Vital for CBSE class X students for the preparation of Social Science

1. MADATSST
&
MUKUND INGLE
PRESENT

2. Mr. Mukund B. Ingle

3.  Manuscripts before the Age of Print:
o India was rich in handwritten manuscripts from the old age. Those were
printed in various languages.
o Those were printed on palm leaves or hand-made paper.
o Pages were sometimes beautifully illustrated. They would be either
pressed between wooden covers or sewn together to ensure
preservation.
o Manuscripts, however, were highly expensive and fragile.
o They had to be handled carefully, and they could not be read easily as
the script was written in different styles.
o Pre-colonial Bengal developed a chain of school, but their children
hardly read the book. They only learnt to write.

4. o The Printing Press was introduced by Portuguese Missionaries in Goa in 16th century.
o They learnt local languages and started printing books.
o Books were printed Konkani, Kannad, Tamil & Malayalam by Europeans.
o It took long time for the books to be printed in English.
o From 1780, James Augustus Hickey began to edit the Bengal Gazette, a weekly
magazine.
o Hickey published a lot of advertisements, including those that related to the import and
sale of slaves. But he also published a lot of gossip about the Company’s senior
officials in India.
o Enraged by this, Governor-General Warren Hastings persecuted Hickey, and
encouraged the publication of officially sanctioned newspapers that could counter the
flow of information that damaged the image of the colonial government.
o There were Indians, too, who began to publish Indian newspapers. The first to appear
was the weekly Bengal Gazette, brought out by Gangadhar Bhattacharya, who was
close to Rammohun Roy.

5. o From the early nineteenth century, as you know, there were
intense debates around religious issues. These debates
were carried out in public and in print.
o A wider public could now participate in these public
discussions and express their views. New ideas emerged
through these clashes of opinions.
o This was a time of intense controversies between social
and religious reformers and the Hindu orthodoxy over
matters like widow immolation, monotheism, Brahmanical
priesthood and idolatry.

6. o In Bengal, as the debate developed, tracts and newspapers proliferated,
circulating a variety of arguments.
o Rammohun Roy published the Sambad Kaumudi from 1821 and the
Hindu orthodoxy commissioned the Samachar Chandrika to oppose his
opinions.
o In north India, the ulama were deeply anxious about the collapse of
Muslim dynasties. They feared that colonial rulers would encourage
conversion, change the Muslim personal laws.
o The Deoband Seminary, founded in 1867, published thousands upon
thousands of fatwas telling Muslim readers how to conduct themselves
in their everyday lives, and explaining the meanings of Islamic doctrines.

7. o As more people started reading, that developed the demand of new types of
writing styles and literature in that period. Novels were in great demand and
lyrics, short stories and essay about social and political matters were written.
o By the end of 19th century, new visual culture started taking shape. Raja Ravi
Varma produced visual images for mass circulation. Cheap prints and calendars
were easily available for poor people. It played vital role to reshape new ideas.
o By that time, newspapers and journals started publishing cartoons and
caricatures dealing with various topics.
o Some caricatures ridiculed the educated Indians’ fascination with Western tastes
and clothes, while others expressed the fear of social change.
o There were imperial caricatures lampooning nationalists, as well as nationalist
cartoons criticizing imperial rule.

8. o Women couldn’t keep them away from reading. They not only started
reading but they wrote also. But not everyone had easy access to the
books.
o Liberal father and husband allowed women to go to school and read.
Many journals written during that time were by women and they tried to
convince society that women should be educated.
o Conservative Hindus and Muslim didn’t allow women to read. Hindus
thought that if women would read, they would be widowed and Muslim
thought that women would be spoiled and corrupted.
o Many rebel women defied that by not only reading but started writing.
Rashsundari Debi is one of the examples. She wrote ‘Amar Jiban’- a
first autobiography in Bangal language.

9. o Some the prominent women writers from that period are
Kailashbashini Debi, Tarabai Shinde and Pandita Ramabai.
They discussed issues like women’s education,
widowhood, widow remarriage and the national movement.
o Some publication started showing traditional image of
women. Ram Chaddha in his book ‘Istri Dharm Vichar’ and
the Khalsa track society published cheap booklets with
same message.
o In Bengal, an entire area in central Calcutta – the Battala –
was devoted to the printing of popular books.

10. o From nineteenth century cheap small books were circulated in the market so that poor
people could buy that. Libraries were opened in town and cities.
o Caste issue was widely discussed through print during that time. Jyotiba Phule wrote
about caste system in his book- ‘Gulamgiri’.
o B. R. Ambedkar and Periyar wrote about caste system and they were widely read by
the people. They emphasized on new and just social structure through journals and
tracts.
o Kashibaba, a Kanpur millworker, wrote and published Chhote Aur Bade Ka Sawal in
1938 to show the links between caste and class exploitation.
o The poems of another Kanpur millworker, who wrote under the name of Sudarshan
Chakr between 1935 and 1955, were brought together and published in a collection
called Sacchi Kavitayan.
 By the 1930s, Bangalore cotton millworkers set up libraries to educate themselves,
following the example of Bombay workers.

11. o In early period of Press in India, Company was worried about their reputation and had
a fear that critics would use press to harm their monopoly of trade.
o First time in 1820, Calcutta High Court passed the law to control press but Lord
Bentinck wanted to restore freedom to press and Macaulay formulated new rules.
o But after 1857, English men started demanding to restrain a native press as it was
becoming the great source of nationalism. Press was a great source of information
against British policies and behavior.
o In 1878, the Vernacular Press Act was passed to put control on Indian newspapers.
o According to this act, British got extensive rights to censor reports and editorials.
o From now on the government kept regular track of the vernacular newspapers
published in different provinces. When 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 confiscated.
o Despite repressive measures, nationalist newspapers grew in numbers in all parts of
India. They reported on colonial misrule and encouraged nationalist activities.

12. o Print was the great source creating the feeling of
Nationalism during British period as it started printing
against the cruel policies of Company and how they were
exploiting India. Newspapers openly circulated news all
over the nation to promote Indians to stand against British.
o Stories of one corner of India were printed in different
languages and helped to connect the people together.
o Social Reformers tried their best to print and fight against
the bad tradition of one and the other region and spread
new ideas all over the country.

13. THANK YOU