Biography of Madan Lal Dhingra, 1887-1909, Indian revolutionary who assassinated Sir William Curzon Wyllie, aide-de-camp to the Secretary of State for India, in the Institute of Imperial Studies, London.
Leena Dhingra family was forced to abandon the family house when Partition placed Lahore in Pakistan and go into exile in France. The big family secret is the execution of Madan Lal Dhingra, Leena's great uncle, in London on 17 August 1909. An Indian freedom fighter, Madan Lal assassinated the British Army official William Hutt Curzon. In England, Madan Lal is a famous murderer: in India he is hailed as a great patriot, revolutionary terrorist, and martyr. In December 1976, his remains were exhumed and his body returned to India. Part memoir, part history, Exhumation: The Life and Death of Madan Lal Dhingra is the revealing and unraveling of secrets.
The Challenge: “I attempted to shed English blood intentionally and of purpose, as a humble protest against the inhuman transportations and hangings of Indian youth. In this attempt I consulted none but my own conscience; conspired with none but my own duty. I believe that a nation unwillingly held down by foreign bayonets is in a perpetual state of war. Since open battle is rendered impossible I attacked by surprise - since canon could not be had I drew forth and fired a revolver. As a Hindu I feel that the slavery of my nation is an insult to my God. Her cause is the cause of freedom. Her service is the service of Sri Krishna. Neither rich nor able, a poor son like myself can offer nothing but his blood on the altar of Mother’s deliverance and so I rejoice at the prospect of my martyrdom. The only lesson required in India is to learn how to die and the only way to teach it is by dying alone. The soul is immortal and if everyone of my countrymen takes at least two lives of Englishmen before his body falls the Mother’s salvation is a day’s work. This war ceases not only with the independence of India alone, it shall continue as long as the English and Hindu races exists in this world. Until our country is free Sri Krishna stands exhorting, if you are killed you, attain heaven; if successful you win the earth. It is my fervent prayer, may I be reborn of the same mother, and may I re-die in the same sacred cause, till my mission is done and She stands free for the good of humanity and to the glory of God.” —Madan Lal Dhingra Immerse yourself in the gripping tale of Madan Lal Dhingra, a courageous freedom fighter who sacrificed his life for India's independence struggle. This historical account sheds light on Dhingra's revolutionary activities, his martyrdom, and his enduring legacy as a symbol of patriotism and selfless devotion. The Life and Times of Madan Lal Dhingra, biography, Vishav Bandhu, historical account, revolutionary figure, Indian independence movement, political activism, martyr, freedom fighter, colonial era, nationalist, historical context, sacrifice, patriotism, anti-imperialism, inspiring legacy, political dissent
This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Democracy and political violence can hardly be considered conceptual siblings, at least at first sight. Democracy allows people to route their aspirations, demands, and expectations of the state through peaceful methods; violence works outside these prescribed and institutionalized channels in public spaces, in the streets, in the forests and in inhospitable terrains. But can committed democrats afford to ignore the fact that violence has become a routine way of doing politics in countries such as India? By exploring the concept of political violence from the perspective of critical political theory, Neera Chandhoke investigates its nature, justification and contradictions. She uses the case study of Maoist revolutionaries in India to globalize and relocate the debate alongside questions of social injustice, exploitation, oppression and imperfect democracies. As such, this is an important and much-needed contribution to the dialogue surrounding revolutionary violence.
This is the first book to appear on British intelligence operations based in both India and London, which defended the Indian Empire against subversion during the first two decades of the twentieth century. It is concerned with the threat to the British Raj posed by the Indian revolutionary movement, the resulting development of the imperial intelligence service and the role it played during the First World War.
The term ‘revolutionary’ is used liberally in histories of Indian anticolonialism, but scarcely defined. Implicitly understood, it functions as a signpost or a badge, generously conferred in hagiographies, loosely invoked in historiography, and strategically deployed in contemporary political contests. It is timely, then, to ask the question: Who counts as a ‘revolutionary’ in South Asia? How can we read ‘the revolutionary’ in Indian political formations? And what does it really mean to be ‘revolutionary’ in turbulent late colonial times? This volume takes a biographical approach to the question, by examining the life stories of a series of activists, some well known, who all defined themselves in explicitly revolutionary terms in the early twentieth century: Shyamaji Krishnavarma, V. D. Savarkar, M. K. Gandhi, Bhagat Singh, Jawaharlal Nehru, J.P. Narayan and Hansraj Vohra. The authors interrogate the subversive lives of these figures, tracing their polyglot influences and transnational impacts, to map out the discursive travels of ‘the revolutionary’ in Indian historical and literary worlds from the early 1900s, and to indicate its reverberations in the politics of the present. This book was published as a special issue of Postcolonial Studies.