Press & Literature in Colonial India

§1 — Early Press in India (1780-1857)

Early Press in India (1780-1857)

Hicky's Bengal Gazette (1780)

India's first newspaper was "Hicky's Bengal Gazette" or Calcutta General Advertiser, launched in Calcutta on 29 January 1780 by James Augustus Hicky, an Irish printer. It was a 2-page weekly. Hicky's irreverent satirical attacks on Governor-General Warren Hastings (whom he nicknamed "Asiatic Jones"), Chief Justice Sir Elijah Impey, and missionaries earned him repeated trouble. Hastings successfully sued; Hicky was imprisoned (1781), bankrupted, and the paper was suppressed in March 1782. Hicky is considered the father of Indian journalism.

Other Early English Newspapers

• India Gazette (1780) — Calcutta; co-founded by Bernard Messink & Peter Reed.
• Calcutta Gazette (1784) — government's official organ.
• Madras Courier (1785).
• Bombay Herald (1789).
• Bombay Gazette (1791).

First Indian-Owned Newspapers

• Bengal Gazette (1816) — by Gangadhar Bhattacharya; the first newspaper edited and published by an Indian (often called the first Indian-owned newspaper).
• Sambad Kaumudi (1821) — Bengali weekly by Raja Ram Mohan Roy.
• Mirat-ul-Akhbar (1822) — first Persian newspaper, by Ram Mohan Roy.
• Digdarshan (1818) — first Bengali monthly, by Marshman (Serampore Mission).
• Samachar Darpan (1818) — first Bengali weekly, by Marshman.
• Mumbaina Samachar (1822) — first Gujarati newspaper, by Fardunjee Marzban.
• Udant Martand (1826) — first Hindi newspaper, by Pandit Jugal Kishore Shukla, Calcutta.
• Rast Goftar (1851) — Gujarati, by Dadabhai Naoroji.
• Hindu Patriot (1853) — English, edited by Harish Chandra Mukherjee; champion of indigo peasants.

§2 — Press Laws of British India

Major Press Laws of British India

§3 — Vernacular Press Act 1878

The Vernacular Press Act 1878 ("Gagging Act")

The Vernacular Press Act 1878, enacted by Lord Lytton (Viceroy 1876-80), is the most notorious press law of British India. Background: rising criticism of British policy after the Royal Titles Act 1876 (Empress Victoria), the Great Famine of 1876-78 (5 million dead), the Second Anglo-Afghan War.

Provisions

• Applied only to vernacular (Indian-language) newspapers — explicitly excluded English-language papers. (Openly racist.)
• Magistrate could demand security deposit from printer/publisher.
• Magistrate could confiscate printing press for objectionable content.
• No appeal to court of law.
• Bonds executed could be forfeited at magistrate's discretion.

Famous Resistance: Amrita Bazar Patrika

Sisir Kumar Ghosh's Amrita Bazar Patrika (founded 1868) was a vernacular Bengali weekly. To escape the Vernacular Press Act, on the night before the Act came into force in March 1878, the paper switched to English overnight — and continued as an English daily for the next century.

Repeal (1882)

Lord Ripon (Viceroy 1880-84), as part of his liberal reforms, repealed the Vernacular Press Act in 1882. The repeal was widely celebrated; Ripon became unusually popular among Indians.

§4 — Tilak's Sedition Trials

Tilak's Sedition Trials (1897, 1908)

Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920) edited Mahratta (English) and Kesari (Marathi). His sedition trials made him an icon.

1897 Trial

After the assassination of Plague Commissioner W.C. Rand by the Chapekar brothers (June 1897), the British prosecuted Tilak for sedition for an article in Kesari with the verses "Should we be ungrateful to Shivaji for killing Afzal Khan?" Convicted; sentenced to 18 months' rigorous imprisonment. Released 1899.

1908 Trial — Mandalay

After articles in Kesari defending the revolutionaries Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki (Muzaffarpur bomb 1908), Tilak was arrested. The trial in Bombay High Court (July 1908): Tilak conducted his own defence over 21 hours of argument, but was convicted by a 7-2 majority European jury. Justice Davar sentenced him to 6 years of transportation to Mandalay (Burma). The Bombay textile workers struck for 6 days in protest.

While at Mandalay (1908-1914), Tilak wrote "Gita Rahasya" (his Karma Yoga interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita) — a 1,000-page Marathi work published 1915.

Tilak's trial popularised his slogan: "Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it!"

