Novels, Society and History: 10th SST

Question: Which was the first proper modem Hindi novel? Who was its author?

Answer: The first proper modern Hindi novel was Pariksha Guru. It was written by Srinivas Das in 1882.

Question: Who is known as the pioneer of modem Hindi literature?

Answer: Bharatendu Harishchandra

Question: Who was the author of Pariksha Guru?

Answer: Srinivas Das

Question: How did the vernacular novels help Britishers to expand their rule in India?

Answer: Novels provided valuable information to the colonial administrators regarding native life and customs.

Question: Name any two novelists of South India. Also mention the names of the novels written by them.

Answer:

1. Chandu Menon – Indulekha
2. Kandukuri Viresalingam – Rajasekhara Caritamu

Question: Name any two famous Hindi novelists. Also mention the names of the novels written by them.

Answer:

1. Srinivas Das – Pariksha Guru
2. Devaki Nandan Khetri – Chandrakanta

Question: Name the Mala novelist who tried to translate an English novel called Henrietta Temple.

Answer: Chandu Menon

Question: Which was the first modem novel in Malayalam? When was it published?

Answer: Indulekha published in 1889 was the first modem novel in Malayalam.

Question: Who is the author of the novel “Sewasadan”? What is the importance of the novel for the Hindi literature?

Answer: Sewasadan was written by Munshi Premchand. The novel lifted the Hindi novel from the realm of fantasy, moralising and simple entertainment to a serious reflection on the lives of ordinary people and social issues.

Question: How was the sources of entertainment of the old merchant elite of Calcutta different from the new bhadralok?

Answer: The old merchant elite of Calcutta patronized public forms of entertainment such as Kabirlarai, musical soirees and dance performances whereas new bhadraloks found himself at home in the more private world of reading novels.

Question: “During the 19th century, the early Bengali novelists lived in two worlds”. Explain.

Answer:

1. These were novelists who were located in the past, their characters, events and love stories based on historical events.
2. This group of novelists depicted the inner world of domestic life in contemporary settings. Domestic novels frequently dealt with the social problems and romantic relationships between men and women.

Question: “In many novels written during the colonial period, the ideal person successfully deals with one of the central dilemmas faced by colonial subject”. What was the dilemma?

Answer: How to be modem without rejecting traditions, how to accept ideas coming from the West without losing one’s identity.

Question: Who was Rokeya Hossein?

Answer: Rokeya Hossien (1880-1932) was a reformer who, after she was widowed, started a girl’s school in Calcutta. She wrote a satiric fantasy in English called Sultana’s Dream (1905) which shows a topsy turvy world in which women take the place of men. Her novel Padmarag also showed the need for women to reform their condition by their own actions.

Question: Name some novelists who have written about caste practices.

Answer:

1. Potheri Kunjambu – Saraswativijayam
2. Advaita Malla Burman’s – Titash Ekti Nadir Naam

Question: Name a novelist who wrote for lower-castes.

Answer: Potheri Kunjambu

Question: ‘The Novel is about an epic about the Mallas, a community of fisherfolk who live off fishing in the river Titash. Identify the novel and the author.

Answer: Titash Ekti Nadir Naam-Advaita Malla

Question: Which was the first historical novel written in Bengal?

Answer: Bhadeb Mukhopadhyay’s Anguriya Binimoy

Question: Name a novel which is about a secret Hindu militia that fights Muslims to establish a Hindu Kingdom. It was a novel that inspired many kinds of freedom fighters.

Answer: Bankim’s Anandamath

Question: How novels helped in popularizing the sense of belonging to a common nation?

Answer:

1. Imaging a heroic past.
2. Various classes were included so that they could be seen to belong to a shared world.

Question: Name any two novels written by Munshi Premchand.

Answer: (i) Rangbhoomi (ii) Godan

Question: Why the novel Pariksha Guru could not win many readers?

Answer: It could not win many readers, as it was perhaps too moralizing in its style.

Question: Which was the first proper modem novel in Hindi? What was its theme?

Answer: Pariksha Guru was the first proper modern novel in Hindi. The novel reflects the inner and outer world of the newly emerging middle class which is caught in the difficulty of adapting to colonized society and at the same time preserving their cultural identify.

Question: Who was the Hindi novelist whose writing took the Hindi novels to excellence?

Answer: Munshi Premchand

Question: Which was the first novel of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay?

Answer: Durgeshnandini in 1865

Question: What is satire? Give one example.

Answer: A form of representation through writing, drawing, painting, etc. that provides a criticism of society in a manner that is witty and clever. For example, Sultana’s Dream by Rokeya Hossein.

Question: Who wrote Saraswativijayam?

Answer: Potheri Kunjambu

Question: What was the theme of Saraswativijayam?

Answer: Saraswativijayam stresses the importance of education for the upliftment of the lower caste.

Question: Who was the English author who showed the darker side of colonialism in his novels?

Answer: Joseph Conard

Question: Who wrote Anandmath?

Answer: Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay