History 1822—1915 The printing was introduced in Gujarati in 1812. The first printed book published was the Gujarati translation of
Dabestan-e Mazaheb prepared and printed by Parsi priest
Fardunjee Marzban in 1815. Early newspapers in Gujarati were published from
Bombay, and they covered commercial and business news chiefly. They were mainly published by
Parsi community and served the area of
Bombay (now Mumbai). On 1 July 1822, the first Gujarati newspaper
Bombayna Samachar was started by
Fardunjee Marzban as a weekly business journal with 150 subscribers. In 1832, it was renamed
Bombay Samachar and converted into a biweekly. Later, it became daily in 1855. In 1933, its present publisher, the Cama family, bought it. Another Parsi, Naoroji Dorabji Chandaru, started
Mumbai Vartman in 1830. A year later was renamed
Mumbaina Halkaru Ane Vartaman and converted into a biweekly publication, which was published until 1843. Pestonji Manekji started a weekly
Jam-e-Jamshed in 1831, which was later converted into a daily in 1853. Several other newspapers published between 1832 and 1856:
Doorbeen,
Samachar Darpan,
Mombaina Kasud,
Chitranjan Darpan and
Chabuk. The first women's magazine in Gujarati,
Stribodh was established in 1857 by Parsi social activists. '', Gujarati periodical, 1850 The
Gujarat Vernacular Society of
Ahmedabad, founded by British Magistrate
Alexander Kinloch Forbes, started
Vartaman in 1849. The society also published
Budhvar weekly and
Buddhiprakash magazine. Due to the efforts of Forbes,
Surat Samachar, a biweekly, was introduced in
Surat in 1850, which ran for a short period. Dinshaw Ardeshir Talyarkhan started
Gujarat Darpan in 1863 as a biweekly. It was merged with
Gujaratmitra in 1894 and was renamed
Gujaratmitra Gujarat Darpan. The first daily published in
Gujarat was
Hitechchhu. It was launched biweekly in 1861 and later became daily in 1873.
Prajabandhu was introduced in 1895. A weekly from
Kheda,
Kheda Vartman was started in 1861 and completed its centenary. An evening newspaper
Sanj Varman of Bombay was introduced in 1902 and published until 1950.
Saurashtra weekly was started in 1921 which was renamed later as
Phulchhab.
Hajimahamad Allarakha published artistic periodical
Visami Sadi from 1916 to 1920. . Edited by
Hajimahamad Allarakha.
Sandesh was founded by Nandlal Bodiwala in 1923 following
Non-cooperation movement.
Gujarat Samachar was started in 1932 following
Dandi March and civil disobedience movement. Amritlal Seth founded Saurashtra Trust in 1931 and launched
Janmabhoomi on 9 June 1934 in Bombay. It was edited by
Samaldas Gandhi. After sometime, Samaldas Gandhi left
Janmabhoomi and launched
Vande Mataram. Following a business war between two newspapers, Amritlal Seth founded the Indian Languages Newspapers Association. He also founded a cooperative society to finance other newspapers. It expanded its reach by publishing and acquiring several magazines and newspapers. It owns
Vyapar (1948), the first business magazine in an Indian language, founded in 1948,
Phulchhab (1921) publishing from
Rajkot and
Kutchmitra (1955) publishing from
Bhuj. It also owns a weekly,
Pravasi and a literary journal
Kavita.
Jai Hind was founded by Babulal Shah in 1948 which is headquartered at
Rajkot.
Loksatta—Jansatta was founded in 1953.
1960—2000 Following
Mahagujarat Movement in 1960,
Bombay state was divided into
Gujarat, with
Ahmedabad as its capital, and
Maharashtra with Mumbai as its capital. The newspapers published from both capital cities changed their area of coverage accordingly.
Akila Daily started in 1978 from Rajkot.
Gujarat Samachar and
Sandesh expanded its number of editions in 1980s.
Sandesh was headed by Chimanbhai Patel from 1958, who introduced weekly supplements in Gujarat. Pradyumna Mehta published the monthly
Hindustan Patrika in
Chicago from 1977 to 1981 for the Gujarati diaspora. Other monthlies abroad were
Gujarat Vartaman and
Bharat Sandesh, both based in Chicago and stopped in the 1980s.
Gujarati Samachar based in
New York City was published also.
Bhupat Vadodaria established
Sambhaav media group in 1986 which publishes evening tabloid
Sambhaav Metro in Ahmedabad. It also publishes
Abhiyaan, a socio-political weekly.
2000 onwards Sambhaav was the first media group to enter online media in Gujarat.
Divya Bhaskar was introduced in 2003 by
Dainik Bhaskar Group which led to another business war in Gujarati print media. It quickly expanded across Gujarat and took over
Saurashtra Samachar based in
Bhavnagar in 2004. Divya Bhaskar publishes an edition for the Gujarati diaspora in North America. and its Gujarati daily
NavGujarat Samay in January 2014. ==Digital media==