Question

How did novels of British India help colonial administration and Indians both

Answer 1

Novels were useful both for colonial administrators as well as for Indians.
The early novels contributed to colonialism by making the readers feel that they were part of a superior community of fellow colonialists. Most writers of that period saw colonialism as natural.
Colonised people were treated as primitive and barbaric and colonial rule was considered necessary to civilise them. Their novels reflected this attitude.
The colonised people, like the Indians however believed that the novels allowed them to explore their own identities and problems, their own national concerns. Novels written in Indian languages became a powerful medium to criticise what they considered defects in their society and to suggest remedies.

Answer 2

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Colonial administrators found novels a valuable source of information on native life and customs. Such information was useful for them in governing Indian society, which its large varieties of communities and castes. Novel showed how people dressed, their forms of religious worship, their beliefs and practices and so on.

Indians used the novels as a powerful medium to criticise what they considered defects in their society and to suggest remedies. It also helped in creating a sense of national pride amoung their readers. Novels also helped in creating a sense of collective belonging on the basis of one's language.

$\large{\bold{HOPE \:IT \:HELPS \:YOU!!!}}$