CLASS NOTES GRADE 10

CHAPTER - 7
PRINT CULTURE AND THE MODERN WORLD
Notes for part 7, 8 and 9

Part 7: Religious Reform and Public Debates

Print questioned social issues

 From the early nineteenth century there were debates about religious issues.
 People criticized the practices followed in society and campaigned for reform.
 There were controversies and debates between social and religious reformers and the
Hindu orthodoxy over matters like widow immolation, monotheism, Brahmanical
priesthood and idolatry.
 To reach wider audience the ideas were printed in everyday language of people.
 Example: Ram mohun Roy published – Sambad Kaumudi against Hindu orthodoxy and
Hindu orthodoxy commissioned Samachar Chandrika to oppose his views. Newspapers
like Shamsul Akhbar, Bombay Samachar were started.

Impact of print on religious groups in India

1 - MUSLIMS
 In north India, the ulama were deeply anxious about the collapse of Muslim dynasties.
They feared colonial leaders will encourage conversion and will change Muslim personal
laws.
 As a result they started publishing their holy scriptures in Persian and Urdu language.
They used cheap lithographic presses.
 Example: The Doeband Seminary published thousands upon thousands of fatwas telling
Muslim readers how to conduct themselves in their everyday lives.

2- HINDU
 Hindus also encouraged reading of religious texts printed in vernacular languages.
 In 1810 the first printed edition of Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas came out in Calcutta.
 From 1880s Naval Kishore Press at Lucknow and the Shri Venkateshwar Press in
Bombay published numerous religious texts in vernaculars.
 Now Religious texts could reach to large no of people as they were in printed and
portable form. This encouraged discussions, debates and controversies within different
religious groups.

Related Question: Print did not only stimulate the publication of conflicting opinions but also
connected communities and people in different parts of India. Explain.
Or not only stimulated the publication of conflicting opinionsamongst
$rint
How did print help connect communities and people in different parts of India? Explain with
communities,
examples. but alsoconnected communities and peoplein different parts of
3ndia.
;ewspapers conveyed news fromoneplace to another, creating pan)3ndian ntities.
Ans-
Print connected communities in different ways:
(i) With the growth of print there were serious debates on religious, social and economic issues.
Different people had different opinions regarding the colonial society. There were many who
criticized the existing social practices and campaigned for reforms while others opposed them.

(ii) Print helped in spreading news ideas in the form of printed tracts and newspapers. They also
shaped the nature of the debates within different communities.

(iii) Print enabled wider range of people to participate in public discussions and express their
views. New ideas emerged through these clashes of opinions.

(iv) Print helped in establishing Pan-Indian identities. Example - Newspapers conveyed news
from one place to another thus one part of news was able to spread in the other part keeping
people aware what was happening all around. Newspapers reported on colonial misrule and
encouraged nationalist activities.

(v) Print and depressed classes: From the 19th century, issue of caste discrimination began to be
written. Jyotiba Phule, Dr B.R. Ambedkar, E. V. Ramaswamy wrote extensively on the
depressed classes and provided the depressed classes a common platform.

PART -8 : New Forms of Publication

1) Development of new literary forms:

 With the growing print culture new forms of writing came into markets.
 More people wanted to read about their life, experiences, emotions, relationships etc in
Europe which soon spread India. The Novel – a literary firm catered to this need.
 Other literary forms developed during time were – short stories, essays etc.

2) Development of visual culture

 By the end on 9th century visual culture became more popular. These prints began
shaping popular ideas about modernity and tradition, religion, politics etc.
 Printing press helped in printing more numbers of visual images. This helped painters to
print their images for mass circulation in less time. Example – Raja Ravi Verma used
printing press for wide circulation of his paintings.
 Cheap prints and calendars were easily accessible during this time even to poor who
used them to decorate their home walls.
 Caricatures and cartoons started publishing in journals and newspapers commenting on
social and political issues (especially imperial rule).

