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Important Questions of Print Culture and the Modern World Class 10
Objective Type Questions
Question. In ancient India which of the following material was used for writing manuscripts?
(a) Parchments
(b) Vellum
(c) Palm Leaves
(d) Paper
Answer : (c) Palm leaves
Question. By whom was ‘Sambad Kaumudi’ published in 1821?
(a) Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
(b) C.R. Das
(c) Raja Ram Mohan Roy
(d) Swami Vivekanand
Answer : (c) Raja Ram Mohan Roy
Question. Which religious reformer was responsible for the reformation movement?
(a) Martin Luther
(b) Martin Luther King
(c) The Grimm Brothers
(d) George Elliot
Answer : (a) Martin Luther
Question. With what purpose was the Vernacular Press Act passed by Lord Lyton in 1878?
(a) To popularise Vernacular Press
(b) To supervise Vernacular Press
(c) To clamp down and censor the native press
(d) To encourage authors writing in Indian languages
Answer : (c) To clamp down and censor the native press
Question. ‘Edo’ was the earlier name of which of the following places?
(a) Shanghai
(b) Tokyo
(c) Seol
(d) Hong Kong
Answer : (b) Tokyo
Question. Who wrote about the injustices of the caste system in ‘Gulamgiri’?
(a) Raja Ram Mohan Roy
(b) Jyotiba Phule
(c) Bal gangadhar Tilak
(d) Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
Answer : (b) Jyotiba Phule
Question. From where did Marco Polo bring back the knowledge of woodblock printing to Italy?
(a) China
(b) Japan
(c) Sri Lanka
(d) India
Answer : (a) China
Question. The first printing press was developed by:
(a) Marco Polo
(b) Kitagawa Utamaro
(c) Johann Gutenberg
(d) Erasmus
Answer : (c) Johann Gutenberg
Question. ‘Aamar Jiban’ is the autobiography of which of the following women author?
(a) Rashsundari Debi
(b) Rokeya Hossain
(c) Kailashbashini Debi
(d) Pandita Ramabai
Answer : (a) Rashsundari Debi
Question. Which one of the following is the oldest Japanese book?
(a) Sutta Pitaka
(b) Diamond Sutra
(c) Mahavamsa
(d) Dipavamsa
Answer : (b) Diamond Sutra
Question. Who among the following was popularly known as Periyar?
(a) Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
(b) Jyotiba Phule
(c) C.R. Das
(d) E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker
Answer : (d) E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker
Question. By whom was the New Testament first translated?
(a) Erasmus
(b) Leonardo da Vinci
(c) Martin Luther
(d) Manocchio
Answer : (c) Martin Luther
Question. Name the first weekly magazine published in India by Gangadhar Bhattacharya.
(a) Anandabazar Patrika
(b) Yugantar
(c) Sambad Kaumudi
(d) Bengal Gazette
Answer : (d) Bengal Gazette
Short Answer Type Questions
Question. ‘With the printing press a new public emerged in Europe’. Justify the statement.
OR
How did a new reading public emerge with the printing press? Explain.
Answer : (i) Wider sections of people started having easy access to books.
(ii) Books were printed in large numbers with greater ease.
(iii) The prices fell and they became affordable for the large public.
Question. In which three ways did the printed books at first closely resembled the written manuscripts?
Answer : (i) Appearance and layout resembled the written manuscripts.
(ii) Metal letters imitated the ornamented hand written styles.
(iii) Borders were illuminated.
(iv) Space for decoration was kept blank.
Question. Why did British Government curb the freedom of the Indian press after the revolt of 1857?
Answer : (i) After the revolt of 1857, the attitude to freedom of the press changed. Enraged Englishmen demanded a clamp down on the ‘native’ press.
(ii) As vernacular newspapers became assertively nationalist, the colonial government began debating measures of stringent control.
Question. Explain the different stages of development of printing technology in China.
