During the struggle for India’s independence literature played a crucial role in terms of making people aware of their right to freedom and arousing in them patriotism and telling them the meaning of nationalism. It became a significant instrument for gathering mass support.
Poetry, drama, novels, short stories, news articles etc. were written and read by many which not only remarkably acted as a catalyst for India’s independence but also helped in making people aware of the ills of some of the societal practices.
Literature was produced heavily not only in regional languages but also in English, a language which was not their own but was introduced to them by Britishers through their education policy. Some scholars point out that literature also helped in bringing unity among people when they were already divided in terms of religion, culture, language, caste etc. and this unity fostered India’s struggle for freedom.
History Of Publishing In India
Some of the well-known facts about the history of press and publishing in India are; firstly, the printing press was introduced by Portuguese invasion in India in Goa in 1576 and in 1686, an east India company established its first press, publishing its first newspaper called the Bengal gazette in 1780 in Kolkata.
Literature in regional languages was also promoted especially newspapers in Indian vernacular languages became a powerful means to aware people, most famously Raja Ram Mohan Roy published ‘Sambad Kaumudi’ in Bengali, Bande Mataram an English newspaper started by Bipin Chandra Pal in 1905, Harijan founded by Gandhi in 1932, Hindu patriot by Girishchandra Ghosh in 1853 in Kolkata, Rast Goftar by Dadabhai Naroji etc.
Lord Lytton passed a vernacular act in 1876 in order to stop people from publishing newspapers in Indian languages because these newspapers were increasingly becoming a threat to the British empire, as these newspapers were spreading ‘hatred against British rule’. But the use of literature in order to fight for freedom didn’t stop there.
Indian writers and their works
There was a great revolution in the field of Indian literature when writers started writing on the theme of patriotism and nationalism unlike the religious literature produced earlier. Some of the known writers and poets are Henry Derozio, Kashiprasad Ghosh, Micheal Madhusudan, Rabindranath Tagore, Sraojini Naidu, Nissim Ezekiel, Raja Rao, Aurbindo Ghosh, Bankim Chandra Chottopadhyay etc.
Bankim Chandra Chottopadhyay’s Anandamath, set in the backdrop of Bengal’s famine, evokes feelings of patriotism in people and reflects on to what extent people can go and they can even sacrifice their lives for India’s freedom. Some critics also talk about the representation and contribution of women in the fight against imperialism through fiction.
In these patriotic novels, women’s contribution was no less than men’s for instance, In Anandamath, Kalyani sacrificed her life and killed his son in order to clear the path for her husband to fight for freedom. Devanshi Jain talks about the use of Gandhian philosophy in patriotic literature.
For instance, theme of untouchability in Mulk Raj Anand’s ‘untouchable’ and bringing relief to the protagonist by Gandhi’s speech, Raja Rao’s ‘Kanthapura’ reflects on the Gandhian philosophy’s influence on people and how Moorthy, the protagonist, being under the influence of Gandhi rids his village of caste system.
Devanshi Jain also talks about the representation of the contribution of ordinary Indians, coming from completely different backgrounds in terms of culture, religion, language, caste etc. in the freedom struggle which helped people to unite and also relate with the protagonists and realize that they can also fight against British rule.
Literature helped people to come together and fight for India’s struggle for freedom. People regardless of their background and gender left no stone unturned to fight against colonizers.
Written by: Harshita Bansal
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