Udant Martand

Started on 30 May 1826, from Calcutta (now Kolkata), the weekly newspaper was published every Tuesday by Pt. Jugal Kishore Shukla. It was closed on 4 December 1827 due to financial crisis.

The Udant Martand
उदन्त मार्तण्ड

Type	Weekly newspaper
Publisher	Jugal Kishore Shukla
Founded	30 May 1826; 197 years ago (1826-05-30)
Language	Hindi
Ceased publication	4 December 1827; 196 years ago (1827-12-04)
Headquarters	37 Amartalla Lane, Kolutolla, near Barabazar Market, Kolkata
Circulation	500 (1st issue)

By the early 19th century, educational publications in Hindi had already started, thus journalism was only a matter time. By the 1820s, newspapers in several Indian languages were starting, including Bengali and Urdu; however, printing in Devanagari script was still rare. Soon after Calcutta School Book started printing, Samachar Darpan, a Bengali journal which started in 1819, had some portions in Hindi. However, Hindi reading audience base was still at a nascent stage. Thus few of the early attempts were successful, but they nevertheless were a start.

Shukla was a lawyer originally from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, who had settled in Calcutta, and became Proceedings Reader at the SDiwani Adalat (Civil and Revenue High Court), and later on a pleader. On 16 February 1826, he along with Munnu Thakur of Banstala Gali, Calcutta, received a license to publish a newspaper in Hindi.

The newspaper was started on 30 May 1826; with it for the first time a newspaper was published completely in Hindi, using Devanagari script. Udant Martand employed a mix of Khari Boli and Braj Bhasha dialects of Hindi. The first issue printed 500 copies, and the newspaper was published every Tuesday. The office of newspaper was at 37, Amartalla Lane, Kolutolla, near Barabazar Market in Kolkata.

Owing to its distance from the Hindi-speaking areas of North India, the newspaper had difficulty in finding subscribers. The publisher tried to get government subscription, and patronage in the form of postal fee exemption for eight newspapers to be posted to North India. However, it didn't receive the subscription and only one newspaper was allowed postal fee exemption, which meant that the paper could never be financially viable. Nevertheless, it briefly gained prominence for featuring the controversy that rose Bengali-language magazine, Samachar Chandrika and traders from interiors, who were based in Calcutta.

Today, "Hindi Journalism Day" or Hindi Patrakarita Diwas is celebrated on 30 May each year, as it marked the "beginning to journalism in Hindi language".