Women and Print

During 19th century there was an increase in women readers as well as women writers.
Liberal men use to allow their daughters or wife to study but conservative Hindus believed that a
literate girl would be widowed and Muslims feared that educated women would be corrupted by
reading Urdu romances.
Examples of few women writers in India:-
 Rashsundari Debi, a young married girl in a very orthodox household, learnt to read in
the secrecy of her kitchen. Later, she wrote her autobiography “Amar Jiban”which was
published in1876.
 Kailashbashini Debi wrote books highlighting the experiences of women - about how
women were imprisoned at home, kept in ignorance, forced to do hard domestic labour
and treated unjustly by the very people they served.
 In the1880s, in present day Maharashtra - Tarabai Shinde and Pandita Ramabai wrote
about the miserable lives of upper caste Hindu women (especially widows).
 Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossein wrote about need for women education.

Note:
In the early twentieth century, journals, written for and sometimes edited by women, became
extremely popular. They discussed issues like women education, widowhood, widow remarriage
and the national movement.

Folk Literature:

a) In Punjab - folk literature was widely printed from the early twentieth century.
Ram Chaddha published the fast selling Istri Dharm Vichar to teach women how to be obedient
wives.

b) In Bengal – An entire central area of Calcutta – The Battala – was famous for printing
popular books.
Books like - cheap editions of religious tracts as well as books containing obscene and
scandalous literature could be purchased from here.

Note: Lot of books were illustrated here and pedlars use to carry them in villages so that even
women could read them.

Print and the Poor People

 In 19th century Very cheap small books were brought to markets in Madras allowing
poor people to purchase the books.
 Public libraries were set up expanding the access to books. These libraries were located
mostly in cities and towns, and at times in prosperous villages.
 From the late nineteenth century, issues of caste discrimination began to be written about
in many printed tracts and essays. -Jyotiba Phule, the Maratha pioneer of low caste
protest movements, wrote about the injustices of the caste system in his book Gulamgiri
in 1871.
 In the twentieth century, B.R. Ambedkar in Maharashtra and E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker
Known as Periyar wrote powerful writings on caste and their writings were circulated all
over India.
Workers and Print
 Workers in factories were too overworked and lacked the education to write much about
their experiences. But Kashibaba, a Kanpur mill worker, wrote and published
Chhote Aur Bade Ka Sawal in1938 to show the links between caste and class
exploitation.
 The poems of another Kanpur mill worker, who wrote under the name of Sudarshan
Chakr were brought together and published in a collection called Sacchi Kavitayan.
 In Bangalore cotton mill workers set up libraries to educate themselves. Libraries were
sponsored by reformers who wanted them to stop indulge in drinking practices and to
bring literacy and propagate nationalism amongst them.

PART -8 : Print and Censorship in India

 Before 1798 the colonial state under the East India Company was not too concerned with
censorship.
 East India Company’s early measures to control printed matter were directed against
English editors like James Augustus Hickey who were critical of Company misrule and
hated the actions of particular Company officers. The Company was worried for such
criticisms.
 By the 1820s, the Calcutta Supreme Court passed certain regulations to control press
freedom and the Company began encouraging publication of newspapers that would
celebrate British rule.
 1835 Governor General Bentinck agreed to revise press laws. Thomas Macaulay
formulated new rules that restored the earlier freedoms for press.
 After the revolt of 1857 the attitude to freedom of the press changed and there was a
demand to put restriction on ‘native’ press as they were promoting the feeling of
nationalism amongst Indians.
 In 1878, the Vernacular Press Act was passed. It provided the government with extensive
rights to censor reports and editorials in the vernacular press.
 From now on the government kept regular track of the vernacular newspapers published
in different provinces. Then a report was judged as seditious, the newspaper was warned,
and if the warning was ignored, the press was liable to be seized and the printing
machinery used to get confiscated.

Role of Press in Freedom Struggle in India

 Despite of various measures taken by British nationalist newspapers grew in number
across India.
 They reported on colonial misrule and encouraged nationalist activities.
 Attempts to stop nationalist to criticized British provoked militant protest.
 Example: When Punjab revolutionaries were deported in 1907, Balgangadhar Tilak
wrote about them in Kesari. This led to his imprisonment provoking widespread protest
in India.