§5 — Major Nationalist Newspapers

Major Nationalist Newspapers

Vernacular Newspapers — Selected

§6 — Nationalist Literature

Nationalist Literature

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (1838-1894)

Bengali novelist; wrote Anandamath (1882) — featuring the song "Vande Mataram". Other major works: Durgeshnandini (1865, first Bengali novel), Kapalkundala, Krishnakanter Will, Devi Chaudhurani. Also wrote political-historical essays. Vande Mataram later became India's National Song (Constitution recognition 1950).

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)

Bengali polymath — poet, novelist, painter, philosopher, educationist. 1913 Nobel Prize for Literature (first Asian Nobel laureate) for Gitanjali (Song Offerings, 1910 Bengali / 1912 English).

Major works:

• Gitanjali (1910) — Nobel-winning poetry collection.
• Gora (1910) — novel addressing nationalism, Hindu identity.
• Ghare Baire (The Home and the World, 1916) — novel; debate over Swadeshi violence.
• Nationalism (1917) — critical essays.
• Visva-Bharati / Shantiniketan (1921) — university.

Songs: "Jana Gana Mana" (1911) — adopted as Indian National Anthem 1950; "Amar Sonar Bangla" (1905) — adopted as Bangladesh National Anthem 1971; "Sri Lanka Matha" (composed by Tagore for his student Ananda Samarakoon).

Renounced his Knighthood on 30 May 1919 after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938)

Urdu and Persian poet. Author of "Tarana-e-Hind" (Saare Jahan Se Achcha, 1904), "Tarana-e-Milli". Major works: Asrar-e-Khudi (1915, Persian), Bal-e-Jibril (1935, Urdu). Allahabad Address 1930 (President of Muslim League) articulated the idea of a separate Muslim state — important precursor to Pakistan demand.

Subramania Bharati (1882-1921)

Tamil poet-revolutionary. Wrote patriotic Tamil poetry: "Engal Naadu", "Kannan Pattu", "Panchali Sapatham". Edited Swadeshamitran and India (Tamil weekly). Lived in Pondicherry exile (1908-1918). Major figure in Tamil Swadeshi.

Premchand (1880-1936)

Hindi-Urdu novelist. Major works: Sevasadan (1918), Premashram (1922), Rangbhoomi (1925), Karmabhoomi (1932), Godan (1936 — masterpiece on peasant exploitation), Kafan (1936 — short story on caste). Editor of Hans (Hindi monthly). His writing is considered the foundation of modern Hindi prose fiction.

Other Notable

• Sarojini Naidu — The Golden Threshold 1905, The Bird of Time 1912.
• Kazi Nazrul Islam — Bengali "Vidrohi Kobi" (Rebel Poet).
• Subhadra Kumari Chauhan — Hindi poet; "Khoob ladi mardani, woh toh Jhansi wali Rani thi" (1930).
• Maithili Sharan Gupt — Hindi epic Bharat Bharati (1913).
• Suryakant Tripathi "Nirala", Mahadevi Verma, Sumitranandan Pant, Jaishankar Prasad — Hindi Chhayavadi school.
• V.D. Savarkar — The Indian War of Independence 1857 (1909, banned).

§7 — Regional Literature

Regional Literature in the National Movement

Cultural Nationalism

Literature was as much a battleground of nationalism as politics:

• Vande Mataram (1882, Bankim) — anthem of Swadeshi.
• Jana Gana Mana (1911, Tagore) — National Anthem.
• Saare Jahan Se Achcha (1904, Iqbal) — patriotic anthem.
• Bharat Mata visual icon — Abanindranath Tagore's painting (1905).
• Bharatendu Harishchandra (1850-85) — "father of modern Hindi literature"; introduced political themes in Hindi.
• Progressive Writers' Association (1936, Lucknow) — Marxist literary movement; Sajjad Zaheer, Mulk Raj Anand, Premchand presided.
• Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) — 1943; communist cultural front.

§8 — Post-Independence Press

Post-Independence Press

• Press Council of India — established by Press Council Act 1965; reconstituted 1978.
• Emergency 1975-77 — most severe peacetime press censorship in independent India; 200+ journalists arrested; Indian Express, Statesman blank front pages in protest.
• L.K. Advani's quip: "You were asked only to bend; you crawled" — on the press's Emergency conduct.

Constitutionally: Article 19(1)(a) guarantees freedom of speech and expression — implicitly press freedom (no separate clause). Subject to "reasonable restrictions" under Article 19(2).

§9 — FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions