NCERT Solutions For Class 10 History: Print Culture and the Modern World
Write in brief
Question 1: Give reasons for the following:
a) Woodblock print only came to Europe after 1295.
Answer-
Woodblock printing, the earliest kind of print technology, was developed in China, Japan and Korea.
Chinese paper reached Europe via the silk route in the eleventh century.
However, the knowledge of woodblock printing technology was brought back to Italy by the great explorer, Marco Polo, in 1295, after many years of exploration in China.
b) Martin Luther was in favour of print and spoke out in praise of it.
Answer-
Martin Luther, a religious reformer, was deeply grateful to print because it allowed the rapid and wide circulation of his ideas, leading to the Protestant Reformation.
In 1517, Luther wrote his Ninety Five Theses criticising the practices and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church. A printed copy was immediately reproduced in vast numbers and read widely, prompting a division within the Church.
Luther’s translation of the New Testament sold 5,000 copies within a few weeks. He famously said, ‘Printing is the ultimate gift of God and the greatest one’.
c) The Roman Catholic Church began keeping an Index of Prohibited books from the mid-sixteenth century.
Answer-
The Church began to fear the effect of easily accessible printed books, concerned that if there was no control over what was printed, rebellious and irreligious thoughts might spread, thereby destroying the authority of ‘valuable’ literature.
This anxiety intensified when popular religious literature stimulated distinctive individual interpretations of faith. For example, in the sixteenth century, Menocchio, a miller in Italy, reinterpreted the Bible, which enraged the Roman Catholic Church.
Troubled by such heretical ideas, the Roman Church imposed severe controls over publishers and booksellers and, from 1558, began to maintain an Index of Prohibited Books.
d) Gandhi said the fight for Swaraj is a fight for liberty of speech, liberty of the press, and freedom of association.
Answer-
Gandhi linked the fight for Swaraj (self-rule) to these basic freedoms because the colonial government actively sought to suppress Indian nationalism by controlling these democratic vehicles of expressing and cultivating public opinion.
In 1922, Gandhi observed that the Government of India was seeking to crush the three powerful vehicles of public opinion: liberty of speech, liberty of the press, and freedom of association.
The colonial regime employed measures like the Vernacular Press Act of 1878 and repressive measures during wartime, such as the Defence of India Rules, to censor reports and editorials and confiscate printing machinery, thereby restricting the spread of nationalist ideas.
Question 2: Write short notes to show what you know about:
a) The Gutenberg Press
Answer-
The Gutenberg Press was the first-known printing press developed by Johann Gutenberg at Strasbourg, Germany, in the 1430s.
Gutenberg, the son of a merchant, adapted existing technologies, using the olive press as the model for the printing press and lead moulds for casting metal types for the alphabet letters. By 1448, he perfected the system.
This innovation was known as the moveable type printing machine. The first book he printed was the Bible, printing approximately 180 copies in three years, which was considered fast production for the time. The Gutenberg press could print 250 sheets on one side per hour.
b) Erasmus’s idea of the printed book
Answer-
Erasmus, a Latin scholar and Catholic reformer, expressed deep anxiety about printing in his work Adages (1508).
He criticized the sheer volume of new books, noting that the multitude of them is hurtful to scholarship because it creates a glut (satiety is most harmful).
He feared that printers filled the world not just with trivial things, but with stupid, ignorant, slanderous, scandalous, raving, irreligious, and seditious books, arguing that the quantity was so great that even valuable publications lost their value.
c) The Vernacular Press Act
Answer-
The Vernacular Press Act was passed in 1878 by the colonial government.
This measure was enacted after the Revolt of 1857, when Enraged Englishmen demanded a clamp down on the ‘native’ press as vernacular newspapers became assertively nationalist.
The Act was modelled on the Irish Press Laws and gave the government extensive rights to censor reports and editorials in the vernacular press. If a report was deemed seditious, the newspaper was warned, and if the warning was ignored, the press was liable to be seized and the printing machinery confiscated.
Question 3: What did the spread of print culture in nineteenth-century India mean to:
a) Women
Answer-
For women, the spread of print meant a significant increase in reading, particularly in middle-class homes. Penny magazines and manuals teaching proper behaviour and housekeeping were especially meant for women.
Liberal husbands and fathers began educating their womenfolk at home or sending them to schools when women’s schools were set up. However, conservative Hindus feared a literate girl would be widowed, and Muslims feared educated women would be corrupted by reading Urdu romances.
Despite opposition, some rebel women defied prohibition. Rashsundari Debi secretly learnt to read and write in her kitchen in East Bengal and later wrote her autobiography, Amar Jiban, published in 1876. Later journals, often edited by women, discussed issues like women’s education, widow remarriage, and the national movement.
b) The poor
Answer-
For the poor, the spread of print meant easier access to reading matter due to the availability of very cheap small books sold at crossroads and bazaars in towns like Madras.
Public libraries were set up from the early twentieth century, located mostly in cities and towns, expanding access to books for ordinary people.
Furthermore, the poor found expression for their grievances. Jyotiba Phule, the Maratha pioneer of 'low caste' protest, wrote about the injustices of the caste system in his Gulamgiri (1871). Kashibaba, a Kanpur millworker, wrote and published Chhote Aur Bade Ka Sawal (1938) to highlight the links between caste and class exploitation.
c) Reformers
Answer-
For reformers, print culture meant that intense debates around religious issues and social practices could be carried out in public and in print. Printed tracts and newspapers spread new ideas and shaped the nature of the debate, allowing a wider public to participate.
