Panchanan Karmakar

Panchanan Karmakar (Mallick) (died c. 1804) was an Indian Bengali inventor, born at Tribeni, Hooghly, Bengal Presidency, British India, hailed from Serampore. He assisted Charles Wilkins in creating the first Bangla type. His metal Bengali alphabet and typeface had been used until Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar proposed a simplified version. Apart from Bangla, Karmakar developed type in 14 languages, including Arabic, Persian, Marathi, Telugu, Burmese and Chinese. His ancestors were calligraphers; they inscribed names and decorations on copper plates, weapons, metal pots, etc. created the first Bengali typeface for printing.

In 1779, Karmakar moved to Kolkata to work for Wilkins' new printing press. In 1803, Karmakar developed a set of Devnagari script, the first Nagari type to be developed in India.