LESSON 5
PRINT CULTURE AND THE MODERN WORLD
CLASS 10TH
HISTORY
Question:
Where in the world did the art (technology) of printing develop?
Answer:
The earliest kind of print technology was developed in China, Japan and Korea.
This was a system of hand printing.
Question: Explain about the
development of woodblock printing in brief.
Answer: The print technology
was developed in China, Japan and Korea. This was a system of hand printing.
From AD 594 onwards, books
in China were printed by rubbing paper – also invented there – against the
inked surface of woodblocks.
Buddhist missionaries from China
introduced hand-printing technology into Japan around AD 768-770.
In 1295, Marco Polo, a great
explorer, of Italy brought this knowledge back with him. Italians began
producing books with woodblocks, and soon the technology spread to other parts
of Europe
Question:
Explain any three features of Chinese ‘accordion book’.
Answer:
Features of Chinese ‘accordion book’ are given below
Chinese ‘accordion book’
were hand printing
Chinese ‘accordion book’
were printed From AD 594 onwards,
These books in China were
printed by rubbing paper – also invented there – against the inked surface of
woodblocks.
Chinese ‘accordion book’ was
folded and stitched at the side.
Question: Define Calligraphy.
Answer: The art of beautiful and
stylized writing is known as Calligraphy.
Question: Write the main
purpose of print used in China in16th century.
OR
Question: The imperial state
in China was, for a very long time, the major producer of printed material.
What were the causes?
Answer: The
imperial state in China was, for a very long time, the major producer of
printed material.
(i)
China possessed a huge bureaucratic
system which recruited its personnel through civil service examinations.
(ii)
Textbooks for this examination were printed
in vast numbers under the sponsorship of the imperial state.
(iii)
From the sixteenth century, the number
of examination candidates went up and that increased the volume of print.
Question: Explain the features
of print culture in 17th century in china.
Answer: The features of print culture in
17th century in china are given below.
(i)
By the seventeenth century, as urban
culture bloomed in China, the uses of print diversified. Print was no longer
used just by scholar officials.
(ii)
Merchants used print in their everyday
life, as they collected trade information.
(iii)
Reading increasingly became a leisure
activity.
(iv)
The new readership preferred fictional
narratives, poetry, autobiographies, anthologies of literary masterpieces, and
romantic plays.
(v)
Rich women began to read, and many women
began publishing their poetry and plays.
(vi)
Wives of scholar-officials published
their works and courtesans wrote about their lives.
Question: Shanghai became the
hub of the new print culture in the late nineteenth century. Discuss it.
Answer: Western printing techniques and
mechanical presses were imported in the late nineteenth century as Western
powers established their outposts in China. Shanghai became the hub of the new
print culture, catering to the Western-style schools.
Question: Name the oldest hand
printed book of Japan. When was this book printed? What are its features?
Answer: Buddhist Diamond Sutra is the
oldest Japanese book.
It
was printed in AD 868,
It is containing six sheets of text and
woodcut illustrations.
Question: How was hand
printing technology introduced in Japan?
OR
Question: How did use of
printing on visual material encourage publishing practice in Japan?
OR
Question: Describe the
progress of print in Japan.
Answer:
(i)
Buddhist missionaries from China
introduced hand-printing technology into Japan around AD 768-770.
(ii)
The oldest Japanese book, printed in AD
868, is the Buddhist Diamond Sutra, containing six sheets of text and woodcut
illustrations.
(iii)
Pictures were printed on textiles,
playing cards and paper money.
(iv)
In medieval Japan, poets and prose
writers were regularly published, and books were cheap and abundant.
(v)
Printing of visual material led to
interesting publishing practices.
(vi)
Libraries and bookstores were packed
with hand-printed material of various types – books on women, musical
instruments, calculations, tea ceremony, flower arrangements, proper etiquette,
cooking and famous places.
Question: What was meant by
‘ukiyo’ art form?
Answer: ‘An art form called ukiyo means ‘pictures
of the floating world’ or depiction (showing) of ordinary human experiences,
especially urban ones.
Question: Name the widely
known contributor of ukiyo art form?
Answer: Kitagawa Utamaro
Question: Who was Kitagawa
Utamaro?
Answer: Kitagawa Utamaro, was widely
known contributor of an art form called ukiyo.
He was born in Edo in 1753,
Question: Give names of
artists influenced by ukiyo art form?
Answer: ‘Ukiyo’ art form influenced
contemporary Artists like Manet, Monet and Van Gogh.
