Fardunjee Marzban

Fardunjee Marzaban or Fardoonjee Marazban (22 August 1787– 17 March 1847)[1] was, among other things, a printer and a newspaper editor.

[2] He also started India’s oldest running periodical called the Bombay Samachar, which was printed primarily in Gujarati.

[4] Fardunjee Marzban was born at Surat[5] in 1787 into a family of Parsi-Zoroastrian priests in Gujarat, and initially trained for the priesthood.

His father and grandfather had been scholars of Zoroastrian religious literature (i.e. Middle Persian and Avestan texts), and Marzban followed their example.

Perhaps it was his interaction with Jijibhai Chhapghar that inspired Fardunji to open an Indian printing press.

[1] Fardunji’s Bombay Samachar, which started off as a weekly paper, priced at Rs 2 per month,[5] was turned into a daily in 1832.