Answer : The development of printing technology in China:
(i) From AD 594 onwards, books in China were printed by rubbing paper against the inked surface of woodblocks.
(ii) As both sides of the thin, porous sheet could not be printed, the traditional Chinese ‘Accordion Book’ was folded and stitched at the side.
(iii) China possessed a huge bureaucratic system which recruited its personnel through civil service examinations. Textbooks for this examination were printed in vast numbers under the sponsorship of the imperial state.
(iv) By the 17th century, urban culture developed in China and merchants. Wives of rich men and wives of scholar- officials not only started reading different books like, fictions, poetry, autobiographies, anthologies of literary masterpieces, romantic plays, they also began to write their autobiographies.
Question. How had the earliest printing technology developed in the world? Explain with examples.
Answer : (i) The earliest kind of print technology was developed in China, Japan and Korea. In China woodblocks were used for hand printing.
(ii) Up to the 6th century print was used only by the scholar officials but later it became common.
(iii) The Buddhist missionaries introduced hand printing technology from China to Japan.
(iv) It was Marco Polo, a great explorer, who brought printing knowledge of woodblock from China to Italy.
(v) The invention of the printing press proved great miracle in spreading knowledge.
Question. What restrictions were imposed by the Vernacular Press Act on the Indian Press? Explain.
OR
Why was Vernacular Press Act passed? Explain about this Act.
OR
What led the colonial government to pass the Vernacular Press Act in 1878? How did it affect the vernacular newspapers?
OR
Write short notes to show what you know about ‘The Vernacular Press Act’?
Answer : (i) The Vernacular Press act provided the government with extensive rights to censor reports and editorials in the Vernacular Press.
(ii) The government kept regular track of the Vernacular newspapers published in different provinces.
(iii) If any report was judges as seditious, then quickly that newspaper was warned.
(iv) If the warning was ignored, the press was liable to be seized and the printing machinery could be seized.
Question. “The ‘Print Revolution’ had transformed the lives of people changing their relationship to information and knowledge.” Analyse the statement.
Answer : Transformation due to Print Revolution:
(i) It influenced people’s perception and opened up new ways of looking at things.
(ii) A new reading public emerged.
(iii) Created the possibility of wide circulation of ideas.
(iv) Introduced a new world of debate and discussion.
(v) Stimulated many distinctive individual interpretations of faith.
Question. What was an “Accordion Book”? Describe any two features of hand printing in China.
OR
Explain any three features of Chinese ‘Accordion Book’.
Answer : ‘Accordion Book’ is a traditional Chinese book, folded and stitched at the side.
(i) Chinese Accordion Books were hand printed. They were printed by rubbing paper against the inked surface of wooden blocks.
(ii) As both sides of the thin, porous sheet would not be printed, the traditional Chinese ‘Accordion Book’ was folded and stitched at the side.
(iii) These Accordion Books could be duplicated by superbly-skilled craftsmen with remarkable accuracy and the beauty of calligraphy.
Question. How did Johann Gutenberg developed the first printing press?
OR
Write short notes to show what you know about ‘The Gutenberg Press’.
Answer : From his childhood, Gutenberg had seen wine and olive presses. Subsequently, he learnt the art of polishing stones, became a master goldsmith, and also acquired the expertise to create lead moulds used for making trinkets. Drawing on this knowledge, Gutenberg adapted existing technology to design his innovation. The olive press provided the model for the printing press, and moulds were used for casting the metal types for the letters of the alphabet. By 1448, Gutenberg perfected the system.
The first book printed by him was the Bible. About 180 copies were printed and it took three years to produce them. By the standards of time this was fast production.
Question. Examine the role of missionaries in the growth of press in India.
Answer : (i) The printing press first came to Goa in Western India through Portuguese missionaries in the mid 16th century.
(ii) Jesuit priests learnt Konkani and printed several texts and nearly 50 books were printed in Konkani.
(iii) Catholic priests printed the first Tamil book in 1579 at Cochin.
(iv) The first Malayalam book was printed in 1713.
