<Tr> <Th> Circulation </Th> <Td> c. 400 (in 1836) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Sister newspapers </Th> <Td> Akhbar - i - Serampore </Td> </Tr> <P> Samachar Darpan (Bengali: সমাচার দর্পণ) was a Bengali weekly newspaper published by the Baptist Missionary Society and published on 23 May 1818 from the Baptist Mission Press at Serampore in the first half of the 19th century . It is considered to be the first Indian - language newspaper, although some historians contend that the Bengali weekly Bengal Gazetti or Vangal Gazette published by Ganga Kishore Bhattacharya had begun publication earlier . </P> <P> The success of the Bengali monthly Digdarshan encouraged the missionaries of the Baptist Missionary Society to embark on a new venture - the publication of a Bengali newspaper . The initiative was taken by Joshua Marshman and William Ward . At about the same time Harachandra Roy was also planning to start a Bengali newspaper from his own printing press at Chorebagan Street in Calcutta . But before he could bring out his publication, the missionaries published the first issue of Samachar Darpan from the Baptist Mission Press in Serampore on May 23, 1818 . </P>

The first weekly bengali newspaper samachar darpan was published by