NCERT Solutions Class 10 Social Science Chapter 5 Print Culture and Modern World

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Social Science Chapter 5 Print Culture and Modern World Assertion Reason Questions 

The following questions consist of two statements — Assertion (A) and Reason (R). Answer these questions selecting the appropriate option given below:
(a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
(b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.
(c) A is true but R is false.
(d) A is false but R is true.

Question. Assertion (A) : In France, were the “Biliotheque Bleue”, which were low-priced small books printed on poor quality paper, and bound in cheap blue covers.
Reason (R) : 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.
Answer. B

Question. Assertion (A) : Print popularised the ideas of the Enlightenment thinkers. Collectively, their writings provided a critical commentary on tradition, superstition and despotism.
Reason (R) : They argued for the rule of reason rather than custom, and demanded that everything be judged through the application of reason and rationality.
Answer. A

Question. Assertion (A) : Women became important as readers as well as writers.
Reason (R) : Penny magazines were especially meant for women, as were manuals teaching proper behaviour and housekeeping.
Answer. A

Question. Assertion (A) : The Printing Press came to Goa with French missionaries in the mid-16th century.
Reason (R) : The English language press did not grow in India till quite late even though the English East India Company began to import presses from the late 17th century.
Answer. D

Question. Assertion (A) : From 1790, James Augustus Hickey began to edit the Bengal Gazette, a weekly magazine that described itself as ‘a commercial paper open to all, but influenced by none’.
Reason (R) : Hickey published a lot of advertisements, including those that related to the import and sale of slaves.
Answer. D

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Social Science Chapter 5 Print Culture and Modern World Very Short Answer Questions

Question. Who developed the first known printing press?
Answer. Johann Gutenberg of Germany.

Question. Which was the first book printed by first printing machine?
Answer. The first book Gutenberg printed was the Bible. About 180 copies were printed and it took three years to produce them.

Question. Who was Erasmus?
Answer. Erasmus was a Latin scholar and a Catholic reformer, who criticised the excesses of Catholicism but kept his distance from Luther, expressed a deep anxiety about printing.

Question. Who published religions’ texts in vernaculars in India?
Answer. The Naval Kishore Press at Lucknow and The Shri Venketeshwar Press in Bombay.

Question. Which new literacy forms entered the world of reading?
Answer. Lyrics, short stories, essays about social and political matters and novels.

Question. Who produced visual images for the manuscripts in India?
Answer. Painters like Raja Ravi Varma.

Question. Which book was written by Jyotiba Phule?
Answer. ‘Gulamgiri’.

Question. Which writers have spoken about lower caste system?
Answer. Dr. B.R Amedkar from Maharashtra and E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker in Madras, better known as Periyar.

Question. What was ‘reading mania’?
Answer. As literacy and schools spread in European countries, there was a virtual reading mania. It means people wanted books to read and printers produced books in ever-increasing numbers.

Question. Where was Children Press set up?
Answer. France in 1857.

Question. Who were Grimm Brothers?
Answer. The Grimm Brothers in Germany spent years compiling traditional folk tales gathered from peasants.

Question. Name the earliest best-known women novelists.
Answer. Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters and George Eliot.

Question. What was typical about women novelists?
Answer. Their writings became important in defining a new type of woman; a person with will, strength of personality, determination and the power to think.

Question. Who perfected power driven Cylindrical Press?
Answer. Richard M. Hoe.

Question. Who were Pedlars?
Answer. People who roamed carrying little books for sale.

Question. What were the three countries where printing technology developed?
Answer. China, Japan and Korea.

Question. Explain woodblock printing.
Answer. Paper was rubbed against the inked surface of woodblocks.

Question. What kind of books were written in China for new readership?
Answer. New readership in China preferred fictional narratives, poetry, autobiographies, anthologies of literary master pieces and romantic plays.

Question. Name the oldest printed Japanese book.
Answer. Buddhist ‘Diamond Sutra’

Question. What were ‘Biliotheque Bleue’?
Answer. These were low priced small books printed on poor quality paper and bound in cheap blue covers.

