NCERT Solutions Class 10th Social Science History Chapter – 7 Print Culture and the Modern World Question & Answer

Q.2. Write short notes to show that you know about:
(a) The Gutenberg Press.
(b) The Erasmus’s idea of the printed book.
(c) The Vernacular Press Act. 
?‍♂️Ans –  (a) The Gutenberg Press – The first printing press was developed by Johan Gutenberg in 1430s. It was a developed form of the olive and wine presses. By 1448 Gutenberg perfected this system. The lead moulds were used for casting the metal types for the letters of alphabet. 

(b) Erasmus’s idea of the printed book: Erasmus, a Latin scholar, and a Catholic reformer, who criticized the excesses of Catholicism, but kept his distance from, Luther, expressed deep anxiety about printing. He wrote in Adages (1508) – ‘To what corner of the world do they not fly, these swarms of new books? It may be that one here and there contributes something worth knowing, but the very multitude of them is hurtful to scholarship because it creates a glut and even in good things, satiety is most harmful… [printers] fill the world with books, not just trifling things (such as I write, perhaps), but stupid, ignorant, slanderous, scandalous, raving, irreligious and seditious books and the number of them is such that even the valuable publications lose their value.’

(c) The Vernacular Press Act – The revolt of 1857 forced the government to curb the freedom of the press. After the revolt, enraged Englishmen demanded a clampdown on the ‘native’ press. As vernacular newspapers became assertively nationalist, the colonial government began debating measures of strict control.

• In 1878, the Vernacular Press Act was passed, on the model of Irish Press Laws. It provided the government with extensive rights to censor reports and editorials in the vernacular press.
• The government started keeping regular track of the vernacular newspapers published in different provinces.
• When a report was judged as seditious, the newspapers were given a warning and if the warning was ignored, the press was liable to be seized, and the printing machinery could be confiscated.

Q.3. What did the spread of print culture in the nineteenth century India mean to :
(a) Women
(b) The poor
(c) Reformers
?‍♂️Ans – (a) Women – The spread of print culture in nineteenth-century India brought about educational reforms for women. Liberal husbands and fathers educated their womenfolk at home or sent them to schools for women.

Women who had been restricted to a domestic life for generations, now found a new medium of entertainment.

(b)The poor – With the spread of print – culture very cheap small books, were brought to markets in the nineteenth century and sold at crossroads, allowing poor people traveling to markets to buy them. Public libraries were set up to expand the access of books. 

(c) Reformers – From the early nineteenth century there were intense debates around religious issues. Different groups differed on interpretations of the beliefs of different religions.

• Criticism and campaigns were going on. The coming of print made a lot of difference as mentioned below.
• The coming of print culture meant that the reformers could now spread their ideas more quickly among the masses.
• The debates on existing practices were printed in newspapers and journals.
• A large number of people could now participate in debates relating to religious and social reforms.
• New ideas emerged through these debates about widow immolation, monotheism, Brahmanical priesthood and idolatry.
• Different ideas were printed in the everyday spoken language of ordinary people. For example, Raja Rammohan Roy published the Sambad Kaumudi from 1821 to spread his ideas.
• The reformers used the print culture to reach the masses.
• In addition to this, social reformers used the print culture to restrict excessive drinking among workers to spread literacy.
• Among Muslims, the Ulama used cheap lithographic presses, published Persian and Urdu translations of holy scriptures, and printed religious newspapers and tracts. The meanings of Islamic doctrines were explained.
• Among Hindus, too, print encouraged the reading of religious texts, especially in the vernacular languages. The first printed edition of the Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas 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.
• These texts reached a large number of people encouraging debates, discussions on various issues.

Q.4. Write about the different innovations in printing technology during the 19th century? 
?‍♂️Ans – (i) By the mid-nineteenth 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 newspapers.

(ii) In the late nineteenth century, the offset press was developed which could print up to six colours at a time.

(iii) From the turn of the twentieth century, electrically operated presses accelerated printing operations.

Q.5. Why did some people in the eighteenth century Europe think that print culture would bring enlightenment and end despotism? 