(v) The Dutch Protestant missionaries had printed 32 Tamil texts.
Question. How did Gutenberg personalise the printed books? Explain.
Answer : (i) Borders were illuminated by hand with foliage and other patterns.
(ii) Books printed for rich had blank space left for decoration.
(iii) Each buyer could choose the design.
(iv) Verses were highlighted with hand and with colours.
Question. Why did James Augustus Hickey claim that the Bengal Gazette was ‘a commercial paper open to all but influenced by none’? Explain.
Answer : (i) It was a private English weekly magazine in India, independent from colonial influence.
(ii) Hickey not only published a lot of advertisement including the import and sale of slaves, but also published lots of gossip about the Company’s senior officials in India.
(iii) Governor General Warren Hastings persecuted Hickey and encouraged government sanctioned newspapers.
Question. What is a manuscript? Why were they not used widely?
OR
What is manuscript? Mention any two limitations of it, during the nineteenth century.
Answer : Manuscripts were documents or books written by hand.
They were not used widely because:
(a) They could not satisfy the ever increasing demand for books.
(b) They were expensive as copying was an expensive, laborious and time-consuming business.
(c) Manuscripts were fragile, awkward to handle and could not be carried around or read easily.
(d) Their circulation was limited.
Question. Explain any three factors responsible for the invention of new printing techniques.
Answer : (i) The production of handwritten manuscript could not satisfy the ever-increasing demand for books.
(ii) Copying was expensive, laborious and time taking.
(iii) Manuscripts were fragile, difficult to handle and could not be cared for or read easily.
Question. Highlight any three innovations which have improved the printing technology from 19th century onwards.
OR
Write any three innovations in printing technology in the 19th century and 20th century Europe.
Answer : (i) By the mid-19th century, Richard M. Hoe of New York had perfected the power driven cylindrical press. This was capable of printing 8,000 sheets per hour. This press was particularly useful for printing newspaper.
(ii) In the late 19th century, the offset press was developed which would print up to six colours at a time.
(iii) From the turn of the 20th century, electrically-operated presses accelerated the printing operations.
(iv) Methods of feeding paper improved, the quality of the plates became better, automatic paper reels and photoelectric controls of the colour register were introduced.
(v) The dust cover or the book jackets were introduced.
Question. Why were women not educated in India in the early part of the nineteenth century? Give any two reasons.
Answer : (i) This was because of the superstitions and myths that prevailed in the society.
(ii) Conservative Hindus believed that a literate girl would be widowed and Muslims feared that educated women would be corrupted by reading Urdu romances.
Question. How did print introduce debate and discussion? Explain in three points.
OR
“Print created the possibility of wide circulation of ideas and introduced a new world of debate and discussion.” Analyse the statement in the context of religion in Europe.
Answer : Print created the possibility of the wide circulation of ideas:
Due to print creation, those people who disagreed with established authorities could not print and circulate their ideas. Though the printed message, they could persuade people to think differently. This had significance in different spheres of life. Not everyone welcomed the printed books and those who did also had fears about it. Many were apprehensive of the effects that the easier access to the printed books could have on people’s mind. It was feared that if there was no control over what was printed and read then rebellious and irreligious thoughts might spread.
Question. Describe any three methods by which printed books became more accessible to common people.
Answer : Three methods by which printed books became more accessible to common people:
(i) Very cheap books were brought in Madras town and sold on the crossroads, allowing poor people travelling to markets to buy them.
(ii) Mill workers set up libraries, e.g., in Bombay.
(iii) Libraries were located mostly in cities and in prosperous villages.
Question. Highlight any three circumstances that led to the intermingling of the hearing culture and the reading culture.
OR
Describe any three circumstances that intermingled the hearing culture and reading culture.
Answer : (i) The rate of literacy was very low in Europe till the end of the 20th century. In order to attract people towards books, the printers started printing popular ballads and folk
tales with a lot of illustration.
