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- From the early 19th century, there were debates around religious issues.
- Some people criticized existing religious practices, while some advocated them.
- There were controversies between social and religious reformers and hindu orthodoxy over matters like widow immolation,monotheism, Brahmanical priesthood and idolatry.
- In Bengal, ideas were printed and circulated in everyday,spoken language of people so that it reaches a wider audience.
- In 1821, Rammohun Roy published the SAMBAD KAUMUDI criticizing hindu practices.
- Hindu orthodoxy commissioned the SAMACHAR CHANDRIKA to oppose his opinions.
- From 1822, 2 persian newspapers , JAM-I-JAHAN NAMA and SHAMSUL AKHBAR began to be published.
- BOMBAY SAMACHAR, a gujarati newspaper, also began to be published.
MUSLIM GROUPS :
- In north India, ULAMAS ( legal scholars of Islam and sharia) were deeply anxious about collapsing Muslim dynasties.
- They feared colonial rulers may change Muslim personal laws.
- To counter this, they also made use of print and published Religious newspapers and Persion or Urdu translations of holy scriptures.
- In 1867, The Deoband Seminary , published 1000s of FATWAS ( legal declaration on Islamic Law given by a mufti/ legal scholar ), telling muslim readers about how to conduct themselves in everyday lives.
HINDU GROUPS :
- Hindus made use of the print too and published religious texts.
- In 1810, the first edition of RAMCHARITMANAS by TULSIDAS came out.
- From 1880s, the Naval Kishore Press at Lucknow and Shri Venkateshwar press in Bombay published many religious texts in local languages.
- Religious texts reached a very wide circle of people and even encouraged debates, discussions and controversies.
- Print also connected a variety of people from different walks of life, as it united people with same opinions.
PAINTING BY RAJA RAVI VERMA.
- Raja Ritudhwaj rescuing Princess Madalsa from the captivity of demons, print by Ravi Varma.