Question. What did cartoons and caricatures suggest?
Answer. The monarchy remained absorbed only in sensual pleasures while the common people suffered immense hardships.

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Social Science Chapter 5 Print Culture and Modern World Short Answer Questions

Question. How had hand printing technology introduced in Japan?
Answer.
- Buddhist monasteries from China introduced hand-printing technology into Japan around AD 768-770.
- The oldest printed Japanese book was the Buddhist ‘Diamond Sutra’ with woodcut illustrations.
- Pictures were printed on textiles, playing cards and paper money.
- Printing of visual material led to interesting publishing practices.

Question. Give three types of arguments on the effects of print technology on French Revolution.
Answer.
(i) The ideas of enlightened thinkers: Collectively, their writings provided a critical commentary on tradition, superstition and despotism. People argued for the rule of reason rather than custom and demanded that everything be judged through the application of reason and rationality. The writings of Voltaire and Rousseau were read widely and those who read these books saw the world through new eyes.
(ii) Print created a new culture of dialogue and debate: People had become aware of the power of reason and recognised the need to question existing ideas and beliefs. So new ideas of social revolution came into being.
(iii) There was an outpouring of literature that mocked the royalty and criticised their morality: Many cartoons and caricatures suggested that monarchy enjoys its own comforts,
while common people suffered. The literature was circulated underground and led to the growth of hostile sentiments against the monarchy.

Question. What was the role of cartoons and caricatures in Indian printing?
Answer. (i) By 1870, caricatures and cartoons were being published in journals, newspapers, commenting on social and political issues.
(ii) Some caricatures ridiculed the educated Indians’ fascination for western clothes and tastes, while others expressed the fear of social change.
(iii) There were imperial caricatures highlighting nationalists as well as nationalist cartoons criticising imperial rule.

Question. How did interest for writing develop in mill workers?
Answer. (i) Workers in factories were too overworked and lacked in education to write much about their experiences. But Kashi baba, a Kanpur mill worker, wrote and published ‘Chhote Aur Bade Ka Sawal’, to show the links between caste and class exploitation.
(ii) The poems of another Kanpur mill worker, who wrote under the name of ‘Sudarshan Chakra’ and published a collection of poems called ‘Sacchi Kavitayen’.
(iii) By 1930s, Bangalore cotton mill workers set up libraries to educate themselves, following the example of Bombay workers.

Question. Who was Menocchio?
Answer. (i) Menocchio was a miller in Italy
(ii) He began to read books that were available locally.
(iii) He reinterpreted the message of Bible and formulated a view of God and Creation that enraged the Roman Catholic Church
(iii) By 1930s, Bangalore cotton mill workers set up libraries to educate themselves, following the example of Bombay workers.

Question. What do you know about ‘wood-block’ printing?
Answer.
- This was a system of hand printing.
- Initially books in China were printed by rubbing paper against the inked surface of wood blocks.
- As both sides of the thin, porous sheet could not be printed, the traditional Chinese ‘accordian book’ was folded and stitched at the side.

Question. How were handwritten manuscripts organised with their expanded demand?
Answer.
(i) Production of handwritten manuscripts was organised in new ways to meet the expanded demand of books.
(ii) Scribes or skilled handwriters were no longer solely employed by wealthy or influential patrons but increasingly by booksellers as well.
(iii) More than 50 scribes often worked for one bookseller.

Question. What were the drawbacks of manuscripts?
Answer.
(i) Manuscripts could not satisfy the ever increasing demand for books.
(ii) Copying was an expensive, laborious and time-consuming business.
(iii) Manuscripts were fragile, awkward to handle and could not be carried around easily as they were big and heavy.

Question. What was the significance of printing for people to spread their ideas?
Answer.
- Print created the possibility of wide circulation of ideas and introduced a new world of debate and discussion.
- Even those who disagreed with established authorities could now print and circulate their ideas.
- Through the printed message, they could persuade people to think differently and move them to action.

