Bengali, the first Indian language that Tintin spoke

Just about a week ago, Tintin turned 93. You know which Tintin we’re talking about. Yes, the one with the funny hair and forever baby face. The journalist boy-man created by Belgian cartoonist Georges Prosper Remi, otherwise known as Hergé. Fear not, we’re not about to waste time and space by trying to talk about the gigantic global success story, or one-man industry, that Tintin has become. We’re merely talking about his Bengal connection.

There’s quite a strong connection actually. How many of you knew that Tintin has been available in Bengali since 1975? In fact, Bengali was the first Indian language into which Tintin was translated from the original French, at a time when Hergé (1907-83) was still alive. The translations first appeared in the children’s magazine Anandamela, following which a total of 24 Tintin books were translated into Bengali. All of them appeared first in Anandamela, then as individual book titles. But many Bengali children of the 80s, for whom the books may have been unaffordable, would collect the strips from Anandamela editions and have them bound as ‘books’ of their own.

Tintin’s other strong Bengal connection comes from ‘Flight 714’, one of the most popular Tintin titles worldwide. In it, Tintin, Professor Calculus and Captain Haddock are bound for an international space exploration conference in Sydney, Australia, and their flight has made a refuelling stop at Jakarta’s Kemayoran Airport. When Haddock tries to explain where they are to the hard of hearing Calculus, the latter hears ‘Rangoon’ in the English version of the title, but the French original has him hearing ‘Chandernagor’

Hergé himself was apparently keenly aware of the enormous popularity of his works in Bengal, and was personally involved in the negotiations for Tintin to be published in Bengali. It has been written that a large chunk of his fan mail in the 1970s and early 80s was made up of letters from his young Bengali readers.

In 2021, Moulinsart, the exclusive owner of worldwide digital rights related to the works of Hergé, and Ananda Publishers Pvt. Ltd collaborated to launch all 24 Tintin titles as Bengali e-books, available across Android and iOS devices. 

That apart, Tintin’s other strong Bengal connection comes from ‘Flight 714’, one of the most popular Tintin titles worldwide. In it, Tintin, Professor Calculus and Captain Haddock are bound for an international space exploration conference in Sydney, Australia, and their flight has made a refuelling stop at Jakarta’s Kemayoran Airport. When Haddock tries to explain where they are to the hard of hearing Calculus, the latter hears ‘Rangoon’ in the English version of the title, but the French original has him hearing ‘Chandernagor’.

That would be Chandannagar, the erstwhile French settlement in modern day Hooghly district, the Frenchified pronunciation being ‘Shandernagor’. For Hergé’s French readership, the name would have been a familiar one. Most historians believe the French created the town by combining smaller localities in the area, notably the villages of Gondolpara, Boro and Khalisani. The name ‘Chandernagor’ is first found in a letter dated 1696, written to officials of the French East India Company by André Boureau-Deslandes and Palle, two French officials posted in Chandannagar.

How many of you knew that Tintin has been available in Bengali since 1975? In fact, Bengali was the first Indian language into which Tintin was translated from the original French, at a time when Hergé (1907-83) was still alive. The translations first appeared in the children’s magazine Anandamela, following which a total of 24 Tintin books were translated into Bengali. All of them appeared first in Anandamela, then as individual book titles.

But it was not until 1730, when Joseph François Dupleix was appointed governor of the city, that its meteoric rise began. During Dupleix’s tenure, more than 2,000 brick houses reportedly came up in the town and the volume of maritime trade swelled as Chandannagar became Bengal’s principal European trading centre. The population of the city shot up to around 100,000 between 1730 and 1756, and such was the glamour of Chandannagar that the young settlement of Calcutta was considered merely a poor cousin.

So there you have it. Pity Hergé never thought of writing ‘Tintin in Bengal’. No doubt it would have gained him many more thousands of adoring fans!