Question:
What were the negative aspects of ‘ukiyo’ art form?
Answer: The negative aspects of ‘ukiyo’ art
form are given below.
(i)
In Ukiyo art form Publishers identified
subjects and commissioned artists who drew the theme in outline.
(ii)
Then a skilled woodblock carver pasted
the drawing on a woodblock and carved a printing block to reproduce the
painter’s lines.
(iii)
In the process, the original drawing
would be destroyed and only prints would survive.
Question: Write about
Tripitaka Koreana
Answer:
(i)
The
Tripitaka Koreana are a Korean collection of Buddhist scriptures.
(ii)
It
is belonging to the mid-13th century,
(iii)
They
were engraved on about 80,000 printing woodblocks.
(iv)
They
were inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2007.
Que. Analyses the contribution of Johan
Gutenberg in the development the printing press.
Ans. Johan Gutenberg developed the first known
printing press in the 1430s.
From his childhood he had seen wine and olive
presses.
Subsequently, he learnt the art of polishing stones,
became a master goldsmith,
He also acquired the expertise to
create lead moulds used for making trinkets.
Drawing on this knowledge, Gutenberg
adapted existing technology to design his innovation.
The Olive press provided the model for the printing
press.
He used moulds for casting metal type for the
letters of alphabets.
By 1448, Gutenberg perfected the system of printing
press.
The first book printed by the Johan Gutenberg was
the Bible.
Around 180 copies were produced in three years by
the standards of the time this was fast production.
The new technology did not entirely displace the
existing art of producing books by hand.
Que. “Not everyone welcomed the printed
book.” Explain the statement with examples from sixteenth century Europe.
Not everyone welcomed the printed book, and those
who did also fears about it.
Many were apprehensive of the effects that easy
access to the printed word and wider circulation of books may pollute the minds
of the people.
It was feared that if there was no control over what
was printed and read the rebellious thoughts might spread.
If that happened the authority of ‘valuable’
literature would be destroyed.
Expressed by religious authorities and monarchs as
well as many writers and artists, this anxiety was the basis of widespread criticism
of the new printed literature that had begun to circulate.
Que. “By the seventeenth century, flourishing of urban culture in
China also led diversity in the use of printing” Explain the statement with
examples.
Ans.
By the seventeenth century, as urban culture bloomed in China, the uses of
print diversified. Print was no longer used just by scholar-officials.
Merchants
used print in their everyday life, as they collected trade information.
Reading
increasingly became a leisure activity.
The
new readership preferred fictional narratives, poetry, autobiographies,
anthologies of literary masterpieces, and romantic plays.
Rich
women began to read, and many women began publishing their poetry and plays.
Wives
of scholar-officials published their works and courtesans wrote about their
lives.
This
new reading culture was accompanied by a new technology.
Question:
Where in the world did the art (technology) of printing develop?
Answer:
The earliest kind of print technology was developed in China, Japan and Korea.
This was a system of hand printing.
Question: Explain about the
development of woodblock printing in brief.
Answer: The print technology
was developed in China, Japan and Korea. This was a system of hand printing.
From AD 594 onwards, books
in China were printed by rubbing paper – also invented there – against the
inked surface of woodblocks.
Buddhist missionaries from China
introduced hand-printing technology into Japan around AD 768-770.
In 1295, Marco Polo, a great
explorer, of Italy brought this knowledge back with him. Italians began
producing books with woodblocks, and soon the technology spread to other parts
of Europe
Question:
Explain any three features of Chinese ‘accordion book’.
Answer:
Features of Chinese ‘accordion book’ are given below
Chinese ‘accordion book’
were hand printing
Chinese ‘accordion book’
were printed From AD 594 onwards,
These books in China were
printed by rubbing paper – also invented there – against the inked surface of
woodblocks.
Chinese ‘accordion book’ was
folded and stitched at the side.
Question: Define Calligraphy.
Answer: The art of beautiful and
stylized writing is known as Calligraphy.
Question: Write the main
purpose of print used in China in16th century.
OR
Question: The imperial state
in China was, for a very long time, the major producer of printed material.
What were the causes?
Answer: The imperial state in
China was, for a very long time, the major producer of printed material.
(iv)
China possessed a huge bureaucratic
system which recruited its personnel through civil service examinations.
(v)
Textbooks for this examination were
printed in vast numbers under the sponsorship of the imperial state.