(ii) Such books were recited at gatherings and it attracted listeners.
(iii) Thus, the oral culture was printed and printed material was orally transmitted. That’s how oral and reading culture intermingled.
Question. Evaluate the efforts made by the British in India to impose censorship on the press.
Answer : (i) By the 1820s, the Calcutta Supreme Court passed certain regulations to control press freedom and the country began encouraging publication of newspapers that would celebrate British Rule.
(ii) In 1835, faced with urgent petitions by editors of English and Vernacular newspapers, Governor General Bentinck agreed to revise press laws.
(iii) In 1878, the Vernacular Press Act was passed, modelled on the Irish Press Laws. It provided the government with extensive rights to censor reports and editorials in the Vernacular Press. From now 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 could be confiscated.
Question. What is meant by the print revolution? Explain its significance.
Answer : With the invention of printing press, the printing of books started at a large scale. It was called the Print Revolution. Significance :
(i) With the printing press, a new reading public emerged.
(ii) Printing reduced the cost of books.
(iii) Books flooded the market, reaching out to an ever growing readership.
(iv) It led to the growth and development in technique and production of books. It also transformed the lives of people by opening the door of knowledge to a vast literate population.
(v) It influenced people’s conception and opened new ways of looking at things.
(vi) It encouraged debates and discussions on written texts and encouraged freedom of opinion on important issues.
(vii) Generated a new reading habit and book culture.
Question. How did new forms of popular literature appear in print targeting new audience in the 18th century? Explain with examples.
Answer : (i) There were almanacs along with ballads and folk tales. In England, Chapbooks were carried by petty pedlars known as chapman and sold for a penny.
(ii) Biliotheque Bleue was low-priced books sold in France. (iii) There were the romances printed on four to six pages and the more substantial ‘Histories’ which were stories of the past.
Question. For what purpose did Ram Chaddha, publish ‘Istri Dharam Vichar’?
Answer : (i) In Punjab, similar folk literature about discussing women issues was widely printed from the early 20th century.
(ii) Ram Chaddha published the fast selling ‘Istri Dharam Vichar’ to teach women how to be obedient wives.
Question. Who was Menocchio? Mention any two contributions of him in the field of print culture in the sixteenth century.
Answer : Menocchio was a miller of sixteenth century in Italy, he began to read books that were available in his locality.
(i) He reinterpreted the message of the Bible and formulated a view of God and Creation that enraged the Roman Catholic Church.
(ii) When the Roman Church began its inquisition to repress heretical ideas, Menocchio was hauled up twice and was ultimately executed.
Question. Explain any three features of hand written manuscripts before the age of print in India.
Answer : (i) Manuscripts were copies on palm leaves or on handmade paper.
(ii) Pages were beautifully illustrated.
(iii) Manuscripts were highly expensive but fragile.
(iv) They were in various vernacular languages.
(v) They could not be read easily as the script was written in different styles.
Question. How did the printers manage to attract the people, largely illiterate, towards printed books?
Answer : (i) To attract people, the printers started printing popular ballads and folk tales.
(ii) To attract people books had been incorporated with lots of illustrations.
(iii) Ballads and folk tales were sung and recited to the people in gatherings in the villages.
Question. Explain the new visual culture in print which developed in the nineteenth century.
Answer : (i) With the setting up of an increasing number of printing presses, visual images could be easily reproduced in multiple copies.
(ii) Painters like Raja Ravi Varma produced images for mass circulation.
(iii) Cheap prints and calendars were easily available in the bazaar. By the 1870s, caricatures and cartoons were also being published in journals and newspapers commenting on social and political issues.
Question. Explain the reasons favouring shift from hand printing to mechanical printing in China.
OR
Explain the different stages of development of Printing Technology in China.
Answer : The reasons favouring shift from hand printing to mechanical printing in China are:
(i) Textbooks of Civil Service Examination were printed in vast numbers under the sponsorship of the imperial state. From the sixteenth century, the number of examination candidates went up and that increased the volume of print.