Reformers used print to criticise existing practices and campaign for reform. For example, Rammohun Roy published the Sambad Kaumudi from 1821 to argue against practices like widow immolation and idolatry.
Similarly, Muslim reformers (ulama) used cheap lithographic presses to publish Persian and Urdu translations of holy scriptures and fatwas (legal pronouncements) to instruct Muslim readers on conduct and doctrine, countering fears of colonial interference.
Discuss
Question 1: Why did some people in eighteenth century Europe think that print culture would bring enlightenment and end despotism?
Answer-
By the mid-eighteenth century, there was a common conviction that books were the primary means of spreading progress and enlightenment.
Louise-Sebastien Mercier, an eighteenth-century novelist, captured this sentiment, declaring: ‘The printing press is the most powerful engine of progress and public opinion is the force that will sweep despotism away’. Mercier believed that books could change the world and liberate society from despotism and tyranny.
Historians often present three arguments connecting print culture to this era of enlightenment and the French Revolution:
1.Popularisation of Enlightenment Ideas: Print popularized the ideas of thinkers like Voltaire and Rousseau. Their writings offered a critical commentary on tradition, superstition and despotism, arguing for the rule of reason and rationality rather than custom. This eroded the legitimacy of the social order based on tradition.
2.Creation of a Culture of Debate: Print created a new culture of dialogue and debate. All values, norms and institutions were re-evaluated and discussed by a public aware of the power of reason, thus paving the way for new ideas of social revolution.
3.Critical Literature against Monarchy: By the 1780s, an outpouring of literature mocked the royalty and criticised their morality, suggesting that the monarchy was absorbed in sensual pleasures while the common people suffered. This literature circulated underground, leading to the growth of hostile sentiments against the monarchy and questioning the existing social order.
Question 2: Why did some people fear the effect of easily available printed books? Choose one example from Europe and one from India.
Answer-
The availability of printed books was not welcomed by everyone, as many feared the consequences of the wider circulation of books and the potential lack of control over what was printed and read. It was feared that rebellious and irreligious thoughts might spread, thereby destroying established authority.
Example from Europe:
The Roman Catholic Church was greatly troubled by the spread of dissenting or heretical ideas. For instance, Menocchio, a miller in Italy, began reading available books and reinterpreted the message of the Bible, formulating a view of God and Creation that enraged the Church. The Church responded by imposing severe controls and establishing the Index of Prohibited Books from 1558. Also, scholars like Erasmus feared that the glut of cheap, poorly written books would hurt scholarship.
Example from India:
In India, conservative Hindus and Muslims feared the negative impact of print on traditional family structure and religious values. Conservative Hindus believed that a literate girl would be widowed. Muslims feared that educated women would be corrupted by reading Urdu romances. This anxiety about the breakdown of traditional family roles was dramatised in popular woodcuts, which showed the man being dominated by his wife or the husband playing the veena while the wife smoked a hookah.
Question 3: What were the effects of the spread of print culture for poor people in nineteenth century India?
Answer-
The spread of print culture had several significant effects on poor people in nineteenth-century India, granting them access to knowledge and a platform for protest.
Print culture lowered the cost of books, allowing very cheap small books to be brought to markets in towns like Madras and sold at crossroads, making literature accessible to the poor, including people travelling to markets.
Public libraries were established from the early twentieth century, often sponsored by social reformers or rich local patrons, expanding access to books in cities, towns, and prosperous villages. Workers themselves also organized; millworkers in Bangalore and Bombay set up libraries to educate themselves.
The print medium became a powerful tool for social justice movements. Jyotiba Phule, the Maratha pioneer of ‘low caste’ protest movements, wrote about the injustices of the caste system in his Gulamgiri (1871). Similarly, B. R. Ambedkar in Maharashtra and E. V. Ramaswamy Naicker (Periyar) in Madras wrote powerfully on caste, and their writings were widely read.
Even factory workers found a voice. Kashibaba, a Kanpur millworker, wrote Chhote Aur Bade Ka Sawal (1938) to show the links between caste and class exploitation.
Question 4: Explain how print culture assisted the growth of nationalism in India.
Answer-
Print culture fundamentally shaped and assisted the growth of nationalism by facilitating the spread of ideas, creating connections between diverse communities, and offering platforms for criticizing colonial rule.
1.Fostering Public Debate and Unity: Print stimulated discussions, debates and controversies within and among different religions and communities. Newspapers conveyed news from one place to another, helping to create pan-Indian identities. This united Indians by making them aware of shared problems and fostering a collective sense of belonging.
2.Criticism of Colonial Misrule: Print provided a powerful medium for the Indian press to critically examine government policy and report on colonial misrule. Nationalist newspapers grew in numbers in all parts of India, encouraging nationalist activities.
3.Struggle against Censorship: The colonial government’s attempts to impose controls, such as the Vernacular Press Act of 1878, only provoked militant protest among nationalists. For instance, when Punjab revolutionaries were deported in 1907, Balgangadhar Tilak wrote sympathetically about them in his Kesari. His subsequent imprisonment in 1908 provoked widespread protests, turning the struggle for press freedom into a core component of the fight for Swaraj.
4.Creating National Symbols: Print popularized powerful national imagery and literary forms. Nationalist figures like Raja Ravi Varma produced images, including mythological paintings, that were mass-circulated, helping to shape popular ideas about religion and politics.