(vi)
From the sixteenth century, the number
of examination candidates went up and that increased the volume of print.
Question: Explain the features
of print culture in 17th century in china.
Answer: The features of print culture in
17th century in china are given below.
(vii)
By the seventeenth century, as urban
culture bloomed in China, the uses of print diversified. Print was no longer
used just by scholar officials.
(viii)
Merchants used print in their everyday
life, as they collected trade information.
(ix)
Reading increasingly became a leisure
activity.
(x)
The new readership preferred fictional
narratives, poetry, autobiographies, anthologies of literary masterpieces, and
romantic plays.
(xi)
Rich women began to read, and many women
began publishing their poetry and plays.
(xii)
Wives of scholar-officials published
their works and courtesans wrote about their lives.
Question: Shanghai became the
hub of the new print culture in the late nineteenth century. Discuss it.
Answer: Western printing techniques and
mechanical presses were imported in the late nineteenth century as Western
powers established their outposts in China. Shanghai became the hub of the new
print culture, catering to the Western-style schools.
Question: Name the oldest hand
printed book of Japan. When was this book printed? What are its features?
Answer: Buddhist Diamond Sutra is the
oldest Japanese book.
It
was printed in AD 868,
It is containing six sheets of text and
woodcut illustrations.
Question: How was hand
printing technology introduced in Japan?
OR
Question: How did use of
printing on visual material encourage publishing practice in Japan?
OR
Question: Describe the
progress of print in Japan.
Answer:
(vii)
Buddhist missionaries from China
introduced hand-printing technology into Japan around AD 768-770.
(viii)
The oldest Japanese book, printed in AD
868, is the Buddhist Diamond Sutra, containing six sheets of text and woodcut
illustrations.
(ix)
Pictures were printed on textiles,
playing cards and paper money.
(x)
In medieval Japan, poets and prose
writers were regularly published, and books were cheap and abundant.
(xi)
Printing of visual material led to
interesting publishing practices.
(xii)
Libraries and bookstores were packed
with hand-printed material of various types – books on women, musical
instruments, calculations, tea ceremony, flower arrangements, proper etiquette,
cooking and famous places.
Question: What was meant by
‘ukiyo’ art form?
Answer: ‘An art form called ukiyo means ‘pictures
of the floating world’ or depiction (showing) of ordinary human experiences,
especially urban ones.
Question: Name the widely
known contributor of ukiyo art form?
Answer: Kitagawa Utamaro
Question: Who was Kitagawa
Utamaro?
Answer: Kitagawa Utamaro, was widely
known contributor of an art form called ukiyo.
He was born in Edo in 1753,
Question: Give names of
artists influenced by ukiyo art form?
Answer: ‘Ukiyo’ art form influenced
contemporary Artists like Manet, Monet and Van Gogh.
Question:
What were the negative aspects of ‘ukiyo’ art form?
Answer: The negative aspects of ‘ukiyo’ art
form are given below.
(iv)
In Ukiyo art form Publishers identified
subjects and commissioned artists who drew the theme in outline.
(v)
Then a skilled woodblock carver pasted
the drawing on a woodblock and carved a printing block to reproduce the
painter’s lines.
(vi)
In the process, the original drawing
would be destroyed and only prints would survive.
Question: Write about
Tripitaka Koreana
Answer:
(v)
The
Tripitaka Koreana are a Korean collection of Buddhist scriptures.
(vi)
It
is belonging to the mid-13th century,
(vii)
They
were engraved on about 80,000 printing woodblocks.
(viii)
They
were inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2007
Question: What is Jikji? Why it was inscribed on the UNESCO Memory
of the World Register in 2001?
Answer:
The Jikji of Korea is among the world’s oldest existing books printed
with movable metal type.
It contains the essential features of
Zen Buddhism.
About 150 monks of India, China and
Korea are mentioned in the book.
It was printed in late 14th century.
The first volume of the book is unavailable;
the second one is available in the National Library of France.
This work marked an important technical
change in the print culture. That is why it was inscribed on the UNESCO Memory
of the World Register in 2001.
Question: What were the main
drawbacks of manuscripts?
OR
Question: What is manuscript?
Mention any three limitations of manuscripts during19th century?
OR
Question: What is manuscript?
Write shortcomings of manuscripts.
Answer: Manuscript is a handwritten
material.
(i)
Manuscripts
were fragile, awkward to handle, and could not be carried around.or read
easily. Their circulation therefore remained limited.
