By John B Monteiro

Mangaluru, Dec 5: According to Rev Dr Hanibal Kabral, secretary, Karnataka Christian Education Society, the 175-year anniversary of Basel Mission Press, now renamed Balmatta Institute of Printing Technology and Book craft, in Mangaluru is being celebrated over one year starting from December 4, 2016. It holds the record for being the first printing press in coastal Karnataka and deserves a historical peep into its founding and progress. The year-long celebrations were inaugurated by J R Lobo, MLA for Mangaluru South on December 4.

Printing is privy to all-round development, specially in literature, and Basel Mission Press at Balmatta was at the centre of it all as the pioneer in printing in coastal Karnataka. After the British occupation of Bengaluru in 1791, following the defeat and death of Tipu Sultan, Rev Elija Hoole established and built up Weslyan Mission Press in Bengaluru during the period 1821-1828. Basel Mission of Switzerland established its branch in Mangaluru in 1834. G H Vagel of this Mission had been to Bombay to get a booklet printed and returned with a press gifted to him in 1841. The first book printed in the Mangaluru branch was Tulu Kirthanegalu by the lithographic process the same year.

An insightful account of the growth of Basel Mission Press is given in History of Printing and Publishing in India, Volume II, by B S Kesavan. According to it, the missionaries who had literary bent of mind, knowing full well that the Kannada language presented quite a few difficulties for the printer to manage, proceeded even with the crude equipment at their disposal, to print classics like Jaimini Bharatha (1848), Dasaparva Bharatha (1851), Basava Purana (1850) and Chennabasava Purana (1851). The print order was between 200 and 300 copies. Comments Kesavan:“It is a joy to look at these books … a tribute to the efficiency, technical excellence and aesthetic sensibility of pioneers like Vagel.”

The celebrated Hermann Mogling arrived in Mangaluru with four others in 1836 to join the earlier arrivals in 1834. They had the challenge of learning Kannada, Malayalam and Tulu. Hebitch and his colleagues got Kannada dictionaries and grammar books from Madras. Christian literature in Kannada was distributed in the first mission school started in 1936 (BEM School near Car Street). The Gospel (Bible) translated into Tulu by Christian Greiner got printed in Bombay in 1840 by Vagel. He managed to obtain a locally made lithographic press, the cost of which was borne by his Catholic friends in Bombay.

Vagel’s contact with an American, Elijah A Welester, who was looking after the American Marati Mission, resulted in his obtaining four excellent German litho stones and he learnt from Welester the rudiments of lithography. It is possible that he brought with him a couple of Maratas with experience in printing to Mangaluru. In 1842, the Lord’s Prayer was lithographed in German, English, Kannada and Tulu. During the same time the Kannada pamphlet of Mogling on the theme of salvation was brought out – 1500 copies being printed in March 1842. The climatic conditions in Mangaluru were better than those in Bombay for lithograph printing, which prevented the melting of the design drawn on the stone. Mathew’s Gospel, translated by Greiner, was the first to be written and printed in Tulu language.

Another landmark achievement was the publication of a Kannada newspaper entitled Mangalur Samachar edited by Mogling. There were two issues per month, No. 26 being the last issue dated 15.2.1844. It was later transferred to Bellary where there was a letter press. In October 1851 George Plebst visited Mangaluru which led to the installation of a letter press in 1851 –1852. The first letter press printing in Mangaluru took place in early 1853 using new Roman types produced at Basel, Switzerland. Mangaluru Almanac for the year 1854 could be the earliest printed in Kannada from the letter press.

Because of the efficiency and excellence of the printing at Basel Press, the Government of Bombay got their text books printed in this press and the Government of Madras expressed the following opinion: “Basel Mission Press at Mangaluru … where Kanarese printing is unequalled for beauty by any other press in India”. By the latter part of 19th century the work of Basel Mission Press was bigger than any other press in Karnataka and printing was carried out in Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Devanagari, Roman and German scripts. The chief reason for the brilliant achievement of the press was the Rev. Plebst.

Three expert Indians trained at Basel (Switzerland) started designing and casting of types. Plebst started using lead types in 1862 and encouraged their production locally. Panduranga Shetty was trained in type setting and polishing. German master printers were in Mangaluru and thanks to them the evolution of Kannada types in Mangaluru was in very good hands.

Today, the press has shifted from its original location on the crown of Balmatta Hill to its periphery, touching the Balmatta Road. This shift symbolises the shift from its pioneering literary preoccupation, though with accent on the religious, to commercial orientation. In this sense, today it is a shadow of its glorious past and can be considered as an also ran institution. Its heritage and those of other pioneering institutions, like the tile industry, need to be rescued and preserved for succeeding generations. The current year-long celebration has plans to modernise and expand the activities of this heritage institution.

There is a local saying: “Bokka bathina Kombu dumbu battina kebidth bala (The horn of the bovine with which it is not born is stronger than the ears with which it is born). Similarly, many presses, born later than Basel Mission Press, have overtaken it in terms of modern machinery and printing technology. This applies to three other older printing presses, more than hundred years old, and also running. These are Codialbail Press, started in 1882, Sharada Press (1900) and Victoria Press in Bantwal (1912). Each of them has fascinating stories, specially the last one about why it was named so. That is for another day.