Class 10 History Chapter 2 Practice Question Answers - India and the Contemporary World - II

Q1: Which place(city) had the breakthrough of first printing press?
Ans: Strasbourg, Germany had the breakthrough of the first printing press.

Q2: Mention the technique adopted to educate white-collar workers in Europe during the 19th century.
Ans: The technique of lending libraries was adopted to educate the white collar workers in Europe during the 19th century.

Q3: Mention any one technique of preserving the manuscript in India.
Ans: The manuscripts in India were preserved by pressing them between wooden covers or being sewn together.

Q4: Name the Chinese traditional book, which was folded and stitched at the side.
Ans: The Chinese traditional book, which was folded and stitched at the side, was known was accordion book.

Q5: Mention any one characteristic feature of the off-set press.
Ans: One characteristic of the off-set press was that it could print up to six colours at a time.

Q6: Describe woodblock printing.
Ans: Woodblock printing was a popular form of printing before the printing press was invented.

• Books were printed books in China as early as 594 AD by rubbing paper against the inked surface of woodblocks.
• Marco Polo brought this art to Europe, where it became very popular.
• By the fifteenth century, woodblock printing was being used extensively in making textiles, cards, etc.

Q7: What was Protestant Reformation?
Ans: Protestant Reformation was a movement dedicated to reform the Roman Catholic Church in the sixteenth century. Martin Luther was its chief preacher. He wrote Ninety Five Theses criticizing many of the practices and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church in 1517 in which he challenged the Church to debate his ideas. This led to division of church and beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

Q8: Explain with examples the role of print culture in the bringing of French Revolution.
Ans: The following points show the role of print culture in the bringing of French Revolution.

• Print popularised the ideas of the enlightenment thinkers. The writings of Voltaire and Rousseau were read widely.
• These thinkers argued for the rule of reason rather than custom and demanded that everything should be judged through the application of reason and rationality.
• Print created a new culture of dialogue and debate. All values, norms and institutions were re-evaluated and discussed by a public that had become aware of the power of reason and recognised the need to question existing ideas and beliefs.
• By the 1780s, there was an outpouring of literature that mocked the royalty and criticised their morality. In the process, it raised questions about the,existing social order.
• Print did not directly shape their minds, but it did open up the possibility of thinking differently.

Q9: Name the first edition of the Indian religious text published in vernacular.
Ans: This first edition of the Indian religious text published in vernacular was the Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas.

Q10: Name the oldest Japanese book.
Ans: The oldest Japanese book, printed in 868 AD, is the Buddhist Diamond Sutra.

Q11: What were the limitations of written manuscripts in India? Explain.
Ans: The following were the limitations of written manuscripts in India.

• Manuscripts were very expensive and fragile. They had to be treated carefully and they were difficult to read as the script was written in different styles.
• Manuscripts were not widely used in everyday life of the common populace. Even though pre-colonial Bengal had developed a vast network of village primary schools, students usually did not read texts.
• Students only learnt to write. Teachers read out part of texts from memory and students wrote them down on paper. Students thus became literate without ever actually reading any kinds of texts.

Q12: How had the earliest printing technology developed in the world? Explain with examples.
Ans: The following points show the development of the earliest printing technology in the world.

• The earliest kind of printing technology 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 against the inked surface of woodblocks. As both sides of the thin, porous sheet could not be printed, the traditional Chinese accordion book was folded and stitched at the side.
• The imperial state in China was, for a very long time, the major producer of printed material. China possessed a huge bureaucratic syatem which recruited its personnel through civil services examination.
• Textbooks for this examination were printed in vast numbers under the sponsorship of the imperial state. From the sixteenth century, the number of examination candidates went up and that increased the volume of print.
• By the seventeenth century, as urban culture bloomed in China, the uses of print diversified.

Q13: Examine the role of missionaries in the growth of press in India.
Ans: The following points sum up the role of missionaries in the growth of press in India.

• The printing press first came to Goa with Portuguese missionaries in the mid-sixteenth century. Jesuit priests learnt Konkani and printed several tracts.
• By 1674, about 50 books had been printed in the Konkani and in Kanara languages. Catholic priests printed the first Tamil book in 1579 at Cochin and in 1713 the first Malayalam book was printed by them.
• By 1710, Dutch Protestant missionaries had printed 32 Tamil texts; many of them were translated from older works.

Q14: “Printing technology gave women a chance to share their feelings with the world outside.” Support the statement with any five suitable examples.
Ans: Printing technology gave women a chance to share their feelings with the world outside. The following are the examples supporting the statement.