(ii)
Copying
was an expensive, laborious and time-consuming business so manuscripts were
highly expensive.
(iii)
Handwritten
manuscripts could not meet the over increasing demand of books
Question: State the features
of handwritten manuscripts before the age of print in India.
Answer: The features of handwritten
manuscripts before the age of print in India are given below.
(iv)
Manuscripts
were copied on palm leaves or on handmade paper.
(v)
Pages
were sometimes beautifully illustrated.
(vi)
They
would be either pressed between wooden covers or sewn together to ensure
preservation.
Question: Who was Marco Polo? What was his contribution to print
culture?
Answer:
Marco Polo was a great Italian explorer.
In 1295, Marco Polo, returned to Italy after many years of
exploration in China.
Marco Polo brought the knowledge of the woodblock printing back with
him.
Due to this knowledge Italians began producing books with
woodblocks, and soon the technology spread to other parts of Europe.
Question: How did Gutenberg personalise the printed books suiting to
tastes and requirement of others?
Answer: (i) Borders were
illuminated by hand with foliage and other patterns,
(ii) Illustrations were painted.
(iii) In the books printed for the rich,
space for decoration was kept blank on the printed page.
(iv) Each purchaser could choose the
design and decide on the painting school that would do the illustrations.
Question: Explain (Describe)
the main features of the first printed Bible?
Answer: The first book printed by
Gutenberg was the Bible. The main features these books are given below.
(i)
About 180 copies were printed and it
took three years to produce them.
(ii)
The text was printed in the new
Gutenberg press with metal type, but the borders were carefully designed,
painted and illuminated by hand by artists.
(iii)
No
two copies were the same.
(iv)
Every
page of each copy was different.
(v)
Even
when two copies look similar, a careful comparison will reveal differences.
(vi)
Different
colours were used within the letters in various places.
Question:
Define Compositor.
Answer: The person who composes the text
for printing is known as compositor
Question: Define Galley
Answer: Galley is a Metal frame. In which
types are laid and the text composed
Question: Define the term
Platen.
Answer: In letterpress printing, platen
is a board which is pressed onto the back of the paper to get the impression
from the type. At one time it used to be a wooden board; later it was made of
steel
Question: How did
printing press create a new reading public? Explain.
OR
Question: “There was a
virtual reading mania in European countries in eighteenth century” explain the
factors responsible for this virtual reading mania.
Answer:
The factors responsible for this virtual reading mania are given below.
Increase
in literacy rate: Through
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries literacy rates went up in most parts
of Europe. Churches of different denominations set up schools in villages,
carrying literacy to peasants and artisans. By the end of the eighteenth
century, in some parts of Europe literacy rates were as high as 60 to 80 per
cent. As literacy and schools spread in European countries, there was a virtual
reading mania.
Low cost of books:
Printing reduced the cost of
books. The time and labour required to produce each book came down, and
multiple copies could be produced with greater ease. Books flooded the market,
reaching out to an ever-growing readership.
In England,
penny chapbooks were sold for a penny, so that even the poor could buy them.
In France, were the “Biliotheque Bleue”,
which were low-priced small books printed on poor quality paper, and bound in
cheap blue covers.
Books were of
various sizes, serving many different purposes and interests
New forms of popular literature appeared
in print, targeting new audiences. There were almanacs or ritual calendars,
along with ballads folktales, romances and histories’
Role of pedlars
:
Booksellers employed pedlars who roamed
around villages, carrying little books for sale. In England, penny chapbooks
were carried by petty pedlars known as chapmen, and sold for a penny, so that
even the poor could buy them.
Question: ‘Print popularised
the ideas of the Enlightenment thinkers.’ Explain
OR
Question: How did ideas about
science, reason and rationality find their way into popular literature in the 18th
century Europe?
Answer:
(i)
The Enlightenment thinkers collectively,
provided a critical commentary on tradition, superstition and despotism.
(ii)
They argued for the rule of reason
rather than custom, and demanded that everything be judged through the
application of reason and rationality.
(iii)
They attacked the sacred authority of
the Church and the despotic power of the state, thus eroding the legitimacy of
a social order based on tradition.
(iv)
The writings of Voltaire and Rousseau
were read widely; and those who read these books saw the world through new
eyes, eyes that were questioning, critical and rational.
Question: How did the
ideas of scientists and philosophers now became more accessible to the common
people after the beginning of print revolution in Europe?
