Question

The Portuguese heralded the era of print culture in India. Do you agree with this statement? discuss with examples.

Answer 1

Dear Student,
Yes. It is agreeable that the Portuguese heralded the era of print culture in India.
The first printing press arrived at Goa from Portugal 10 on September 6th 1556
Impact of Portuguese on printing:
1. Print culture initiated in India with the coming of the Portuguese missionaries to Goa in the mid-16th century. They learnt the Konkani language and printed several tracts for the local people to understand the themes of heir writings.
2. By 1674, nearly 50 books had been printed in Konkani and Kannada languages. The Catholic priests printed books in the Tamil language for the first time in Cochin. In 1713 books were printed in Malayalam.

3. Prints in English started with the coming of the East India Company to India. By the end of the 18th century, much of the journals and newspaper were printed in English." Bengal Gazette" was the first newspaper to be published in English. From the beginning of the 19th century, the print culture became very popular in India among every class including the poor. The educated social reformers imbibed new ideas from the printed materials.
Regards