Manasi a monthly literary magazine planned by Subodh Chandra Dutta. It was born in an adda (informal literary meetings), later named after the journal, at the office of a renowned photographic concern known as the Hopsing Company (No 4, Chowringhee, Calcutta). Such addas had grown in popularity in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Bengal around periodicals like sangbad prabhakar, bangadarshan, sabujpatra, bharati and some others. In case of Manasi, the situation was a reverse one. The journal was planned by Subodh Chandra Dutta, the manager of Hopsing and Fakir Chandra Chattopadhyay, a staff of Kellner Company. Sibratan Mitra of 'Ratan Library' fame joined them along with others. Subscriptions were collected for the journal. The editorial board consisted of Subodh Chandra Dutta, Fakir Chandra Chattopadhyay, Sibratan Mitra and Induprakash Bandyopadhyay.

The first issue of the Manasi came out in Falgun, 1315 BS (1909 AD), with an article by rabindranath tagore. After a few months, Sibratan Mitra left Calcutta, and Jatindramohan Bagchi joined the editorial board in his place. From the first issue of its sixth year (Falgun, 1320 BS), Jagadindranath Ray of Natore took over as the editor. Within two years, Jagadindranath and Amulyacharan Vidyabhusan collaborated to publish a weekly journal the Marmabani. Only 25 issues of this journal were published between 13 Shravan 1322 BS and 13 Magh, 1322 BS. Jagadindranath and others decided to combine Manasi and Marmabani. So from Falgun 1322 BS, a new monthly Manasi o Marmabani appeared under the editorship of Jagadindranath and Pravatkumar Mukhopadhyay, and it continued up to Magh, 1336 BS.

akshay kumar maitreya, Anurupa Devi, jaladhar sen , jyotirindranath tagore, prafulla chandra ray, probhat kumar mukhopadhyay, priyamvada devi, rabindranath tagore, ramaprasad chanda, rakhaldas bandyopadhyay, satyendranath dutta, and Hemendraprasad Ghosh were among its regular contributors. The list shows that the Manasi contributed towards the advancement of studies in diverse fields. An index of its articles has been prepared by Santipada Bhattacharya and published by Sahityalok, Calcutta. [Indrajit Chaudhuri]