(PDF) THE GREAT INDIA

0 THE GREAT INDIA Compiled & Edited: Dhirawit Pinyonatthagarn 1 PREFACE I have long been interested in India since my childhood. The main reason is I am a Buddhist and I need to know about the birthplace of Lord Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. India is a vast and varied country in the world, with a long history, cultures, and traditions of more than 5,000 years. It is the second biggest country in the world in terms of population, with about 12,000 millions now. It has been proudly regarded as one of the cradles of world cililizations and also the motherland of several great leaders, such as Lord Buddha, Mahavira, Guru Nanak, King Ashoka, Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Jawaharlal Nehru. As a matter of facts, I was attracted more to India when I served as a Buddhist monk and studied in India for about 10 years. I wanted to know almost anything about India: people, philosophy, religions, cultures, education, and such likes. I read a lot in the library and have my own collection of books and other forms of knowledge about India. I enjoy leaning and knowing about India. My thirst for knowledge of India has never dried up, I wanted to know more and more about India, to the point that I decided to write this book of my own to record what I have learned and studied about India. I owe my deepest debt of gratitudes to all those who educated me through their writings and personal communications, to all my teachers and friends in India, especially at the University of Delhi where I studied for my Master and Doctoral degrees, from 1979 – 1989, whose friendship and good will have continued until today. I, therefore, dedicate this book to all of them with my profound love and appreciation of India. Jai Hind! Dhirawit Pinyonatthagarn, Ph.D. Suranaree University of Technology THAILAND

www.ebooks.in.th/DiamondBooks 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: ANCIENT INDIA 3 - 20 CHAPTER 2: MEDEIVAL INDIA 21 - 41 CHAPTER 3: MODERN INDIA 42 - 58 CHAPTER 4: ENTERING A NEW CENTURY 59 - 83 CHAPTER 5: GREAT INDIANS 84 - 182 REFERENCES APPENDICES ABOUT THE AUTHOR 3 CHAPTER ONE ANCIENT INDIA Foundations of Indian Civilisation Not much is known of the pre – historic man in India. Available evidence, however, suggests that at a fairy early period the use of iron, copper and other metals was widely prevalent in this subcontinent which is indicative of the progress that this part of the world had made from the Paleolithic age to the comparatively developed form of the culture. By the end of the fourth millennium BC, India had emerged as a region of highly developed civilization. The Indus Valley Civilisation The Indus Valley Civilisation flourished for quite a long span of history. While the Western historians are of the firm opinion that this civilization occupied the period between 3000 BC and 1500 BC, some of the Indian experts of ancient history believe that the beginning of this civilisation dates back to 3250 BC. The area, extent and duration of this civilisation are still matters of controversy. Originally it was thought that civilisation was confined only to the Indus Valley, but the recent discoveries have established beyond doubt that it extended well into Rajasthan and to the south of it into Gujarat. Nothing was known of the Indus Valley civilisation till 1922 – 23 when the Archaeological Department of India carried out excavations in the Indus Valley wherein the ruins of two old cities, viz., Mahenjo – Daro and Harappa were unearthed. Mahenjo – Daro, which in the local Sindhi language means “The Mound of the Dead”, is a place in Larkana district of Sind province in Pakistan while Harappa is in a Montgomery district of Punjab, also in Pakistan. The ruins of the building and other things like household articles, implements, weapons of war, gold and silver ornaments, seals, toys, pottery, idols, etc., show that some four to five thousand years ago a highly developed civilisation flourished in this region. The Indus Valley civilisation was basically an urban civilisation and the people lived in well planned and well built towns which were also centers of trade. The ruins of the Mahenjo – 4 Daro and Harappa show that these were magnificent merchant cities well planned, scientifically laid and well looked after. They had wide roads and well developed drainage system. Residential houses were built on both sides of the roads. The houses were made of baked bricks and had two or more storeys. The highly civilized Harappans knew the art of growing cereals, and wheat and barley constituted their staple food. They also consumed vegetables and fruits and ate mutton, pork and eggs as well. Evidence also shows that they wore cotton as well as woolen garments. Both men and women wore beautiful ornaments made of gold, silver, ivory, copper and precious stones. They enjoyed singing, dancing and painting. The people of Indus Valley seem to have been prosperous and peace living. Agriculture was their main occupation. They had also domesticated the humped bull, the camel and the elephant. Cattle rearing was among the important activities of Harappans. The