• Rashundari Devi, 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 in Bengali.
• Many other women writers, like Kailashbhashini Debi, highlighted experiences of women like their imprisonment at home, ignorance and unjust treatment in their writings.
• Tarabai Shinde and Pandita Ramabai narrated the plight of upper cast Hindu women, especially the widows.
• Tamil writers expressed the poor status of women.
• By the early twentieth century, journals written by women became popular, which highlighted issues like women’s education, widowhood and widow- remarriage. Some of them highlighted fashion lessons to women and entertainment through short storing and serialized novels.

Q15: How did a new reading public emerge with the printing press? Explain.
Ans: With the advent of printing press, a new reading public emerged. The books became cheaper as printing technology reduced the cost of production. As books flooded the market, readership increased and books now reached to larger number of people. Access to books created a new reading culture. Earlier reading was restricted to the elite only—common people lived in world of word culture who heard sacred text read out to them or ballads recited or folk tales narrated. Now a reading public came into being. But book could be read only by literate people, keeping this point of view, printers published popular ballads and folk tales with a lot of pictures, which could be read to illiterate public. These ballads and tales could then be sung or read out to those who could not read. Thus, printed material could be orally transmitted at gatherings and taverns. Reading public and hearing public thus got intermingled.

Q16: Who invented the printing press? How did he develop the printing technology?
Ans: Johann Gutenberg, a German goldsmith, is credited with the invention of printing press.Having spent most of his childhood on a large agricultural estate, Gutenberg saw wine and olive presses. By and large, he learnt the art of polishing stones and acquired expertise in creating lead moulds. Using this knowledge, he adopted the existing technology to design his innovation. The olive press became the base model for the printing press and moulds were used for casting metal types for alphabet. By 1448, he had perfected this system, which led to the development of printing technology.

Q17: “By the end of 19th century a new visual culture was taking shape.” Explain.
Ans: The nineteenth century saw the new visual culture taking shape. It was because of following developments.

• Along with the printed material, visual images could also be published and reproduced easily in multiple copies.
• Painters like Raja Ravi Varma used print culture to produce images for mass circulation. Wood improvers began to be employed in print houses for making woodblocks.
• People good at funny sketching developed cartoons and caricatures commenting on social and political issues. Some openly criticized imperial rule, western tastes and clothes which attracted large masses.
• Mass production of visual images reduced the cost of production. Cheap prints and calendars were available in market and even the poor could buy to decorate the walls of their homes.
• The new visual culture acquired distinctively Indian form and style, as artists began to depict scenes from Hindu religious mythology.

Q18: Explain the effects of print culture in the religious sphere in early modern Europe.
Ans: The following were the effects of print culture in the religious sphere in early modern Europe

• It was apprehended that easier access to the printed and wider circulation of books could pollute people’s mind. People could turn rebellious and irreligious through would spread.
• After reading the literature people developed the attitude towards reasoning, debate and discussion and began to challenge the existing norms of religion and society.
• Because of criticizing practices and rituals of Roman Catholic Church, there was a division in religion—Catholics and Protestants.
• Severe controls were imposed over publishers and booksellers for circulating heretical ideas.

Q19: How did print introduce debate and discussions? Explain any three points.
Ans: Print introduced diverse reading material to masses, which they interprated in their own way and developed their own thoughts. This gave rise to debate and discussion in the following ways.

• Varied opinions: People developed reasoning and hence began to debate on religious, social and economic issues. They developed different opinions. Social reformers offered a variety of interpretations of various beliefs and practices.
• Shaped opinions: Published matter not only spread new deas and views but also shaped the nature of debate. A wider section of people could now participate in public discussion and express their views. New ideas emerged due to clash of opinions.
• Social reforms: This was a time of intense controversies between social and religious reformers and orthodoxy over social customs and polities. People began to reason and discuss critically the established social and religious norms. Samachar Chandrika opposed the opinions of Raja Rammohan Roy, which were published in Sambad Kaumudi in 1821.

Q20: How did new form of popular literature appear in print targeting new audience in the 18th century? Explain with examples.
Ans: New forms of popular literature like almanacs, newspapers and journals, appeared in print targeting new audiences in the eighteenth century in the following ways.

• Books could reach a wider population. Even those who disagreed with existing customers could express themselves through print.
• Journals carrying views of women writes explained why women should be educated.
• Novels carried themes related to women’s life and emotions. Such journals were often written and edited by women themselves.
• With the expansion of compulsory education, children became important readers. A children’s press was devoted for children literature alone. It published old fairy tales and folk tales along with new works. Grimm Brothers spent years compiling folk tales. All that was considered unsuitable was not included.
• Fictional narratives, poetic, autobioquaplies, anthologies and romantic plays were preferred by new readers.