(ii) By the seventeenth century, print was no longer used just by scholar officials. Merchants used print in their everyday life, as they collected trade information.
(iii) Reading increasingly became a leisure activity. The new readership preferred fictional narratives, poetry, autobiographies, anthologies of literary masterpieces, and romantic plays.
(iv) Rich women began to read, and many women began publishing their poetry and plays. Wives of scholar-officials published their works and courtesans wrote about their lives. The new reading culture was accompanied by a new technology. Western printing techniques and mechanical presses were imported in China and Shanghai became the new hub of the new print culture.
Question. Why did the Roman Catholic Church begin to keep an Index of prohibited books from the mid 16th century?
Answer : (i) Printed religious literature stimulated a variety of interpretations of faith, even among the little-educated working class in the early 16th century.
(ii) Menocchio, an Italian miller, reinterpreted the Bible in a way that enraged the Roman Catholic Church.
(iii) Such instances worried the Church about people reading the various interpretations of the religion and questioning the Church.
Hence, it imposed severe controls over publishers and booksellers and began maintaining an index of prohibited books.
Question. Why did the attitude of the colonial Government towards the freedom of the press change after the revolt of 1857? What repressive measures were put into place?
Answer : After the revolt of 1857, the attitude to freedom of press changed. Enraged English officials clamped down the native press because of their nationalists activities.
(i) In 1878, the Vernacular Press Act was passed. It provided the government extensive rights to censor reports.
(ii) The government kept regular track of the Vernacular newspaper, when a report was judged as seditious the newspaper was warned, the press was liable to be seized and machinery could be confiscated.
Long Answer Type Questions
Question. Explain five effects of print revolution.
Answer : Impact of print revolution:
(i) New reading public emerged.
(ii) The hearing people became reading people.
(iii) Religious debates due to fear of prints led to the distinctive interpretation of faith.
(iv) Printing transformed the lives of the people.
(v) It opened new ways of looking at things.
(vi) Print culture also affected the lives of poor people and women in many ways. The print gave birth to a new form of popular literature. Very small books were brought out. They were sold at crossroads. The poor people brought these books and read with great interest. Books were cheap so that the poor people could also afford them.
(vii) Women’s reading increased enormously in middle- class homes. Liberal husbands and fathers began educating their womenfolk at home and sent them to schools. Women schools were also set up.
Question. How did the printed books of India attract the poor class as readers in the 19th century? Explain.
OR
What efforts were made to spread the benefits of print culture for the poor people in the 19th century India?
Answer : Sources of Attraction:
(i) Very cheap small books were brought to market in the 19th century.
(ii) Public libraries were set up to give an easy access to books.
(iii) Kashibaba of Kanpur published ‘Chhote Aur Bade ka Sawal’ where caste and class exploitation were linked.
(iv) Sacchi Kavitayen, the poems of another Kanpur mill worker who wrote under the pen name of Sudarshan Chakra also attracted the mill workers towards reading printed books, since they could see their lives and sufferings reflected in such books.
(v) Bombay and Bangalore cotton mill-workers set up libraries to educate themselves. These libraries were sponsored by social reformers.
Question. What difference did printing technology make in the lives of women and children in the 19th century? Explain.
Answer : Impact on Women:
(i) Women became important readers and writers. Penny magazines, especially meant for women, contained guidelines on proper behaviour and housekeeping.
(ii) Novel began to be written in the 19th century and some of the best novelists were women like Jane Austen, Bronte sisters, George Eliot, etc.
(iii) Their writing created a new image of women with a will, the strength of personality, determination and power to think.
Impact on Children:
(i) Primary education became compulsory from the late 19th century.
(ii) School textbooks, rural folk tales in edited versions, fairy tales and new stories were published for children.
(iii) Grimm brothers of Germany spent years to collect traditional folk tales from peasants and France and set up a children’s press in 1857.