harbour that has been excavated at Lothal in Gujarat proves that they were a sea – faring people who had established trade relations with other countries. The Indus Valley people are believed to be the worshippers of Mother Goddess and Lord Shiva. Worship of trees, animals and stones also seem to have been quite common among them. It is unfortunate that we possess no evidence of their written history, but it has been now firmly established that the Indus Valley civilisation was not confined to the small area of the valley between the Indus and the Ravi rivers, but had extended to Sind and Baluchistan in the north – west, the pre – partition Punjab and to parts of Rajastan and Gujarat. By 1500 BC Harappan culture came to an end. Among the various causes ascribed to the decay of Indus Valley civilisation are the invasion of Aryans, the recurrent floods and other natural causes like earthquakes, etc. However, there is no unanimity among the historians on this question. Vedic Civilisation The next important landmark in the history ancient India is the advent of Vedic Civilisation associated with the coming of 5 Aryans. From where and when did the Arayans came to India is still among the dilemmas of history. However, the great Vedas left by them to the posterity throw some light on their political, social and religious institutions and beliefs. The largely accepted view is that the Aryans were nomadic pastoral people who originally inhabited the Caspian Sea region of Central Asia. Some time in the middle of the third millennium BC they started on a great migration towards Europe and Asia. A section of this migratory population reached the frontiers of the Indian sub – continent around 2000 BC and entered the country in search of pastures. Initially they met with strong opposition from the well organized urban communities inhabiting India at that time. However, the newcomers were able to break the resistance and settle down in Punjab. It is here in Punjab that the hymns of Rigveda were composed. From Punjab they moved eastwards and spread all over the Gangetic Valley. The geographical boundaries of the early Aryan settlements are determined by mention of certain rivers in Rigveda. It seems that the area of this civilisation extended from Afghanistan to the base of the Gangetic Valley which is referred to as “Sapta Sindhu” or the land of seven rivers. The Aryans lived in tribes and spoke Sanskrit which belongs to the Indo – European group of languages. They worshipped nature – Varuna, the god of wind and sky; Indra, the god of rain and thunder; Surya, the sun god. Besides these, there were other deities also. The patriarchal family was the basic unit of social organization of early Aryans or the Rigvedic people. The head of the family exercised full control and authority over other family members who all lived under one roof. Houses were made of wood or reed and were spacious. Women enjoyed a place of pre – eminence and respect in the household as well as in the social and religious functions. There was no rigid caste system but the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas enjoyed a privileged position. The food of the people consisted of vegetarian as well as non – vegetarian items. Milk, curd, vegetables and fruits were commonly consumed and animal food such as sheep, goat, birds and fish were eaten by the people and also offered a sacrifice to gods. 6 Drinking of “Soma” and “Sura” on festive occasions was also common. Aryans lived in group or tribes, and with the passage of time each tribe established itself over definite area which gave rise to small kingdoms. The head of the kingdom was called “Rajan” and he was often elected by the tribe. The king, although a supreme master of his kingdom, was by no means an autocrat. He governed in constitution with the will of the people as expressed through the “Sabha” (The council of elders) and the “Samiti” (The assembly of the people) The economy of the Rigvedic society was largely rural. Agriculture was the main occupation of the people. Cattle breeding was another major source of livihood and the esteem of a family depended upon the number of cattle head it possessed. Live was simple and the requirements of the people were few. Gradually the Aryans allied themselves with the local people and a historic synthesis was worked out between the Aryans tribes and the original inhabitants. They look from the local people many of their religious beliefs, their urban culture and their customs, and in turn gave them their own language, viz., Sanskrit, their spirit of adventure and their great literary tradition. This new synthesis of culture which evolved out of the indigenous people broadly came to be known as Hinduism. The later Vedic period which extends up too 600 BC saw the expansion of Aryan power into the interior of Northern India and helped to consolidate tribes into bigger states through meger and extinction. The Ramayana and Mahabharata, two great epics of this period, gave an idea of the times and culture of the later Vedic period was an absolute ruler. The society, however, did not change much in its mode of living and dress. But the caste system