Answer: The ideas of scientists and
philosophers now became more accessible to the common people after the
beginning of print revolution in Europe due to these reasons.
(i)
Ancient and medieval scientific texts
were compiled and published, and maps and scientific diagrams were widely
printed.
(ii)
When scientists like Isaac Newton began
to publish their discoveries, they could influence a much wider circle of
scientifically minded readers.
(iii)
The writings of thinkers such as Thomas
Paine, Voltaire and Jean Jacques Rousseau were also widely printed and read.
Thus their ideas about science, reason and rationality found their way into
popular literature.
Question: What did the spread
of print culture in nineteenth century India mean to women?
OR
Question: Explain the impact
of print culture on Indian women?
Answer: Print helped different groups of
society to conduct their battles in public. The print culture effect the Women
in India. This can be understood by these examples.
Women education:
As a result of spread print culture in nineteenth century lives and feelings of
women began to be written in particularly vivid and intense ways. Women’s
reading, therefore, increased enormously in middle-class homes. Many Liberal
husbands and fathers began educating their womenfolk at home, and sent them to
schools when women’s schools were set up in the cities and towns after the
mid-nineteenth century.
Women writers:Reading
by women increased and many women became writers.
In East Bengal, in the early nineteenth
century, Rashsundari Debi, wrote her autobiography Amar Jiban which was
published in 1876.
From 1860s Bengali women like Kailashbashini
Debi wrote books highlighting the experiences of women – about how women were
imprisoned at home, kept in ignorance, forced to do hard domestic labour and
treated unjustly by the very people they served.
In the 1880s, in present-day
Maharashtra, Tarabai Shinde and Pandita Ramabai wrote with passionate anger
about the miserable lives of upper-caste Hindu women, especially widows.
Journals related to women issues:
In the early twentieth century, journals, written for and sometimes edited by
women, became extremely popular. They discussed issues like women’s education, widowhood,
widow remarriage and the national movement.
Teaching for women:
Ram Chaddha published Istri Dharm Vichar
to teach women how to be obedient wives.
The Khalsa Tract Society published cheap
booklets with a similar message. Many of these were in the form of dialogues
about the qualities of a good woman.
Question: What did the spread
of print culture in nineteenth century India mean to poor people?
OR
Question: What were the
effects of spread of print culture for the poor people in the nineteenth
century India?
Accessibility of books:
Very cheap small books were brought to
markets in nineteenth-century Madras towns and sold at crossroads, allowing
poor people travelling to markets to buy them.
Public libraries:
Public libraries were set up from the
early twentieth century, expanding the access to books. These libraries were
located mostly in cities and towns, and at times in prosperous villages. For
rich local patrons, setting up a library was a way of acquiring prestige.
By the 1930s, Bangalore cotton
millworkers set up libraries to educate themselves, following the example of
Bombay workers. These were sponsored by social reformers who tried to restrict
excessive drinking among them, to bring literacy and, sometimes, to propagate
the message of nationalism.
Issues of caste discrimination:
From the late nineteenth century, issues of caste discrimination began to be
written about in many printed tracts and essays.
Jyotiba Phule, the Maratha pioneer of
‘low caste’ protest movements, wrote about the injustices of the caste system
in his Gulamgiri (1871).
In the twentieth century, B.R. Ambedkar
in Maharashtra wrote powerfully on caste system.
In the twentieth centur, E.V. Ramaswamy
Naicker in Madras, better known as Periyar, wrote powerfully on caste.
Workers as writers:
Workers in factories were too overworked and lacked the education to write much
about their experiences.
Kashibaba, a Kanpur millworker, wrote
and published Chhote Aur Bade Ka Sawal in 1938 to show the links between caste
and class exploitation.
The poems of another Kanpur millworker,
who wrote under the name of Sudarshan Chakr between 1935 and 1955, were brought
together and published in a collection called Sacchi Kavitayan.
Question: What did the spread of print culture in
nineteenth century India mean to reformers?
OR
Question: How did print culture help the social and
religious reformers in India?
Answer: The spread of print culture
brought intellectual awaking among the social and religious reformers. It
encouraged debates and discussions on reforms in religious and social sphere
through newspapers and journals.
(i)
Nineteenth century was a
time of intense controversies between social and religious reformers and the
Hindu orthodoxy over matters like widow immolation, monotheism, Brahmanical
priesthood and idolatry.
(ii)
To reach a wider audience,
the ideas were printed in the everyday, spoken language of ordinary people.