Question. “Printing press played a major role in shaping the Indian society of the 19th century.” Support the statement by giving examples.
Answer : The print culture had a significant impact on the growth of nationalism in India.
(i) In spite of passing a Vernacular Press Act, nationalist newspapers grew in numbers.
(ii) They reported on colonial misrule and encouraged nationalist activities.
(iii) The British Government tried to put down nationalised criticism but there were more protests.
(iv) ‘Punjab revolutionaries were deported,’ Bal Gangadhar Tilak wrote in Kesari.
(v) It led to his imprisonment in 1908 provoking terms of protest.
Question. How did the scientists and philosophers in the 18th century Europe find it easier to reach out to people? Explain.
Answer : (i) Periodicals, journals and newspapers in the early 18th century combined information from various fields.
(ii) That’s how the ideas of scientists and philosophers became more accessible to the common people.
(iii) Ancient and medieval scientific texts were compiled and published, maps and scientific diagrams were printed.
(iv) Scientists such as Isaac Newton could influence a large number of people in the scientific area, by publishing their discoveries.
(v) The works of Thomas Paine, Voltaire and Jean Jacques Rousseau were also widely read.
(vi) Ideas about science reason and rationality found its way into popular literature.
Question. Explain briefly the initial efforts made by foreigners to introduce printing press in India.
Answer : (i) The Portuguese missionaries first introduced printing press in India in the mid 16th century.
(ii) Jesuit priests learnt Konkani and printed several tracts.
(iii) By 1674 about 50 books had been printed in the Konkani and Kannada language.
(iv) Catholic priest first published printed books in Tamil in Cochin and in 1713 first Malayalam book was printed.
(v) The Dutch Protestant missionaries had printed nearly 32 printed text in Tamil which were later translated.
(vi) The English language press did not grow in India till quite late even though officials of the East India Company began to import presses from late 17th century.
(vii) From 1780, James Augustus Hickey began to edit the Bengal Gazette, a weekly magazine; it was a private English enterprise and was free from colonial influence.
(viii) Hickey published a lot of advertisements including those that related to import and sale of slaves.
(ix) By the close of the 18th century, a number of newspaper and journals appeared in print.
Question. How far is it right to say that the print culture was responsible for the French Revolution.
OR
Why did some historians feel that printing technology created the basis for French Revolution?
Answer : (i) Print popularised the ideas of enlightened thinkers on traditions, superstitions and despotism.
(ii) They advocated reasons.
(iii) People read books of Voltaire and Rousseau. Print created dialogue and debate.
(iv) People started a discussion and evaluated the royalty.
(v) Print literature mocked the royalty.
(vi) This kind of print literature circulated underground and it created awareness among people and formed the basis of the French Revolution.
Question. What were the effects of the spread of print culture for poor people in the 19th century India? Describe.
Answer : Effects of Print culture on poor people:
(i) Cheap small books were brought to the markets in Madras and were then sold.
(ii) Public libraries were set up from early 20th century expanding the access to books.
(iii) When issues to caste discrimination were written by Ambedkar, Jyotiba Phule, it was read by people. ‘Gulamgiri’ of Jyotiba Phule exposed the ill-treatment to the low castes.
(iv) Local protest movements and sects criticised ancient scriptures.
(v) Workers in factories wrote and published to show links between caste and class exploitation.
(vi) Bangalore cotton mill-workers set up libraries to educate themselves.
Question. “From the late 19th century, issues of caste discrimination began to be written about in many printed tracts and essays.” Support the statement by giving examples.
OR
How did issues of caste discrimination begin to write in many printed tracts and essays from the late nineteenth century? Explain with examples.
Answer : From the late 19th century, issues of caste discrimination began to be written.
(i) Jyotiba Phule, the Maratha pioneer of low caste, started a protest movement. He wrote about the injustice of the caste system in his Gulamgiri.
(ii) B. R. Ambedkar in Maharashtra and E.V. Rama-swamy in Madras wrote powerfully on caste. Their writings were read by people all over India.