Question. Who was Menocchio?
Answer. (i) Menocchio was a miller in Italy
(ii) He began to read books that were available locally.
(iii) He reinterpreted the message of Bible and formulated a view of God and Creation that enraged the Roman Catholic Church

Question. State how mechanical printing surfaced in China.
Answer.
- The new readership developed in China which needed a new technology to print.
- Western printing techniques and mechanical presses were imported in the late 19th century as western powers established their outposts in China.
- Shanghai became the hub of the new print culture and from hand printing there was now a gradual shift to mechanical printing.

Question. How did print technology enhance the production of books?
Answer.
- Printing presses were set up in most countries of Europe after its invention by Gutenberg.
- Printers from Germany travelled to other countries, seeking work and helping start new presses. As the number of printing presses grew, book production boomed.
- The second half of the 15th century saw 20 million copies of printed books flooding the markets in Europe.

Question. What are the advantages of printing presses?
Answer.
- Printing reduced the cost of books.
- The time and labour required to produce each book came down.
- Multiple copies could be produced with great ease.

Question. What type of books were printed in Japan?
Answer.
- Printing of visual material led to interesting publishing practices.
- In the late 18th century, illustrated collections of paintings depicted an elegant urban culture, involving artists, courtesans and tea house gatherings.
- There were books on women, musical instruments, calculations, flower arrangements, proper etiquette, cooking and famous places.

Question. Who was Mercier? What were his views about books?
Answer. Mercier was a novelist in the 18th century.
- He declared that “the printing press is the most powerful engine of progress and public opinion is the force that will sweep despotism away.”
- In many of Mercier’s novels, the heroes are transformed by the acts of reading.
- Mercier believed that power of print will bring down despotism.

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Social Science Chapter 5 Print Culture and Modern World Long Answer Questions

Question. How did the print revolution lead to the development of a reading mania in Europe?
OR
How had printing press created a new culture of reading in Europe? Explain with examples.
Answer. As literacy and schools spread in European countries, there was a virtual reading mania that developed.
(i) New forms of popular literature appeared to target new readers.
(ii) There were ritual calendars along with ballads and folk tales.
(iii) 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.
(iv) In France, these low-priced books were called ‘Biliotheque Blene’, as they were bound in cheap blue covers.
(v) There were romances, histories, books of various sizes, serving different purposes and interests.
(vi) Periodical press developed to combine information on current affairs with entertainment.
(vii) The ideas of scientists and scholars had now become more accessible to the common people.
(viii) Scientists like Isaac Newton began to publish their discoveries. Writings of thinkers like Thomas Paire, Voltaire and Rousseau also affected the thinking of the people.

Question. “Print did not only stimulate the publication of conflicting opinions among communities but it also connected communities and people in different parts of India” support the statement with examples.
Answer. (a) Folk literature was widely printed in Punjab.
- Ram Chaddha published the fast selling Istri Dharam Vichar to teach women how to be obedient wives.
- The Khalsa Tract Society published cheap booklets with a similar message. Many of these were written on qualities of a good woman.
(b) An entire area in central Calcutta—the Battala was devoted to the printing of popular books.
- Here one could buy cheap editions of religious tracts and scriptures.
- A lot of these books were illustrated with woodcuts and coloured lithographs
- Pedlars took the Battala publications to their homes, enabling women to read them in their leisure time.
(c) Jyotiba Phule, the Maratha pioneer of ‘Low Caste’ protest movement, wrote about the injustices in his Gulamgiri.
- B.R. Ambedkar in Maharashtra and E.V. Ramaswami Naicker, wrote powerfully on caste and their writings were read by people all over India.

Question. Print played a significant role in awakening sentiments of nationalism amongst the IndiAnswer.
Explain the statement with examples.
Answer.
- Various nationalist newspapers reported on colonial misrule and encouraged nationalist activities.
- Attempt to disrupt nationalist writings, provoked militant protest.
- This led to renewed cycle of persecution and protest.
- When Punjab revolutionaries were deported, Bal Gangadhar Tilak wrote with great sympathy about them in his Kesari.
This led to his imprisonment in 1908 and widespread protests all over India

Question. How were workers influenced by the print revolution?
Answer.
- Lending libraries had been in existence from the 17th century onwards.
- In the 19th century, lending libraries in England became instruments for educating white collar workers, artisans and lower middle class people.
- Sometimes, self-educated working class people wrote for themselves.
- When their working hours were reduced, they could get time for self-improvement and self expression. They wrote political tracts and autobiographies in large numbers.

