Som Prakash
Topic: Print Culture and the Modern World · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Som Prakash was a Bengali weekly that Dwarkanath Vidyabhushan started in 1858, with support from Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. It wrote seriously about politics and society and often criticised colonial policy. It is remembered as one of the main targets of the Vernacular Press Act (1878).
Example
Under the Vernacular Press Act, a paper accused of a "seditious" report got a warning first, and then faced seizure of its press. In c. 1879 Som Prakash was asked to give an undertaking (a written promise) to the government. Vidyabhushan chose to stop the paper instead.
Don't confuse with
- Amrita Bazar Patrika: another Bengali paper linked to the 1878 Act. It is said to have switched to English overnight to escape the law. Som Prakash stopped publishing instead.
Related concepts
- Censorship of Press Act 1799
- Licensing Regulations 1823
- Press Act of 1835
- Licensing Act 1857
- Hindu Patriot
- Press and Registration of Books Act 1867
- Amrita Bazar Patrika
- Vernacular Press Act
- The Hindu
- Swadesamitran