'The epic text of Ranjit Desai's Shriman Yogi finds new voice in Vikrant Pande's nuanced translation, an immersive narrative of the foundations of the Maratha empire and the saga of its charismatic founder.' - Namita Gokhale. Young Shivaji reaches Pune, a dying fort city, with his mother Jijabai and lights the first lamp within its ruins. While his father Shahaji Bhosle is away on deputation by the Adil Shah sultanate after having failed in a revolt against it, Shivaji learns how an empire is built from the ground up. Thus begins the life of the Great Maratha. What awaits Shivaji is nothing short of the vast scroll of history, and it takes him from Surat to Thanjavur and all the way to Aurangzeb's durbar in Agra. He dreams of freeing his land from the clutches of Mughal rule, and though he suffers many defeats and personal losses along the way he never gives up his vision of Hindavi Swaraj. Amidst political intrigue and a chain of skirmishes, Shivaji becomes a leader, a warrior and a tactician par excellence, driven by immense pride and love for his motherland.
Shivaji is a well-known hero in western India. He defied Mughal power in the seventeenth century, established an independent kingdom, and had himself crowned in an orthodox Hindu ceremony. The legends of his life have become an epic story that everyone in western India knows, and an important part of the Hindu nationalists' ideology. To read Shivaji's legend today is to find expression of deeply held convictions about what Hinduism means and how it is opposed to Islam. James Laine traces the origin and development if the Shivaji legend from the earliest sources to the contemporary accounts of the tale. His primary concern is to discover the meaning of Shivaji's life for those who have composed-and those who have read-the legendary accounts of his military victories, his daring escapes, his relationships with saints. In the process, he paints a new and more complex picture of Hindu-Muslim relations from the seventeenth century to the present. He argues that this relationship involved a variety of compromises and strategies, from conflict to accommodation to nuanced collaboration. Neither Muslims nor Hindus formed clearly defined communities, says Laine, and they did not relate to each other as opposed monolithic groups. Different sub-groups, representing a range of religious persuasions, found it in their advantage to accentuate or diminish the importance of Hindu and Muslim identity and the ideologies that supported the construction of such identities. By studying the evolution of the Shivaji legend, Laine demonstrates, we can trace the development of such constructions in both pre-British and post-colonial periods.
Hitler's autobiography, Mein Kampf, is a perennial bestseller in India, with even street-side bookstalls prominently displaying stacks of it. The name 'Hitler' -- anathema almost everywhere else in the world -- is tossed about casually in the Indian subcontinent, not infrequently invoked in praise. Many Indians still harbour the notion that the Fuhrer was a friend of the Indian people and had extended wholehearted support to their freedom struggle. To journalist Vaibhav Purandare, this clearly suggested that Indians continued to be largely unaware of the German dictator's views on India, in spite of the fact that they are unambiguously expressed in his own writings. This lacuna spurred him on to delve into the archives -- in Germany, India and elsewhere. The result of Purandare's research is this comprehensive and painstaking portrait and analysis of Hitler's outlook on India and its people, his opinion of their struggle against the British Raj, and his take on Indian history, culture and civilisation. Also within these pages are surprising details of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's entanglement with the Reich, the experience of other Indians living in Nazi Germany, the mission that Hitler sent to the Himalayas in search of 'pure-blood Aryans', and a number of other little-known historical nuggets. Accessible and rich in detail, Hitler and India is the very first examination of what India meant to a figure who, perplexingly, remains quite alive in the country.