Question. Trace the history of print revolution in India.
Answer.
- The printing press first came to Goa with the Portuguese missionaries in the mid 16th century.
- Books were printed in Konkani and Kanara languages.
- Catholic priests printed the first Tamil book, in 1579 at Cochin.
- By 1710, Dutch protestant missionaries had printed 32 Tamil texts, many of them were translations of older works.
- By 1780, James Augustus Hickey began to edit the Bengal Gazette, a weekly magazine.
- By the close of 18th century, a number of newspapers were published by Indians too. The first to appear was the weekly ‘Bengal Gazette’ brought out by Gangadhar Bhattacharya, who was close to Rammohan Roy.

Question. Write in brief
Give reasons for the following
a) Woodblock print came to Europe only after
b) Martin Luther was in favour of print and spoke out in praise of
c) The Roman Catholic Church began keeping an Index of Prohibited books from the mid-sixteenth century.
d) Gandhi said the fight for Swaraj is a fight for liberty of speech, liberty of the press, and freedom of
Answer.
a) In the eleventh century, Chinese paper reached Europe through the silk route. Then, in 1295, Marco Polo, an explorer, returned to Italy after many years of exploration in China. He took the technology of woodblock printing back with him. Now Italians began producing books with woodblocks, and soon the technology spread to other parts of Europe.

b) In 1517, Martin Luther wrote 'Ninety Five Theses' and a printed copy of this was posted on a church door in Wittenberg. He had criticised the malpractices and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church. His writings were immediately printed and reproduced in vast numbers and read widely. This criticism led to a division within the Church and to the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Luther's translation of the New Testament sold 5,000 copies within a few weeks and a second edition appeared within three months. Luther was in favour of print and praised it as "the ultimate gift of God and the greatest one."

c) Print and popular religious literature inspired individuals to interpret their biblical faith distinctively. For example, in the sixteenth century, Menocchio, a miller in Italy, reinterpreted the Bible's message of God and Creation. The Roman Catholic Church crushed such heretical ideas with inquisition, and Menocchio was executed. The Church tried to control the effects of popular readings and questionings of faith. It imposed severe control over publishers and booksellers and began to maintain an Index of Prohibited Books from 1558.

d) In 1922, Mahatma Gandhi accused the British rule in India of attempting to crush three powerful vehicles of expressing and cultivating public opinion-
(i) Liberty of speech,
(ii) liberty of the press and
(iii) freedom of association.
He said the fight for Swaraj is a fight for liberty of speech, liberty of the press, and freedom of association.

Question. Write short notes to show what you know about:
a) The Gutenberg Press
b) Erasmus' idea of the printed book c) The Vernacular Press Act
Answer.
a) From his childhood, Johann Gutenberg had become familiar with wine and olive presses. He was a goldsmith and a master of polishing stones and creating lead moulds used for making trinkets. He combined this knowledge with existing technology to design his innovative printing press. The olive press provided the model for the printing press, and moulds were used for casting the metal types for the letters of the alphabet. Gutenberg produced a new printing press that used metal movable type. By 1448, he perfected the system. The first book he printed was the Bible. About 180 copies were printed and it took three years to produce them. By the standards of the time, this was fast production.

b) Erasmus, a Latin Catholic reformer, expressed a deep anxiety about the printing. In his book titled Adages (1508), he argued that the printed books had reached every corner of the world and only some of them provided useful knowledge, while others were hurtful to scholarship. He also suggested that reading many books was harmful. He accused the printers of filling the world with books with stupid, ignorant, slanderous, scandalous, raving, irreligious and seditious messages. He regretted that due to the publication of such harmful books, even the valuable publications lost their value.

c) After the revolt of 1857, the British rule in India attempted to crush the 'native' press. In 1878, the Vernacular Press Act was passed, modelled on the Irish Press Laws. It provided the government more power to censor reports and editorials in the vernacular press published in different provinces. Newspapers that carried any news report judged as seditious was warned, or the press and printing machines were confiscated.

