Harutyun Shmavonyan

Harutyun Shmavonyan was a native Persia where he served in the Armenian churches. In 1784, he moved to Madras (now Chennai), India where he served as the spiritual head of Armenians, and in addition to his official duties in the church he devoted long hours to the study and publication of books and papers. In 1789, he started a printing press where he printed several books in Armenian, and where he had on the 28 October 1794 published the first ever Armenian journal under the title of Azdarar (Herald), a monthly magazine containing subjects of social, commercial and literary interest. Because of his initiative he was remembered as the father of Armenian journalism. Although Azdarar had a short life of 18 months and 18 volumes, it became the basis of Armenian press history and gave a birth to new and various Armenian papers and magazines.