had taken roots and the divisions became more prominent. Brahmins enjoyed utmost respect, through their superiority was challenged by the Kshatriyas. The rituals and sacrifices became more elaborate. The position of women had deteriorated. The powers of kings increased and kingship became hereditary. Larger states, both kingdoms and republics were developed. The rural character 7 of the Aryan settlement had been transformed with growth of a number of townships and forts. The Buddhist Era Seventh century BC marks a decisive stage in the history of India as it is hereafter that a chronological order of major historic events can be established on the basis of the Buddhist and the Jain scriptures. Although these works are primarily devoted to their religious ideas and philosophies, they do contain some mention of political organization and conditions of those times. It has now been established on the basis of these religious texts and during the Buddhist era there was no paramount power in Northern India as the country was divided into a number of States. We learn that sixteen great powers (Mahajanapadas) existed in the 7th and early 6th centuries BC. Some of these states were republics while the others were monarchical. Among the more important republics were the Sakyas of Kapilvastu and the Lichchavis of Vaishali. Buddhist works give more details of the Sakyas as Buddha himself came from this stock. At the helm of affairs of the Sakya republic was the President who bore the title of Raja and thus Buddha’s father Suddhodana was a Raja. The business of the republic was conducted in an open assembly where the rich and the poor and the young as well as the old were present alike. The procedure adopted in these assemblies was highly democratic. Besides the republics, there were monarchical states, among which the important ones were Kausambi (Vatsa), Magadha, Kosala and Avanti. These states were ruled by vigorous personalities who had embarked upon the policies of aggrandizement and absorption of neighbouring states. It had led to conflicts among the various state powers. Bimbisara, the mighty king of Magadha, expanded his kingdom through his military power, as also by his military power, as also by his skillful policies and matrimonial alliances with the neighbouring states. Ajatasatru, who succeeded to the throne of Magadha on the death of his father Bimbisara in 491 BC welded the neighbouring kingdoms into one mighty Empire. It also becomes evident from the Buddhist works that while both the republics and the 8 monarchical states existed in India during the life of Lord Buddha, there were distinct signs of decay in the republican states while those under the monarchs were flourishing and expanding. Alexander’s Invasion The absence of any paramount central power in the country was bound to make the land a hapless prey to foreign aggression. So the Persian and the Greek invaders did not encounter any effective resistance from the local populace of the border provinces. The hordes of the Persian King, Cyrus (558 – 530 BC) are believed to have captured the land of Gandharas, near modern Peshawar in Pakistan. Darius (522 – 486 BC) later also annexed a part of Rajputana to the Persian dominion and his Indian territory contributed huge revenue, perhaps greater than what was derived from the rest of all his dominions to the Persian exchequer. In 326 BC Alexander invaded India. He crossed the river Indus and advanced towards Taxila. Ambhi, the King of Taxila welcomed him and his men. Then he challenged King Porus, ruler of the Kingdom between rivers Jhelum and Chenab, and asked for his submission. Porus, however, did not oblige. Alexander defeated Porus in the bloody battle of Karri in the bank of Jhelum. This battle is too well – known to every Indian, more particularly the dialogue between the two gallant warriors after the defeat of Porus. Tradition goes that Porus with numerous wounds on his body was led a captive before Alexander. The Greek conqueror asked his Indian foe what treatment should be meted out to him and there came the pound reply from Porus “As a King treats a King.” After the victory over Porus, Alexander advanced forward and defeated Kathaiois of Sangla and several other tribes surrendered to him. He then wanted to conquer the Gangetic Valley which was under the rule of the Nanda dynasty. The Nandas had a powerful army. Alexander’s soldiers, who were tired and homesick after many years of wanderings, did not have the courage to face the mighty Nandas and thus refused to march forward. Consequently, Alexander had to order retreat and on his way back died at Babylon in 323 BC. 9 Religious Movements The sixth century BC was an age of extraordinary spiritual and mental unrest which inspired many spiritualists and philosophers to find out solutions to the abstruse problems of God and soul, birth and death, and the methods of self-purification to escape from the endless worldly miseries. The religious beliefs of the Harappans and the Aryans led to a variety of beliefs and rituals which laid down the foundations of Hinduism. The growing complexity and the rigors of Vedic practices led to the emergence