Print Culture-7 Flashcards
what happened in early 19th c in india
From the early nineteenth century, as you know, there were intense
debates around religious issues. Different groups confronted the
changes happening within colonial society in different ways, and
offered a variety of new interpretations of the beliefs of different
religions. Some criticised existing practices and campaigned for
reform, while others countered the arguments of reformers.
how were religious debates carried out
These
debates were carried out in public and in print. Printed tracts and
newspapers not only spread the new ideas, but they shaped the
nature of the debate. A wider public could now participate in these
public discussions and express their views. New ideas emerged
through these clashes of opinions.
what was the most intense debates
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. In
Bengal, as the debate developed, tracts and newspapers proliferated,
circulating a variety of arguments. To reach a wider audience, the
ideas were printed in the everyday, spoken language of ordinary
people
what were the different prints and journal printed during the fight between religious reformers and hindu orthodoxy
Rammohun Roy published the Sambad Kaumudi from 1821
and the Hindu orthodoxy commissioned the Samachar Chandrika
to oppose his opinions. From 1822, two Persian newspapers were
published, Jam-i-Jahan Nama and Shamsul Akhbar. In the same year,
a Gujarati newspaper, the Bombay Samachar, made its appearance.
who were the ulama and what was their concern
In north India, the ulama( legal scholars of the islam and sharia, body of islamic law) were deeply anxious about the collapse
of Muslim dynasties. They feared that colonial rulers would
encourage conversion, change the Muslim personal laws. To counter
this, they used cheap lithographic presses, published Persian and
Urdu translations of holy scriptures, and printed religious
newspapers and tracts
explain the significance of the deoband seminary
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. All through the
nineteenth century, a number of Muslim sects and seminaries
appeared, each with a different interpretation of faith, each keen
on enlarging its following and countering the influence of its
opponents. Urdu print helped them conduct these battles in public.
explain the importance of print in hindu religion
Among Hindus, too, print encouraged the reading of religious texts,
especially in the vernacular languages. The first printed edition of
the Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas, a sixteenth-century text, came out
from Calcutta in 1810. By the mid-nineteenth century, cheap
lithographic editions flooded north Indian markets. From the 1880s,
the Naval Kishore Press at Lucknow and the Shri Venkateshwar
Press in Bombay published numerous religious texts in vernaculars.
In their printed and portable form, these could be read easily by the
faithful at any place and time. They could also be read out to large
groups of illiterate men and women.
what are the importance of religious texts
Religious texts, therefore, reached a very wide circle of people,
encouraging discussions, debates and controversies within and
among different religions.
Print did not only stimulate the publication of conflicting opinions
amongst communities, but it also connected communities and people
in different parts of India. Newspapers conveyed news from one
place to another, creating pan-Indian identities.