(iii) Local protest movements and sects also created a lot of journals and tracts.
(iv) Kashibaba mill-worker wrote and published ‘Chhote Aur Bade ka Sawal’.
(v) Bangalore cotton mill-workers set up libraries to educate themselves.
(vi) Workers were overburdened and lacked the education to write much.
Question. How did print culture affect the life of poor people and women in the nineteenth century India? Explain.
Answer : (i) The print culture gave birth to new forms of popular literature. Very small books were brought out. They were sold crossroads. The poor people brought these books and read with great interest. Books were cheap, even the poor could afford to buy them. Public libraries were set up.
(ii) The print culture made the women important, as readers as well as writers. Women’s reading increased enormously in middle-class homes. Liberal husbands and fathers began educating their womenfolk at home and send them to schools. Women’s schools were set up.
Question. Describe the impact of the print revolution in Europe during 15th and 16th century.
Answer : Impact of the print revolution in Europe during the 15th and 16th century:
(i) Printing reduced the cost of books.
(ii) The time and labour required to produce each book came down, multiple copies could be produced with greater ease.
(iii) Books flooded the market, reaching out to an ever- growing readership.
(iv) Publishers started publishing popular ballads folk tales with beautiful pictures and illustrations.
(v) Knowledge was transferred orally.
(vi) Print created the possibility of the wide circulation of ideas and introduced a new world of debate and discussion.
(vii) Even those who disagreed with established authorities could now print and circulate their ideas. e.g., Martin Luther was a German monk, priest, professor and church reformer. He challenged the Church to debate his ideas.
(viii) This led to division within the Church and the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.
(ix) Print and popular religious literature stimulated many distinctive individual interpretations of faith even among little-educated working people.
(x) In the sixteenth century, Menocchio, a miller in Italy, reinterpreted the message of the Bible and formulated a view of God and Creation that enraged the Roman Catholic Church.
Question. What led the colonial government to pass the Vernacular Press Act in 1878? How did it affect the vernacular newspaper?
Answer : (i) Nationalists in India used print media to publish the evil effects of British rule and spread new ideas.
(ii) As vernacular newspapers became assertively nationalist, the colonial government decided to take strong measures.
(iii) In 1878 the Vernacular Press Act was passed which provided the government with intensive rights to censor reports and editorials in the vernacular press.
(iv) The government started keeping regular track on vernacular newspapers. If it published some material which was considered to be seditious, the government seized the press and confiscated the printing machines.
(v) Despite repressive measures nationalist newspapers grew in numbers in all parts of India.
Question. Martin Luther remarked “Printing is the ultimate gift of God and the greatest one.” Explain this remark in the light of the religious reforms that took place in Europe in the 16th century.
OR
How did Martin Luther’s writing bring reforms in the religious field? Explain.
Answer : (i) Martin Luther wrote Ninety Five Theses criticising the malpractices in the Roman Catholic Church. He posted a printed copy of it on the door of a church in Wittenberg.
(ii) Luther’s writings immediately became popular through printed copies and were read widely.
(iii) 5000 printed copies of Luther’s translation of the New Testament were sold in a week.
(iv) All these led to a religious debate and marked the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.
(v) Printing technology played a key role in bringing religious reforms in the 16th century. Hence, Martin Luther’s remarks were apt, effective and practical.
Question. What were the three difficulties in copying manuscripts? What was the use of printing press? Describe.
Answer : Difficulties in copying manuscripts:
(i) Copying manuscript was an expensive business.
(ii) It was laborious and time-consuming.
(iii) Manuscripts themselves were fragile, awkward to handle and could not be easily carried around or read easily.
Use of printing press :
(i) It enables people to produce books at greater speed.
(ii) The production of books in large number created a new culture of reading and enlarged the number of readers.
Question. Explain with examples how print culture catered to the requirement of Children.
Answer : (i) Primary education became compulsory from the late nineteenth century, children became an important category of readers. Production of school textbooks became critical for the publishing industry.