of Jainism and Buddhism as powerful major religions, while some other schools of philosophy either died out or outlived their utility over time. Jainism : The Jains believe their religion to have originated in remote ages of antiquity as Lord Mahavira, their twenty – fourth and last prophet is said to have been preceded by twenty – three other prophets (Tirthankaras). The twenty – third Tirthankar, Parsvanatha was a historical personage while those preceding him seem to be mythological figures. Parsvanatha, the son of the king of Benares, abandoned his royal disposition in favour of a spiritual life. His main injunctions were: non – injury, non – lying, non – stealing and non – possession. Varhamana Mahavira, the twenty – fourth Tirthankara, who followed Parsvanatha some two hundred and fifty years later, put the Jain religion on a firm footing. Vardhamana, as Mahavira wa known in his early life, was born at Kundagrama, near Vaisali in a royal family. His father Siddhartha was the head of the Kshatriya Jnatrika sect and his mother Trisala was the sister of the Lichchavi chieftrain, Cetaka. At the age of thirty years, he left home and practiced severe meditation in utmost self – torture for twelve years. At last he attained omniscience and was hailed as the “Jina” or the conqueror. It is from the word Jina that his followers are known as Jains. To the four injunctions of Parsvanatha, he added the fifth one, viz., strict chasity, and spread his massage far and wide. The Jains believe that every object possesses a soul and consciousness and, therefore, observe non – injury or Ahimsa to anything. They repudiate the authority and infallibility of the Vedas and reject the concept of a Supreme Power as creator and 10 sustainer of the universe. God to them is only the highest, noblest and fullest manifestation of the powers which lie latent in the soul of man. The basic teachings of Jainism are the three jewels (Triratna), viz., the right faith, right knowledge and right conduct. Jainism lays great emphasis on penances such as fasting even to the point of death, with a view to strengthening the soul and free it from the worldly matter. Buddhism: Like Jainism, the founder of Buddishm, Guatam, also came from a royal kshatriya family. Guatama was born at Lumbini near Kapilvastu. His father, Suddhodana, was the Raja of the Sakyas. From the very childhood, Guatama had spiritual disposition. Though he was married at the early age, he did not show much interest either in household and the luxuries surrounding him. One night he quietly left his palace, leaving behind his wife and the new – born son, Rahul, to seek spiritual solace by practicing severest austering and rigorous self – torture. At last, the light dawned on him while he was meditating under a tree, and he became Buddha, the perfectly Enlightened one. He decided to promulgate his massage to the world, made many disciples, won the hearts of people by his noble teachings, kindness, moral grandeur and deep sympathy. People from all walks of life, flocked to his congregations in large numbers and soon his “Samgha” (the order of the monks) became a vast organization. Buddha’s teachings were simple and easily understood as he did not delve into the obtruse problems of God or the soul. He proclaimed that there were Four Noble Truths, viz., sorrow, course of sorrow, cessation and the path leading to the cessation of sorrow. The root cause of all human misery, according to Buddha is desire and, therefore, annihilation of desire is the surest means of ending unhappiness. The suppression of desire or thirst is possible by following the Noble Eightfold Path, viz., (i) right belief, (ii) right thought, (iii) right speech, (iv) right action, (v) right means of livelihood, (vi) right endeavour, (vii) right recollections, and (viii) right meditation. Since this Noble Eightfold Path avoids both the extremes of gross luxury and grim austerify, the Buddha also laid down ten commandments for attainment of purity in thought, word and deed. These commandments are: (1) no to covet others’ property, (2) not to kill, (3) not to use intoxicants, (4) not to tell 11 lies, (5) not to commit adultery, (6) not to take part in singing and dancing, (7) not to use unguents, flowers and perfumes, (8) not to eat at odd hours, (9) not to sleep on comfortable beds, and (10) not to accept or keep money. Buddha’s practical code of conduct, devoid of any philosophical speculations, became widely popular and won many adherents to his religion. During the reign of Ashoka, Buddhism became the state religion and it spread not only within his Empire but also to the neighbouring countries. Kanishka was a follower and a great patron of Buddhism. Even before the reign of Kanishka, Buddhism had got split into two sects, viz., Hinayana and Mahayana. The Hinayana followed the traditional Buddhism, regarded Buddha as a great Master, opposed idol worship, followed the Eightfold Path and used Pali language for their teachings and writings. The Mahayanas, on the other hand, raised Buddha to the position of the Saviour God, worshipped his idols, used Sanskrit for the propagation of their faith and adopted