(iii)
In Bengal, as the debate
developed, tracts and newspapers proliferated, circulating a variety of
arguments. Rammohun Roy published the Sambad Kaumudi from 1821 and the Hindu
orthodoxy commissioned the Samachar Chandrika to oppose his opinions.
(iv)
From 1822, two Persian
newspapers were published, Jam-i-Jahan Nama and Shamsul Akhbar.
(v)
In the same year, a Gujarati
newspaper, the Bombay Samachar, made its appearance.
(vi)
In north India, the ulama
were deeply anxious about the collapse of Muslim dynasties. They feared that
colonial rulers would encourage conversion, change the Muslim personal laws. To
counter this, they used cheap lithographic presses, published Persian and Urdu
translations of holy scriptures, and printed religious newspapers and tracts.
(vii)
The Deoband Seminary,
founded in 1867, published thousands upon thousands of fatwas telling Muslim
readers how to conduct themselves in their everyday lives, and explaining the
meanings of Islamic doctrines.
(viii)
Religious texts, therefore, reached a
very wide circle of people, encouraging discussions, debates and controversies
within and among different religions.
(ix)
Print did not only stimulate the
publication of conflicting opinions amongst communities, but it also connected
communities and people in different parts of India.
(x)
Newspapers conveyed news from one place
to another, creating pan-Indian identities.
Question: How did print help
connect communities and people in different parts of India? Explain with
examples.
OR
Question: Print did not only
stimulate the publication of conflicting opinions amongst communities, but it
also connected communities and people in different parts of India. Support the
statement with examples.
Answer: Print
did not only stimulate the publication of conflicting opinions amongst communities,
but it also connected communities and people in different parts of India.
Religious texts reached a very wide
circle of people, encouraging discussions, debates and controversies within and
among different religions.
Newspapers conveyed news from one place
to another, creating pan-Indian identities.
Question: Why did the Muslim Ulamas
in India want to introduce religious reforms in islam? Give reasons?
OR
What was the main fear of Ulamas?
State steps taken by Ulamas to defend their religion?
In north India, the Ulama
were deeply anxious about the collapse of Muslim dynasties.
They feared that colonial
rulers would encourage conversion, change the Muslim personal laws. To counter
this following steps had been taken by them.
(i)
They used cheap lithographic
presses, published Persian and Urdu translations of holy scriptures, and
printed religious newspapers and tracts.
(ii)
The Deoband Seminary,
founded in 1867. This seminary published thousands of fatwas telling Muslim
readers how to conduct themselves in their everyday lives, and explaining the
meanings of Islamic doctrines.
(iii)
All through the nineteenth
century, a number of Muslim sects and seminaries appeared, each with a
different interpretation of faith, each keen on enlarging its following and
countering the influence of its opponents. Urdu print helped them conduct these
battles in public.
Question: What was the
attitude of people in India in the nineteenth century towards women reading?
How did women respond to this?
Answer:
Women and liberal families:
Liberal husbands and fathers began educating their womenfolk at home, and sent
them to schools when women’s schools were set up in the cities and towns after
the mid-nineteenth century. Many journals began carrying writings by women, and
explained why women should be educated.
Women and conservatives: Hindus believed
that a literate girl would be widowed and Muslims feared that educated women
would be corrupted by reading Urdu romances.
Women
respond
(i)
A
girl in a conservative Muslim family of north India who secretly learnt to read
and write in Urdu. Her family wanted her to read only the Arabic Quran which
she did not understand. So she insisted on learning to read a language that was
her own.
(ii)
In
East Bengal, in the early nineteenth century, Rashsundari Debi, a young married
girl in a very orthodox household, learnt to read in the secrecy of her
kitchen. Later, she wrote her autobiography Amar Jiban which was published in
1876. It was the first full-length autobiography published in the Bengali
language.
(iii)
From
the 1860s, a few Bengali women like Kailashbashini Debi wrote books
highlighting the experiences of women – about how women were imprisoned at
home, kept in ignorance, forced to do hard domestic labour and treated unjustly
by the very people they served.
(iv)
In
the 1880s, in present-day Maharashtra, Tarabai Shinde and Pandita Ramabai wrote
with passionate anger about the miserable lives of upper-caste Hindu women,
especially widows.
(v)
In
1926, Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossein, a noted educationist and literary figure,
strongly condemned men for withholding education from women in the name of
religion as she addressed the Bengal Women’s Education Conference:
