About Lesson
- Introduction of the Printing Press in India 📜🇮🇳
- Portuguese Influence in Goa 🇵🇹✨:
- The printing press first arrived in India with Portuguese missionaries in the mid-sixteenth century. This marks the beginning of printed materials in India.
- Jesuit priests learned Konkani (a local language) and printed tracts to educate people about Christianity. 📚✝️
- Early Printed Works in Local Languages 🗣️📚:
- By 1674, about 50 books had been printed in Konkani and Kanara languages, spreading literacy in the local context.
- Catholic priests printed the first Tamil book in 1579 in Cochin 📖🇮🇳, and the first Malayalam book in 1713.
- By 1710, Dutch Protestant missionaries printed 32 Tamil texts, many of which were translations of older works. 🌍📜
- Growth of the English Language Press in India 📰🇬🇧
- Early Stages of the English Press 📜💬:
- The English-language press in India grew slowly even though the English East India Company had imported presses since the late seventeenth century.
- The colonial government was initially hesitant about English-language printing, limiting its development. ⏳
- James Augustus Hickey and the Bengal Gazette 📰🖋️:
- James Augustus Hickey began editing the Bengal Gazette in 1780, calling it ‘a commercial paper open to all, but influenced by none’. 📰✨
- Hickey’s paper published advertisements (including slave trade ads) but also gossip about East India Company officials. 🔍👀
- This angered Governor-General Warren Hastings, who persecuted Hickey and pushed for officially sanctioned newspapers to control the narrative. 💣
- The Rise of Indian Publications 📰🇮🇳
- Indian Newspapers Emerge ✍️🇮🇳:
- By the end of the eighteenth century, Indian newspapers began to flourish.
- The first Indian newspaper was the Bengal Gazette, published by Gangadhar Bhattacharya, who was closely associated with the reformist Rammohun Roy. 🖋️📜
- Indian intellectuals started using print to express ideas about self-expression, social change, and literature. 🧠📚
- Challenges in Printing and the Early Advocacy for a Press 📜💼
- William Bolts’ Advocacy in Calcutta 📢🏙️:
- In 1768, William Bolts, a British trader in Calcutta, posted a public notice recognizing the need for a printing press:
- ‘To the Public: Mr. Bolts takes this method of informing the public that the want of a printing press in this city being of a great disadvantage in business … he is going to give the best encouragement to any … persons who are versed in the business of printing.’ 📢💬
- This showed early awareness of how vital the printing press was for business and communication in the growing city of Calcutta. 💼📈
- Unfulfilled Promises ⚠️📉:
- Bolts left for England soon after posting the notice, and his plan to set up the press was never realized. Despite the initial excitement, the promise remained unfulfilled, reflecting the struggles in establishing the printing infrastructure in India. ⏳❌