Hindu ideas of Bhakit. Mahayana Buddhism is found in China, Japan, Tibet and Mongolia while Hinayana Buddhaism is found in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand and some other countries of South East Asia. Hinduism: Unlike other contemporary religions, the origin of Hinduism cannot be traced to the preaching of any particular Prophet, Saint, Guru or Avtar. It is in fact a philosophy developed over ages, an amalgam of a variety of religious beliefs practiced by the pre – Aryans and the later Aryans inhabitants of India. The edifice of Hinduism is, thus, built largely upon the religious books of the Aryans, viz., the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The Vedice literature is divided into two parts, viz., Shruti and Smriti. Shruti comprises those books whose contents were revealed to the old rishis by God at the beginning of creation. They are the Eternal Truths whose contents cannot be changed. Vedas and the Upanishadas belong to this category. The Smriti comprises those books whose contents were thought out by the rishis, remembered by the people, passed on from generation to generation and ultimately reduced to writing. They contain the codes of conduct, rules and regulations, which of course, can be modified according to the changed times. Menu Smriti is one of the more famous books in this category. 12 The Vedas, which are the most holy books of Hindus, are believed to have been revealed by God at the beginning of the creation. However, the European scholars believe that the Vedas were composed around 1500 BC. The Vedas are four in number, the Ring Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sama Veda, and the Atharva Ved; of these, the Ring Veda is the oldest. The Ring Veda contains richas or hymns in praise of gods Indra, Varuna, Agni, etc. and contains 1,028 hymns, which are all beautiful and inspring. The Yajur Veda contains mantras the performing yajnas and sacrifices. The Sama Veda is the source of the Hindu music and contains hymns and songs taken from and based on Ring Vedas. The Atharva Veda contains charms and spells, rites and rituals, songs and incantations for the fulfillment of human desires. The Upanishadas are the scholarly works on Aryan philosophy devoted to the indepth knowledge and discussing and such obtruse subjects as God, soul, matter, birth, death, rebirth, karma, transmigration of soul, salvation. A source of solace, the Upanishadas are now read the world over by the Hindus as well as the non – Hindus, for the magnificence of the philosophy contained in them. The Puranas which means the older, are the religious books of Hindus which describe the origin of the world, the brave deeds of the Hindus and throw light on the life and history of the later Aryan period. Eighteen in number, the Puranas contain the legends, traditions, rituals and moral codes of the Hindu society. Among the more popular Puranas is the Bhagwat Purana. Ramayana and Mahabharata are the two great epics of the Hindus which have a great bearing on the Hindu way of life. The Ramayana, the older of the two epics, was composed by Maharishi Valmiki and describes the pious life and heroic deeds of Rama. The Mahabharata, composed by Maharishi Ved Vyas, depicts the life and times of the Kuaravas and the Pandavas, the Battle of Kurukshetra and the ultimate victory of the good evil, which also is theme of Ramayana. Bhagawad Gita, which forms a part of the Mahabharata, is among the holiest books of Hindu religion. It contains the essence 13 of Hindu philosophy, i.e., the theory of Karma and the immortality of soul. It enjoins upon them to do their duty earnestly, without fear and favour and with full trust in God. It seeks to make the man sublime, and it is for the magnificence of its philosophy that Gita has been translated into all the major world languages and read everywhere with respected and esteem. Teaching of Hinduism: Hinduism believe in the existence of one Supreme Universal Spirit – Ishwar, Paramatma or Param Brahma, and allows the Hindus to worship Him in any form. It believes in the theory of re – birth and the doctrine of Karma. Accordingly, it is believed that the soul never dies; it is the body that dies and is born again. The Karma or the actions of the previous life affect the present and the action of the present life would govern the life after re – birth. Hindu society has been largely based on caste system, which is, however, now on decay. Based on varied principles and philosophies, Hinduism has never been a static or a rigid religion. It has always adapted itself with the changing times. Many Hindu sects have emerged and developed their own ways of worship, but the basic tenets of Hinduism have remained largely intact. Though Hinduism, in its Vedic form has been one of the most ancient religions in India, it did suffer some setbacks with the emergence of Jainism and Buddhism in the sixth century BC. The complicated and highly abstract philosophy of Vedanta (Upanishadas), the complex and time consuming rituals and practices and the availability of the entire religious literature in Sanskrit made the priests highly privileged sections of the society while the common man could not understand anything about his religion. Thus, the simple and practical doctrines in peoples’ own language, held out greater attraction and accounted for their greater popularity, which contributed to the decline of the Brahmin – dominated Hinduism. However, during the time of “Guptas”, the religious beliefs and practices had much changed from those of the Vedic era and Brahminism came into ascendancy. The idea of trinity of gods, viz., Brahma, the creator, Vishnu, the preserver and Shiva, the destroyer, had been developed and attracted many people back to Hinduism. 