(a) Evaluate the role of print in the French Revolution.

(i) Print popularised the ideas of the Enlightenment thinkers.

(ii) Their writings provided a critical commentary on tradition, superstition and despotism.

(iii) They argued for the rule of reason rather than custom, and demanded that everything be judged through the application of reason and rationality.

(iv) They attacked the sacred authority of the Church and the despotic power of the state, thus eroding the legitimacy of a social order based on tradition.

(v) The writings of Voltaire and Rousseau were read widely; and those who read these books saw the world through new eyes, that were questioning, critical and rational.

(vi) Print created a new culture of dialogue and debate.

(vii) All values, norms and institutions were re-evaluated and discussed by a public that had become aware of the power of reason, and recognised the need to question existing ideas and beliefs.

(viii) By the 1780s there was an outpouring of literature that mocked the royalty and criticised their morality and raised questions about the existing social order.

(ix) Cartoons and caricatures suggested that the monarchy remained absorbed only in sensual pleasures and common people kept on suffering immense hardships.

OR 6.(b) Evaluate the role of Buddhist Missionaries in printing culture.

(i) Buddhist missionaries from China introduced hand-printing technology into Japan around AD $\displaystyle 768$-770.

(ii) The oldest Japanese book, printed in AD $\displaystyle 868$, is the Buddhist Diamond Sutra, containing six sheets of text and woodcut illustrations.

(iii) Pictures were printed on textiles, playing cards and paper money.

(iv) In the late eighteenth century, in the flourishing urban circles at Edo (later to be known as Tokyo), illustrated collections of paintings depicted an elegant urban culture.

(v) Libraries and bookstores were packed with hand-printed material of various types – books on women, musical instruments, calculations, tea ceremony, flower arrangements, proper etiquette, cooking and famous places.