Question

The First printing press in India was introduced at _____.
A)Surat
B)Bombay
C)Calcutta
D)Goa

Answer 1

Hint: 1)Francis Xavier, a Christian missionary, initiated the arrival of the printing press to India.
2)The first printing press in India was established at the Jesuit St. Paul’s College.

Complete answer:
The first printing press in India was introduced at Goa.
It was Francis Xavier who initiated the arrival of the printing press to India. He was a Christian missionary and was known to be teaching the Bible Tharangambadi, Tamil Nadu around the 1540s. During that time, the viceroy of Goa on behalf of King Joao III of Portugal set up schools for Indians. So Francis Xavier also asked Portugal to send printing presses to India, Japan and Ethiopia. Meanwhile the emperor of Ethiopia asked Portugal to send a printing press along with the Jesuit missionaries who would be coming by ship.
Thus Portugal sent a printing press with the Jesuit missionaries on a Spanish Ship in 1556.
The prevalent route required the ship to go around the Cape of Good Hope and halt at Goa and then leave for Ethiopia. But as soon as the ship reached Goa, they received news that the Ethiopian Emperor was not keen at receiving the missionaries. Also simultaneously, the clergy of Goa felt the need of a printing press. They asked the Governor-General to make the press available to them. Hence, the printing press stayed in Goa, India.
The first printing press in India was established at the Jesuit St. Paul’s College in Old Goa in 1556. One of the first and the most famous books to be printed on this press was ‘Catecismo da Doutrina Cristã’. This was written by Francis Xavier himself, but it was not printed until five years after his death.

Option (A) Surat: This option is incorrect. The first printing press in Surat was imported in 1675 when it was under Mughal Administration and Aurangzeb was in power.
Option (B) Bombay: This option is incorrect. Bhimbi Parikh, an Indian businessman is credited for importing Bombay’s first printing press around 1674-75.
Option (C) Calcutta: This option is incorrect. Two printing presses were simultaneously set up in Calcutta in 1777 by James Augustus Hickey and Nathaniel Brassley Halhed.

Hence, the correct answer is option (D)

Note: An evidence to support this fact is the letter of Loyola Father Gasper Calesa to St. Ignatius, dated 30 April 1556.
Father Cazela wrote about the ship carrying the printing press that set sail from Portugal and was destined for Abyssinia, present day Ethiopia.