INDEX CHAPTER 1 : The Great Mutiny of 1857 CHAPTER 2 : Indigenous Revolts and Tribal Insurrections CHAPTER 3 : Peasant Revolts and Uprisings Post-1857 CHAPTER 4 : The Formation of the Congress: Debunking the Myths CHAPTER 5 : The True Story Behind the Formation of the Indian National Congress CHAPTER 6 : Socio-Religious Reforms: Catalysts of the National Awakening CHAPTER 7 : An Economic Analysis of Colonial Exploitation CHAPTER 8 : Advocating for Press Freedom: A Historical Perspective CHAPTER 9 : The Use of Propaganda within Legislative Bodies CHAPTER 10 : The Swadeshi Movement: Unveiling the Spirit of Nationalism (1903-1908) CHAPTER 11 : Congressional Fissure and the Emergence of Revolutionary Violence CHAPTER 12 : World War I and the Ghadar Movement: Catalysts for Indian Nationalism CHAPTER 13 : The Home Rule Movement and Its Aftermath CHAPTER 14 : Gandhiji's Formative Years and Activism Beginnings CHAPTER 15 : Gandhi's Formative Years and Early Activism CHAPTER 16 : Rural Uprisings and Nationalism in the 1920s CHAPTER 17 : Indian Labor Movement and the Nationalist Struggle CHAPTER 18 : Activism for Gurdwara Reform and Temple Access CHAPTER 19 : Era of Stagnation: Swarajists, Status Quo Advocates, and Gandhi's Influence CHAPTER 20 : Bhagat Singh, Surya Sen, and Revolutionary Activism CHAPTER 21 : Rising Tensions: 1927-29 CHAPTER 22 : Civil Disobedience Movement CHAPTER 23 : Journey from Karachi to Wardha: 1932-34 CHAPTER 24 : The Emergence of Left-Wing Movements CHAPTER 25 : Strategic Discussions: 1935-37 CHAPTER 26 : Twenty-Eight Months of Congress Governance CHAPTER 27 : Rural Uprisings During the 1930s and 1940s CHAPTER 28 : The Independence Movement in Princely States CHAPTER 29 : Indian Industrialists and the Nationalist Movement CHAPTER 30 : Evolution of Nationalist Foreign Policy CHAPTER 31 : The Emergence and Expansion of Communalism CHAPTER 32 : Communalism in its Liberal Phase CHAPTER 33 : Jinnah, Golwalkar, and Radical Communalism CHAPTER 34 : From the Tripuri Crisis to the Cripps Mission CHAPTER 35 : From the Quit India Movement to the INA CHAPTER 36 : Post-War National Awakening: India's Path to Independence CHAPTER 37 : Freedom and Partition: The Birth of India and Pakistan CHAPTER 38 : Strategic Evolution of the Indian National Movement CHAPTER 39 : The Ideological Landscape of the Indian National Movement
The nineteenth century saw the beginning of a violent and controversial movement of protest amongst western India's low and untouchable castes, aimed at the effects of their lowly position within the Hindu caste hierarchy. This study concentrates on the first leader of this movement, Mahatma Jotirao Phule.
Much of the recent surge in writing about the practice of nonviolent forms of resistance has focused on movements that occurred after the end of the Second World War, many of which have been extremely successful. Although the fact that such a method of resistance was developed in its modern form by Indians is acknowledged in this writing, there has not until now been an authoritative history of the role of Indians in the evolution of the phenomenon. Celebrated historian David Hardiman shows that while nonviolence is associated above all with the towering figure of Mahatma Gandhi, 'passive resistance' was already being practiced by nationalists in British-ruled India, though there was no principled commitment to nonviolence as such. It was Gandhi, first in South Africa and then in India, who evolved a technique that he called 'satyagraha'. His endeavors saw 'nonviolence' forged as both a new word in the English language, and a new political concept. This book conveys in vivid detail exactly what nonviolence entailed, and the formidable difficulties that the pioneers of such resistance encountered in the years 1905-19.
This Is To Keep The Younger Generation Fully Informed About The Aspirations Of The Freedom Fighters Whose Ceaseless Struggle Brought The Final Glory Of Independence. The Book Provides An Outline On The Most Crucial Period Of Indian History By Incorporating The Fruits Of Recent Researches Both Indian And Foreign On This Subject. In The Revised Edition Special Attention Has Been Focussed On The Contributions Of South India And North-Eastern India To The Struggle For Freedom. Bose-Gandhi Controversy Assumes A New Dimension In The Light Of Recent Unpublished Thesis. The Additional Features Of The Book Are That It Provides Biographical Data Of Prominent Personalities, Chronological List Of Congress Sessions With Dates, Venues And Presidents And Chronological List Of Important Events.The Book Will Not Only Serve The Requirements Of Students Ranging From Secondary To Undergraduate Level But Also The Candidates Appearing In The Civil Services Examination (Both Preliminary And Final) And Other Examinations Of Central And State Civil Services.