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Freedom Struggle Literature & Press: Bengal Gazette & Kesari

The inception of printed media in India commenced in 1780 when James Augustus Hicky established the "Bengal Gazette" (also known as the Calcutta General Advertiser), inaugurating modern journalism on the subcontinent. The early nineteenth century witnessed print media transform into a vehicle for socio-religious reform and political consciousness under Raja Ram Mohan Roy, regarded as the father of Indian journalism, who founded the Bengali weekly "Sambad Kaumudi" in 1821 and the Persian newspaper "Mirat-ul-Akhbar" in 1822. Dadabhai Naoroji contributed to Gujarati reform journalism with "Rast Goftar" in 1854, subsequently formulating his economic critique of colonial exploitation in the 1901 publication "Poverty and Un-British Rule in India", which established the Drain of Wealth theory.

During the nationalist struggle, vernacular and English periodicals mobilized anti-colonial resistance across British India. Bal Gangadhar Tilak edited the Marathi newspaper "Kesari" and the English weekly "Mahratta", using his editorial column to propagate Swaraj before authoring the philosophical treatise "Gita Rahasya" during his imprisonment at Mandalay. Mahatma Gandhi deployed journalism across two continents, directing "Indian Opinion" in South Africa and later editing "Young India", "Navajivan", and "Harijan", while articulating his core critique of modern industrialization in his 1909 manifesto "Hind Swaraj". Nationalist literature flourished concurrently through Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's 1882 novel "Anandamath", containing the national song "Vande Mataram", while Bipin Chandra Pal edited "New India" and Jawaharlal Nehru founded the "National Herald" in 1938.

British administrative authorities reacted to nationalist print mobilization through coercive legislative enactments, particularly the Vernacular Press Act of 1878 promulgated under Viceroy Lord Lytton. Colloquially termed the "Gagging Act", the statute empowered district magistrates to confiscate printing presses and penalize vernacular publications without prior judicial review, prompting the Bengali newspaper "Amrita Bazar Patrika", edited by Sisir Kumar Ghose and Motilal Ghose, to convert overnight into an English-language daily to bypass statutory jurisdiction. Later legal measures, including the Newspaper (Incitement to Offences) Act of 1908 and the Indian Press Act of 1910, further targeted seditious publication. This evolution of nationalist journalism, colonial censorship laws, and political pamphlets constitutes a core focus in UPSC Modern Indian History and SSC CGL examinations.
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  1. #1
    Hicky’s Bengal Gazette (1780) in Calcutta was the first printed newspaper in India, published by James Augustus Hicky.
  2. #2
    Bal Gangadhar Tilak published the Marathi newspaper Kesari and English weekly Mahratta to spread nationalist awakening.
  3. #3
    Mahatma Gandhi edited Young India, Harijan, Navajivan, and authored foundational treatises including Hind Swaraj (1909) and My Experiments with Truth.
  4. #4
    Dadabhai Naoroji authored "Poverty and Un-British Rule in India", formulating the historic Drain of Wealth theory.
  5. #5
    The Vernacular Press Act of 1878, enacted under Viceroy Lord Lytton (termed the "Gagging Act"), targeted nationalist regional language newspapers like Amrita Bazar Patrika.
  6. #6
    Raja Ram Mohan Roy published the Bengali weekly Sambad Kaumudi (1821) and the Persian weekly Mirat-ul-Akhbar (1822) to advance socio-religious reforms and freedom of thought.
  7. #7
    The Hindu was founded in Madras in September 1878 as a weekly newspaper by G. Subramania Iyer and fellow nationalist youth to resist colonial press oppression.
  8. #8
    Sisir Kumar Ghosh and Motilal Ghosh founded the Amrita Bazar Patrika in 1868, famously converting it from Bengali to English overnight to evade the Vernacular Press Act of 1878.
  9. #9
    Dinabandhu Mitra authored the Bengali drama 'Nil Darpan' in 1860, exposing the brutal commercial exploitation of indigo cultivators by British planters in Bengal.
  10. #10
    Jawaharlal Nehru authored 'The Discovery of India' and 'Glimpses of World History' during his imprisonment at Ahmednagar Fort between 1942 and 1945.
  11. #11
    Subhas Chandra Bose authored 'The Indian Struggle' (1920–1942), chronicling the national independence movement and evaluating strategic methods to achieve freedom.
  12. #12
    Lala Lajpat Rai founded the Urdu daily 'Vande Mataram' and the English newspaper 'The People', having previously authored 'Unhappy India' and 'Young India'.
  13. #13
    Maulana Abul Kalam Azad founded the Urdu weekly newspaper 'Al-Hilal' in Calcutta in 1912 to mobilize Muslim participation in anti-colonial nationalist solidarity.
  14. #14
    Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay composed 'Vande Mataram' in 1875, incorporating it into his 1882 political novel Anandamath set during the 18th-century Sannyasi Rebellion.
  15. #15
    The Metcalfe Act of 1835 repealed John Adam's restrictive 1823 licensing regulations, earning Governor-General Charles Metcalfe the title 'Liberator of the Indian Press'.

Subject Specialist Commentary

Analytical perspective & practical exam advice from the Master10 academic board

Educator's Insight
Print media and nationalist literature functioned as powerful tools for raising civic consciousness during India's anti-colonial struggle. From the launch of Hicky's Bengal Gazette in 1780, newspapers mobilized public debate against colonial exploitation. Leaders ran influential journals, such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak's Kesari and Mahratta, Mahatma Gandhi's Young India and Harijan, and Raja Ram Mohan Roy's Sambad Kaumudi, braving strict colonial censorship like the Vernacular Press Act of 1878.
In UPSC prelims and State PSC exams, matching questions between authors, newspapers, and languages are extremely common. A frequent trap involves Sisir Kumar Ghosh's Amrita Bazar Patrika, which switched from Bengali to English overnight in 1878 to bypass Lord Lytton's Vernacular Press Act. Remember that Dadabhai Naoroji exposed the colonial economic exploitation in his book "Poverty and Un-British Rule in India", while Dinabandhu Mitra's play "Nil Darpan" highlighted the plight of Bengal indigo cultivators.

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