14 Further, it won over the masses by giving common beliefs, practices and superstitions, a stamp of recognition. Hinduism further strengthened its position by admitting the foreign invaders into appropriate castes of its society. By including Buddha among its ten Avtaras and absorbing some of his teachings. Hinduism also brought many Buddhist followers to its fold. Freedom of worship in any manner any any form and of any deity by its sects and sub sects made Hinduism henotheistic, liberal and tolerant religion and accounted for its wide sway and unbroken continuity ever since then. The Maurya Emoire (322 BC – 185 BC) The confusion following the death of Alexander gave Chandragupta Maurya, an ambitious valiant young prince, a God sent opportunity to liberate the country from the yoke of Greeks and thus occupy the provinces of Punjab and Sindh. He later overthrew the power of Nandas at Magadha with the aid of Kautilya and found a glorious Maurya Empire in 322BC. Chandragupta, thus, earned a little of the Liberator and the first Emperor of the Bharata. Chandragupta’s Empire extended from Bengal to Hindu Kush and from Himalayas to Marmada. It covered the whole of north India and part of Afghanistan. It is believed that some parts of south India up to Karnataka also formed his Empire. With its capital at Pataliputra, India, under Chandragupta, was, for the first time, unified into one strong central power. Much is not known for certainty about the early life of this great king but the accounts of Megasthenes given in the exacts of his famous book Indica, Kautiya’s Arthashastra and Vishakhadatta’s Mudra Rakshas give a vivid description about the system of Mauryan administration founded by Chandragupta. The king was the head of the polity and was aided by an elaborate bureaucracy with numerous departments and a hierarchy of officials. He looked earnestly to the welfare of his subjects. Kautilya lays down, “The happiness of his subjects is the happiness of the King, the good of the subjects his good. What pleases him is not good for the King but what pleases his subjects is.” 15 After a region of 24 years Chandragupta either died or abdicated and his son Bindusara ascended to the throne of the mighty Empire built by his father in 298 BC. History of his region is still shrouded in mystery, but it is believed that he undertook no aggressive wars against his neighbours, maintained his friendly contacts with Hellenic world and retained in fact the extensive Empire built and bequeathed to him by his father. Bindusara was succeeded by his son Ashoka in 273 BC who emerged not only as the most famous king of Maurya dynasty, but is also regarded as the greatest king of India and the world. His Empire covered the whole territory from Hindu Kush to Nengal and extended over Afghanistan, Baluchistan and the whole of India with the exception of a small area in the farthest south. The valleys of Nepal and Kashmir were also included in his Empire. It was the biggest Indian Empire and Ashoka was the first Indian King to rule over almost the whole of India. The most important event of Ashoka’s reign was his war with Kalinga (modern Orissa) which proved to be a turning point in his life. The Kalingas were a brave self – respecting people and did not surrender themselves to the Maurya emperor and, therefore, when Ashoka invaded Kalinga in 261 BC the latter offered stiff resistance. Ashoka conquered Kalinga after a bloody war in which, as recorded in Rock Edict XIII, “one hundred and fifty thousand people were slain and much many times that number died of disease, privation and pestilence.” The sight of this massive bloodshed and slaughter so deeply affected Ashoka that he vowed not to wage a war any more. He accepted Buddhism and used his vest resources for the spread of this religion both at home and aboard. It was through his efforts that Buddhism became a worldwide religion. He evolved a paternalistic concept of kingship and declared: “All men are my children, and just as I desire for my children, that they may enjoy every kind of prosperity and happiness, in both his world and the next, so also I desire the same for all men.” He thus founded the first welfare state of the world and took effective measures for both the moral and material welfare of his subjects. He built roads and planted tree over them, made hospitals for both men and animals, engraved principles of good conduct and religion on the rocks and pillars and religion on the rocks and pillars and exhorted his people to lead a simple and 16 pure life. Ashoka died in 232 