Question

What were the effects of the spread of print culture for poor people in nineteenth-century India?

Answer 1

There were many effects of the spread of print culture for poor people in nineteenth-century India. An appetite for new kinds of writing was created by Print culture. The effects were multidimensional in nature. New literary forms also entered the world of reading – essays about political and social matters, short stories, lyrics.

Easy Access of Books to Poor People

• Small books which were very cheap were sold at crossroads, once they were brought to the markets of Madras town in the nineteenth century.
• The access to books was expanded when public libraries were set up in the early twentieth century.
• Public libraries were also located in villages which were prosperous, but mostly these public libraries were located in towns and cities.
• For rich local patrons, one of the ways of acquiring prestige was setting up a library.

Print Culture – Writings about Caste Discriminations

• In many printed essays and tracts, the issues of caste discrimination were written and highlighted from the late nineteenth century.
• Injustices of the caste system were written by Jyotiba Phule in his Gulamgiri. It was written in 1871. Jyotiba Phule was a pioneer of the low caste protest movement. He was a Marathi.
• In Madras, in the twentieth century, powerful writings on the issues of caste were written by E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker, which was read by people all over India. He was popularly known as Periyar.
• In Maharashtra, in the twentieth century, B.R.Ambedkar wrote about the problems associated with castes, which were read by people all over India.
• A lot of tracts and popular journals were also created by sects and local protest movements. These journals envisioned a new and just future, by criticizing the ancient scriptures.

Print Culture – Writings of Factory Workers

• Following the example of Bombay workers, by 1930’s libraries were set up by Bangalore mill workers with the objective of educating themselves.
• These libraries were promoted by social reformers who wanted to propagate the message of nationalism, bring literacy, and restrict excessive drinking among the workers.
• Factory workers lacked the education, hence they were unable to write much about their experiences. In addition the factory workers were too overworked.
• However, a Kanpur millworker named Kashibaba wrote and published Chhote Aur Bade Ka Sawal. It was written in 1938. It showed the links between class exploitation and caste.
• Sacchi Kavitayan was a collection of poems which was brought together and published. These poems were written by another Kanpur mill worker between 1935 and 1955. It was written under the name of Sudarshan Chakr.