Critically examine the link between the teaching of English and Literary Texts.

The printing machine brought with it greater authority and claim of reliability and correctness. Slowly, the advent of printing eroded the work of scribes who used to copy down texts assiduously. By undermining their efforts and asserting the superior authority of printing, the colonial state succeeded in setting up a hierarchy of authority, reliability and merit. It was dismissive of scribes and the oral tradition that formed the core of dissemination of knowledge in India. Thus, printing was put to ideological use: to undermine and restrict indigenous forms of knowledge assimilation.

We can clearly see a parallel in intent in the colonial state’s dismissal of Sanskrit and Arabic learning on the one hand and its undermining of native efforts at spreading knowledge and reduplicating texts on the other. The missionaries were the earliest to use printing to advantage. The printing of the Bible in the various Indian languages brought with it claim of greater accuracy and correctness. The context of the Bible as revealed truth further strengthened the claim of authority and sanction of printing over unprinted texts.