ommunalism is a situation where religious community, rather than class or caste, becomes a major determinant of political loyalty. Among a cornucopia of changes brought about by the British colonialism in the Punjab, an important aspect was the transformation of identities of ‘self’ and the ‘other’ in individual and collective sphere. The communal identities were constructed in the colonial context by all communities by dint of processes such as census enumeration, separate electorates and most importantly print capitalism and dissemination of communal literature, which aligned the Punjabis on the basis of communalism.

Although an individual or a group of people may have multiple identities including ascriptive, cultural, territorial, political, economic or social, in an environment of competition and conflict introduced by the colonial state, the Punjabis became increasingly divided on the basis of religious identities. One of the major contributors to the construction of communal identities in the Punjab was the introduction and pervasive use of print culture.

The first printing press in the Punjab was established by missionaries in Ludhiana. It was received well by all the religious voluntary associations and anjumans across the Punjab and started printing and distributing various genre of literature that immensely contributed to popularise communalism. Lahore emerged as the leading centre of print in the entire north India. Urdu journalism in the Punjab, in terms of number of newspapers, had no parallel. Regarding the language of the press, Urdu accounted for nearly 82 per cent, English 5.7 per cent, Hindi 4 per cent and Punjabi 4.5 per cent.

The massive use of printing press for propagation of religious teachings and ideas through a large number of newspapers and magazines made encampment of religious communities on communal lines possible. Since most of the printing activity was being performed in Urdu language, besides elitist English and other regional languages, the sphere of influence of this language also expanded enormously at the cost of Punjabi language. For instance, Zamindar emerged as a leading Urdu newspaper. Its editor, Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, became a popular Muslim leader.

In 1867, the Indian Legislative Council passed the Act for the Regulation of Printing Presses and Newspapers (XXV of 1867), which required publishers of newspapers and magazines, as per British government policy, to submit editorial information and copies of their papers to the provincial government. There was a high degree of communalism of various religious orientations including but not limited to Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Christian missionary in the Nineteenth Century Punjab.

There were fifteen newspapers professing an Islamic orientation or association with anjumans such as Anjuman Himayat-i-Islam. Around thirty papers were orientated towards various Samaj organisations in addition to other papers supporting non-Samaj Hindu organisations such as Sanatan Dharm. At least ten papers manifestly expressed Sikh views and hence were connected with Sikhism. The press in colonial Punjab was an important source of hostility among rival communities and a potent cause of tension within a community, among sects and religious denominations. Newspapers worked as new conduits for developing apprehensions in a society in transition from tradition to modernity and from status quo to forces of change in the form colonial modernity.

Although an individual or a group of people may have multiple identities including, ascriptive, cultural, territorial, political, economic or social, in an environment of competition and conflict introduced by the colonial state, the Punjabis became increasingly divided on the basis of religious identities. 

All the religious communities, particularly Hindus and Muslims, wrote extensively in Urdu in Lahore. A variety of subjects were discussed in newspapers including education, science, law, medicine, poetry and guides to social behaviour, yet very conspicuously the largest number of publications dealt with one or another aspect of religions. The religious scriptures and other religious polemics were printed massively. Many of those were reprints and translations of sacred texts. The presence of Christian missionaries and socio-religious movements accounted, in large part, for this focus on religious subjects which essentialised communal identities.

An important and obvious pattern of production of communal literature was the connection between newspapers and princely states such as Kashmir, Patiala, Kapurthala and Bahawalpur. These four states housed fifty-one of the fifty-six papers related to princely states. Interestingly, all these states were located within or surrounding the Punjab territory. This fact underlines an important link that speaks about the impact of developments taking place in the British Punjab on princely states located closeby.

Some newspapers such as Koh-i-Nur and Paisa Akhbar served as training institutions for human resource needed for other newspapers. Social and political leaders also received valuable experience by working in these newspapers and played important political role. These leaders, more often than not, propagated communalism imbibed while working in such newspapers. Prominent personalities who received valuable political experience through working in the press included Lala Lajpat Rai (1865- 1928), Muharram Ali Chishti, Sir Abdul Qadir (1872-1950), Diwan Buta Singh, Pandit Lekh Ram (1858-1897) and Lala Munshi Ram also known as Swami Shraddhanand (1856- 1926).

The impact of print in South Asia has been “the longest and most deeply felt,” as compared to other parts of the Muslim world, argues Francis Robinson. This kind of massive use of printing press for propagation of religious teachings and ideas, and polemical tracts along with newspapers and magazines—many of them associated with communal organisations—made encampment of religious communities possible. Since a massive share of print activity was being performed in the Urdu language in the Punjab, the sphere of influence of Urdu also expanded enormously along with the honing of communal identities. This resulted in unprecedented communal carnage at the time of the partition of India in 1947.

This writing is based on the writer’s talk at the 1st International Lyallpur History Conference (August 26-27, 2024) held at Serena Hotel, Faisalabad.

Dr Muhammad Abrar Zahoor heads the History Department at University of Sargodha. He has worked as a research fellow at Royal Holloway College, University of London. He can be reached at abrar.zahoor@hotmail.com His X handle: @AbrarZahoor1