First Armenian journal
Oct 24, 2005
The Hindu
By
S. MUTHIAH
A PIONEER Statue of Rev. Arathoon Shumavon unveiled in Yerevan, Armenia, in October 2004.
On October 28, 1794, there appeared the first Armenian news journal published in the world - and its first readers were in Madras, where it was founded. Azdarar's founding editor was the Rev. Harathun Shimavonian, then the priest in charge of the Armenian Church on Armenian Street, George Town.
Born in 1750 in Shiraz, in what is today Iran, the Rev. Arathoon Shumavon, as he was first known, lost two sons in one week and left his house a broken man to wander in the mountains of Persia. There, he found solace with the Persian holy men, who, during his seven years of self-imposed exile with them, helped him become a Persian and Arabic scholar. He then returned to Shiraz, where the Armenian Orthodoxy assigned him to India, to take charge of the Armenian Church in Madras. Arriving in Madras in 1784, he was to spend the next 40 years of his life in the city where the Armenians were a thriving and prosperous community. He passed away in 1824 and was buried in the tree-shaded cemetery adjacent to his beloved church. His tombstone here also commemorates the founding of Azdarar.
The Rev. Shimavonian started a printing press in Madras in 1789 to print and publish Armenian books. [...].
[...]
Shimavonian's printing press [...] also printed and published books in Arabic and Persian, permission being granted to him for this by Nawab Mohammed Wallajah of the Carnatic, in whose eyes he had found favour through his scholarship [...].
[...]
[...] Azdarar was unable to make it beyond March 1796.
It was revived in 1846 and died within a year. Resurrected in 1848, it met the same fate again. But whatever its fate, it made a mark in the history of the Armenian people - and Madras.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
The Hindu
By
S. MUTHIAH
A PIONEER Statue of Rev. Arathoon Shumavon unveiled in Yerevan, Armenia, in October 2004.
On October 28, 1794, there appeared the first Armenian news journal published in the world - and its first readers were in Madras, where it was founded. Azdarar's founding editor was the Rev. Harathun Shimavonian, then the priest in charge of the Armenian Church on Armenian Street, George Town.
Born in 1750 in Shiraz, in what is today Iran, the Rev. Arathoon Shumavon, as he was first known, lost two sons in one week and left his house a broken man to wander in the mountains of Persia. There, he found solace with the Persian holy men, who, during his seven years of self-imposed exile with them, helped him become a Persian and Arabic scholar. He then returned to Shiraz, where the Armenian Orthodoxy assigned him to India, to take charge of the Armenian Church in Madras. Arriving in Madras in 1784, he was to spend the next 40 years of his life in the city where the Armenians were a thriving and prosperous community. He passed away in 1824 and was buried in the tree-shaded cemetery adjacent to his beloved church. His tombstone here also commemorates the founding of Azdarar.
The Rev. Shimavonian started a printing press in Madras in 1789 to print and publish Armenian books. [...].
[...]
Shimavonian's printing press [...] also printed and published books in Arabic and Persian, permission being granted to him for this by Nawab Mohammed Wallajah of the Carnatic, in whose eyes he had found favour through his scholarship [...].
[...]
[...] Azdarar was unable to make it beyond March 1796.
It was revived in 1846 and died within a year. Resurrected in 1848, it met the same fate again. But whatever its fate, it made a mark in the history of the Armenian people - and Madras.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 11:26 PM
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