(ii) A children’s press devoted to literature for children alone, was set up in France in 1857.
(iii) This press published new works as well as old fairy tales and folk tales.
(iv) The Grimm brothers in Germany spent years compiling traditional folk tales gathered from peasants. What they collected was edited before the stories were published in a collection in 1812.
(v) Anything that was considered unsuitable for children or would appear vulgar to the elites, was not included in the published version. Rural folk tales thus acquired a new form. In this way, print recorded old tales but also changed them.
Question. “Print not only stimulated the publication of conflicting opinions amongst communities, but it also connected communities and people in different parts of India.” Examine the statement.
OR
Evaluate the role of print in connecting various communities in different parts of India.
Answer : (i) Religious texts, reached a wide circle of people encouraging discussions, debates and controversies within and among different religions.
(ii) Newspapers conveyed news from one place to other creating pan-Indian identities.
(iii) Spread of ideas through printed texts and newspapers led to widespread participation of Indians.
(iv) Print propagated against social evils like Sati, child marriage and the purdah system.
(v) Emergence of many social reforms and reform movements.
(vi) New ideas emerged through the clashes of opinions.
Question. What was the attitude of liberal and conservative Indians towards women’s reading? How did woman like Kailashbashini Debi respond to this in her writings?
OR
Describe the attitude of liberal and conservative Indian’s towards women’s reading?
Answer : (i) Liberal husbands and fathers began educating their womenfolk at home and sent them to schools.
(ii) Conservative Hindus believed that a literate girl would be widowed and Muslims feared that educated women would be corrupted by reading romantic books.
(iii) Kailashbashini Debi wrote books highlighting the experiences of women-how women were imprisoned at home, kept in ignorance, forced to do hard domestic labour.
Question. How did print introduce a new world of debate and discussion? What were its implications in sphere of religion? Explain.
OR
How did print create the possibility of wide circulation of ideas and discussion?
Answer : (i) Print created the possibility of the wide circulation of ideas leading to debate and discussion. Those who disagreed with established authorities could now print and circulate their own views.
(ii) Through printed messages, they could persuade people to think differently and move them into action.
(iii) Implications on the sphere of religion. The religious reformer, Martin Luther, wrote Ninety Five Theses criticizing many practices of Roman Catholic Church. A printed copy of this was posted on a church door. This led to a division within the church and market the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.
Question. Describe any five strategies developed by the printers and publishers in the 19th century to sell their products.
Answer : Some of the important strategies adopted by the printers and publishers to sell books are:
(i) They brought out serialized novels. The first serialized novel was Shilling Series. It was a cheap series that was very popular and was sold in England in 1920s.
(ii) The advertisers put up advertisements at strategic public locations such as building, railway station, etc. to attract buyers and improve sales.
(iii) The dust cover or the book jacket is the 20th century innovation.
(iv) One of the great innovations was the introduction of cheap paperback books in the 1930s, in during the Great Depression in order to keep the steady sale of books at the time of recessions. Cheap paperback editions were brought to counter the effect of the Great Depression in the 1930s.
(v) The Shilling Series was also considered an important innovation at this time.
Question. Explain how print culture assisted the growth of nationalism in India.
Answer : Print culture, i.e., press and literature played a crucial role in the growth and spread of nationalism in India:
(i) In the 19th century, a huge quantity of national literature was created. Revolutionised minds of people inspired them to throw away the British yoke.
(ii) India Mirror, Bombay Samachar, The Hindu, Kesari- Indian newspapers exerted deep imprint on the minds of people.
(iii) Nationalist press reported on colonial misrule and encouraged nationalist activities. For example, when Punjab revolutionaries were deported in 1907, Bal Gangadhar Tilak wrote with great sympathy about them.
(iv) Gandhiji spread his ideas of Swadeshi in a powerful way through newspapers. Many vernacular newspapers came up in India to spread nationalism.
