A museum is a place to experience stories and travel back to the period of culture, achievements and lives of those who shaped history. The Benjamin Bailey Museum, located in Kottayam, Kerala, speaks about the legacy of Malayalam printing history. This museum is a tribute to Benjamin Bailey – the Father of the first Malayalam printing press in Kerala in 1821 and the first principal of CMS College, Kottayam.<\/p>\n
Bailey was an English missionary who travelled to Kerala to participate in missionary activities during the British period. More than a missionary, Bailey was a scholar and innovator who marked a turning point in Kerala\u2019s cultural and educational history.<\/p>\n
Bailey was born in 1791 in Dewsbury, England, and moved to Kerala in 1816, where he started a missionary station in Kottayam. In 1821, he started the first printing press in Kerala, CMS Press and developed the first dictionary in Malayalam. Bailey was a visionary who was an expert in translation and made major contributions to Malayalam literature, including books on vernacular grammar and translating the Holy Bible into the Malayalam language. It also paved the way for the publication of books, newspapers, and educational resource materials in local languages, helping to create a literature renaissance in Kerala.<\/p>\n
The museum was inaugurated in 2014 by then Finance Minister of Kerala K M Mani to honour Bailey and his contributions to the cultural development of the state. More than just a showpiece, the Benjamin Bailey Museum takes visitors to the blooming period of Malayalam literature and offers a story of Bailey\u2019s influence on education and literature. Aswathy Mary Varghese, faculty of Communicative English notes, ‘\u2019It\u2019s a space where the students can engage with the origins of Kerala\u2019s literary heritage and experience those times.”<\/p>\n
The museum displays the timeless collection of articles used by Bailey. The museum was situated in the CMS College compound earlier and has now been shifted to the Bishop House compound for convenient welcoming for history enthusiasts.<\/p>\n
In an era of digital boom, preserving and showcasing the legacy of Malayalam printing is crucial and significant. It is not only a reference for history enthusiasts but also inspires the future generation with the legacy of Malayalam literature.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2019It\u2019s inspiring to know the legacy of Malayalam literature, and seeing the history of Malayalam printing very close is really fortunate,\u2019\u2019 Haritha H, a Malayalam literature student from CMS College, said at the Benjamin Bailey Museum.<\/p>\n
Edited by: Megha Mann<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A museum is a place to experience stories and travel back to the period of culture, achievements and lives of those who shaped history. The Benjamin Bailey Museum, located in Kottayam, Kerala, speaks about the legacy of Malayalam printing history. This museum is a tribute to Benjamin Bailey – the Father of the first Malayalam<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":671,"featured_media":25452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[259],"tags":[2632,2626,2633,2628,814],"ppma_author":[1960],"class_list":{"0":"post-26610","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-society","8":"tag-malyalam","9":"tag-museum","10":"tag-printingpress","11":"tag-benjamin-bailey-museum","12":"tag-kerala"},"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n