Question

How print culture connected communities and people in different parts of India?
Or
By referring any two novels, discuss the way in which writer describe the caste issue?

Answer 1

Print not only stimulated the publication of conflicting options amongst communities, but it also connected communities and people in different parts of India in the following ways
(i) Printed tracts and newspapers not only spread the new ideas, but they also shaped the nature of the debate. All these increased connectedness between different communities.
(ii) Newspapers conveyed news from one place to another, creating a Pan-Indian Identity.
(iii) Various novels on national history written by Indian novelists like 'Anandamath'. created a sense of Pan-India belonging.
All these helped people to unite against exploitative nature of the colonial bureaucrats.
Or
(i) Often the issue of caste was spoken about by Indian novelists. The novel Indulekha by O Chandu Menon was a love story, but interwoven in it was the raging controversy of marriage practices of upper caste Hindu Nambuthiri Brahmins and Nayars, who were usually their tenants.
(ii) Potheri Kunjambu in his novel Saraswativijayam strongly attacked the upper caste oppression and caste prejudices. In Premchand's novel Rangabhoomi, a visually impaired beggar Surdas from an untouchable caste was the central character.
(iii) The very act of choosing such a person as the hero of the novel was very significant. It made the lives of most oppressed classes as worthy of literary reflection. In his famous novel Godan. Premchand showed us how the peasants were reduced to abject poverty and status of landless labourers.