Question

Print led to intense controversies between social and religious reformers and Hindu orthodoxy. Support the statement with an example.
Or
"Novels helped in creating a sense of social awareness in India." Explain.

Answer 1

Print led to intense controversies between social and religious reformers and Hindu orthodoxy over matters like widow immolation, monotheism, Brahmanical priesthood, and idolatry.
In Bengal, 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 local people.
Raja Rammohan Roy published the 'Sambad Kaumudi' from 1821 and the Hindu orthodoxy commissioned the 'Samachar Chandrika' to oppose the opinions of Rammohan Roy. From 1822, two Persian newspapers were published, 'Jam-i-Jahan Nama' and 'Shamsul Akbar'.
Or
"The novels helped in creating a sense of social awareness in India", the statement can be explained as follows
(i) Novels of maximum writers were related to social problems, in which the social issues were raised. This helped in the spread of social awareness among the society.
(ii) Novels sent a clear message for reform. Potheru Kunjambu's 'Saraswativijayam' is an example. in this novel, the caste issues were effectively raised.
(iii) Bringing together people from different backgrounds produces a sense of shared community and the most notable form of this community is the nation. The feeling of nationalism can be seen in the novels of Premchand.
(iv) In Premchand's Rangbhoomi, Godan, Karmabhoomi, the social issues were discussed and had a great impact so far as the creation of social awareness was concerned.
(v) Indians used novels as a medium to criticize defects in society and suggest remedies.