangalore Press, recalls that the journey began with a wedding invitation. “When Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar got married to Pratap Kumari Devi, princess of Kathewada, printing of the invitation cost him eight Varahas (the then currency which meant big money). He had quipped to Sir MV that they could as well have set up a printing press with that money, and the ingenious engineer took him on his word. Thus, was born the dream of a printing press for Mysore State.
Wadiyar, who went to London on the invitation of King George V, contacted Royal Company and purchased a printing unit. Though Sir MV, with the support of philanthropist Sir K.P. Puttanna Chetty, set up Bangalore Press in 1915 in a house at Shankarapuram in Bengaluru, it got official recognition in 1916.
Puttanna Chetty was the first chairman of the publication, while noted personality Rao Bahadur Hayavadana Rao was its first secretary.
Initially, the press was located on the State Bank of Mysore premises on Kempe Gowda Road. In 1917, it was moved to Chamarajpet, where it stills functions. It was incorporated as a public company under the Companies Act in 1956. The press had the distinction of being the “printer by appointment to the Maharaja of Mysore.”
B. Puttaiah, who trained in printing technology in London, designed the first calendar. Services of British Officer George, who was working with a calendar company, was drafted to maintain quality of printing.
It was in 1921 that the company first published calendars in English. It started publishing the calendar in Kannada in 1936. Interestingly, Jnanpith recipient writer Masti Venkatesh Iyengar designed the first Kannada calendar.
The calendars brought out by Bangalore Press were unique because it aimed to meet the needs of all sections of the society regardless of caste, creed and culture. Till Independence, calendars had small photographs of Wadiyars in its corner. After 1947, pictures of national leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Vallabhbhai Patel, occupied the corners. Bangalore Press churned out calendars, and a range of dairies and related materials.
Mr. Ananth says that there is a big challenge in devising calendars and panchangas. Collection, compilation and flawless listing of information about Hindu, Muslim, Christian, and Jain festivals and other events is the biggest challenge. “We collect authentic information from Panchangakartas, Archbishops and Islamic Arabic colleges and compile them,” he adds.