Question. What did the spread of print culture in nineteenth century India mean to:
a) Women
b) The poor
c) Reformers
Answer.
a) Women
(i) The print culture enabled many women in middle-class homes to write about their lives and feelings.
(ii) Liberal husbands and fathers educated their womenfolk at home, and sent them to schools. Women wrote in journals on the importance of education for them.
(iii) However, conservative Hindus believed that a literate girl would be widowed, and Muslims feared that Urdu romances would corrupt their women.
(iv)Such false beliefs, however, could not prevent many rebel women from learning.
(v)For example, in East Bengal, Rashsundari Debi learnt to read secretly and wrote her autobiography Amar Jiban in 1876. Other Bengali women like Kailashbashini Debi wrote on their subhuman condition at home and society.

b) The poor
(i) Availability of very cheap printed books enabled the poor to read and know the world. For example, the cheap books were brought to markets Madras towns and sold at crossroads, allowing poor people travelling to markets to buy them.
(ii) Public libraries were set up in cities and towns, and prosperous villages, expanding the access to books by the poor.

c) Reformers
(i)Indian reformers of 19th century used the print culture as a powerful tool to spread their ideas on social evils and reforms among the masses.
(ii)Their arguments and counter arguments were published in print.
(iii) Debates between reformers and orthodox Hindus over matters like widow immolation, monotheism, Brahmanical priesthood and idolatry were discussed in the newspapers and journals. Such discussions in newspapers shaped the public opinion.

Question. Why did some people in eighteenth century Europe think that print culture would bring enlightenment and end despotism?
Answer.
(i) By the mid-eighteenth century, people were convinced that books were a means of spreading progress and enlightenment.
(ii) Many strongly believed that books could change the world, liberate society from despotism and tyranny, and herald a time when reason and intellect would rule.
(iii) For example, Louise-Sebastien Mercier, a French novelist, described the printing press as the most powerful engine of progress, which would unleash the public opinion to sweep despotism away.
(iv)He argued that reading books would bring enlightenment and enable the masses to create a new world at the destruction of the basis of despotism.
(v)Mercier proclaimed: 'Tremble, therefore, tyrants of the world! Tremble before the virtual writer!'

Question. Why did some people fear the effect of easily available printed books? Choose one example from Europe and one from India.
Answer.
People of powerful classes and groups that controlled wealth in the society feared the effect of easily available printed books. They were worried that books and knowledge would enlighten the poor people and embolden them to agitate against economic and social inequalities. They feared that literate people would free themselves from the power clutches of the religiously dominant groups.
For example, in Europe, the Roman Catholic Church banned book materials carrying critical views on the biblical notion of God and creation. Scholars and philosophers who reinterpreted the Christian thoughts were executed mercilessly.
In India, orthodox Muslims feared that their girls would be corrupted by the Urdu romances and encourage them to defy their religious rules and regulations.

Question. What were the effects of the spread of print culture for poor people in nineteenth century India?
Answer.
(i) Availability of very cheap small books enabled the poor to read and know the world.
(ii) For example, the cheap books were brought to markets in nineteenth-century Madras towns and sold at crossroads, allowing poor people travelling to markets to buy them.
(iii) Public libraries were set up in cities and towns, and in prosperous villages, expanding the access to books.
(iv) From the late nineteenth century, leaders of the poor wrote on the issues of caste discrimination in many printed tracts and essays.
(v) For example, Jyotiba Phule, the Maratha pioneer of 'low caste' protest movements, wrote about the injustices of the caste system in his Gulamgiri (1871).

Question. Explain how print culture assisted the growth of nationalism in India.
Answer.
(i)The print culture carried the idea of nationalism to the masses. The Indian who published the first weekly Bengal Gazette was Gangadhar Bhattacharya.
(ii)The nationalists developed the public awareness about the unjust British rule through books, newspapers, magazines, leaflets and pamphlets.
(iii)They published vernacular newspapers and showed how British rule was leading to the economic ruin of the country.
(iv)Some of the dailies published during this time were Amrit Bazar Patrika, The Indian Mirror, Kesari, and The Hindu.