Or

Assess the impact of print revolution on the European society.
?‍♂️Ans – (i) Spreading of new ideas – After the coming of the print culture, the ideas of scientists and philosophers now became more accessible to the common people. Ancient and medieval scientific texts were compiled and published.

(ii) Scientific discoveries – Maps and more accurate scientific diagrams were widely printed. When scientists like Issac Newton began to publish their discoveries, they could influence a much wider circle of scientifically-minded readers.

(iii) Writings of scholars – The writings of thinkers such as Thomas Paine, Voltaire and Jean Jacques Rousseau were also widely printed, and could gain popularity. Thus, their ideas about science, reasoning and rationality found their way into popular literature.

(iv) Books as a medium of progress – By the mid-18th century, books became a medium of spreading progress and enlightenment which could change society and the world. It was also believed that the books could literate society from despotism and tyranny.

(v) Ideas of enlightened thinkers – The print popularised the ideas of the enlightened thinkers like that of Martin Luther who attacked the authority of the Church and the despotic power of the state, e.g., Voltaire and Rousseau.

(vi) A new culture of dialogue and debate – The print created a new culture of dialogue and debate and the public, became aware of reasoning and recognized the need to question the existing ideas and beliefs.

Q.6. Why did some people fear the effect of easily available printed books? Choose one example from Europe and one from India. 

Or

Explain the role played by print in bringing about a division in the Roman Catholic Church. 

Or

Explain the role played by print in the spreading of Protestant Reformation. 
?‍♂️Ans – Not everyone welcomed the printed books and those, who did, also had fear about them. Many were of the opinion that printed words and the wider circulation of books, would have a negative impact on people’s minds.

They feared that if there was no control over what was printed and read, then rebellious and irreligious thoughts might gain importance.

There was also fear in the minds of scholars that the authority of ‘valuable’ literature would be destroyed. The new print was criticized by religious authorities, monarchs, as well as by writers and artists.

Let us consider the implication of this in one sphere of life in early modern Europe, i.e., religion. Martin Luther was a German monk, priest, professor, and Church reformer. In 1517, he wrote Ninety Five Theses and openly criticised many of the practices and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church.

A printed copy of this was pasted on a Church door in Wittenberg. It challenged the Church to debate his ideas. Luther’s writings were immediately copied in vast numbers and read widely.

This led to a division within the Church and led to the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

Manx; conservative FUndus believed that a literate girl would be widowed and Muslims believed that educated women could get corrupted by reading Urdu romances. There were many instances of women defying this prohibition.

Q.7. What were the effects of the spread of print culture for the poor people in the nineteenth century India ?
?‍♂️Ans – The effects of the spread of print culture for poor people in the nineteenth century India were – 

The poor people benefited from the spread of print culture in India on account of the availability of low-priced books and public libraries.

Enlightening essays were written against caste discrimination and its inherent injustices. These were read by people across the country.

Q.8. Explain how the print culture assisted the growth of nationalism in India. 
?‍♂️Ans – (i) New ideas and debates – There were many who criticised the existing practices and campaigned for reforms, while others countered the arguments of the reformers.

These debates were carried out openly in public and in print. Printed tracts and newspapers not only spread the new ideas, but they also shaped the nature of the debate. All this assisted the growth of nationalism.

(ii) Connecting various communities – Print did not only stimulate the publication of conflicting opinions amongst communities, but it also connected communities and people living in different parts of India. Newspapers conveyed news from one place to another, creating pan-Indian identities.

(iii) Print and newspaper – Despite repressive measures, nationalist newspapers grew in numbers in all parts of India. They reported on colonial misrule and encouraged nationalist activities.

When Punjab revolutionaries were deported in 1907, Bal Gangadhar Tilak wrote with great sympathy about them in Kesari.

(iv) Various novels on national history – Many novels written by Indian novelists like Bankim’s Anandamath created a sense of pan-Indian belonging.

Munshi Premchand’s novel, Godan highlighted how Indian peasants were exploited by the colonial bureaucrats.

(v) Various images of Bharatmata – Printers like Raja Ravi Verma and Rabindranath Tagore produced images of Bharatmata which produced a sense of nationalism among Indians. The devotion to mother figure came to be seen as evidence of one’s nationalism.