BC after having ruled the country for 40 years, a period which is called the golden years without any parallel in world history. The period following Ashoka’s demise was one of dismemberment of the mighty Mauryan Empire through revolts and external invasions. In 185 BC, Pushyamitra, the Brahman Commander – in – Chief of the last Maurya King Brihadratha, killed his master and himself ascended the throne. He founded the Sunga dynasty which ruled for a period of more than hundred years (185 – 73 BC). The Sungas, in their turn, were overthrown by Vasudeva, who founded the Kanva dynasty. The Satvahanas ruled in the south with glory for quite a long time. In the extreme south, there flourished the kingdoms of Cholas, Pandyas and Cheras. In the east the kingdom of Kalinga, which had been conquered by Ashoka after a fiece battle resulting in immense bloodshed and misery, had regained its independence. A number of foreign immigrant tribes also invaded, the prominent ones being the Greeks, the Parthians, the Sakas and the Kushans. In the beginning of the 1st centuary AD the Kushans established their authority over the north – west frontier of India. The most famous among the Kushan kings was Kanishka (125 AD – 162 AD), who was tired in Kushan dynasty. His Empire extended from Central Asia up to Vindhyas and from Vasi to Afghanistan. Kanishka was the first Indian ruler who had territory outside India with its capital at Purushapura, i.e., modern Peshawar. Kanishka belonged to the Buddhist faith and championed the religion. He built up several public buildings and monasteries. In the Buddhist history, his money is cherished with admiration only next to Ashoka. The Kushan rule continued till the middle of third century AD. The most notable achievement of their rule was the development of Gandhara School of Art and further spread of Buddhism into distant regions of Asia. Gupta Dynasty (320 AD – 540 AD) The next important landmark in the history of India is the rise of Guptas. The great Hindu dynasty that ruled India up to the middle of the 6th century AD, Gupta dynasty was founded by Chandragupta I (320 AD – 335 AD). At the time of his coronation 17 in 320 AD, he styled himself as “Maharajadhiraja”. He married a princess named Kumardevi of the ruling family of Vaisali. This probably helped him a good deal to extend his authority to vast dominions over large tracts of modern Ultar Pradesh and Bihar. Chandragupta’s successor, Samudragupta ruled India between 335 AD and 375 AD. He was a great military genius. In a whirlwind campaign over the whole of northern India and the Deccan, he subdued a large number of kings. His Empire extended from Hooghly in the east to Yamuna and Chambal in the west and from Himalayas in the north to Marmada in the south of India. Mighty kings of Deccan also acknowledged his over lordship. Samudragupta was not only a mighty conqueror but an able administrator and great patron of art and music. The next important king, Chandragupta II (380 AD – 413 AD), also known as Vikramaditya was a distinguished son of a distinguished father. He conquered the extensive territories of Malwa, Gujarat and Kathiawar and transferred his capital to Ujjain. It was most probably during his reign that Kalidas, the greatest Sanskrit poet and dramatist, as well as many other scientists and scholars flourished. The famous Iron Pillar, standing near Qutab Minar in Delhi, was erected during his reign. In fact his was the golden age of art and literature. Fa – hien, a Chinese traveller who visited India during his reign, speaks highly about prosperity and good administration of the country. Vikramaditya’s son, Kumar Gupta and grandson, Skanda Gupta maintained the noble traditions established by their ancestors and upheld the cause of Dharma. The Gupta period is known as the golden period of Indian history. The country was well administered and attained the pinnacle of glory in the domains of art, literature and science. The well – known universities of Nalanda, Taxila, Sarnath and Ujjain attracted students from foreign countries, particularly from China. Hinduism and Jainism flourished side by side under liberal policy of torelation adopted by Gupta kings. The decline of Gupta power in northern India between the close of fifth and the sixth century AD gave rise to various small independent kingdoms and attracted foreign invasions of Huns. 18 The Huns, under their leader, Toramana, penetrated into the interior of the Gupta kingdom and established their power over vast tracts of Punjab, Kashmir, Malwa, Rajputana and a part of Uttar Pradesh. His son, Mihiragul established his capital at Sakala (near Sialkot in Punjab). Mihiragul was a cruel barbarian and one of the worst tyrants known in the history. There was a revolt against his atrocities and he suffered a devastating defeat at the hands of Yasodharman of Malwa resulting in the collapse of Hun power in India. India in the seventh Century AD – Harshavardhana At the commencement of the 7th century, Harshavardhana (606 AD – 647 AD) ascended the throne of Thanesar and Kannauj on the murder of his brother, Rajya Vardhana. At the time of his accession, Harsha was barely 16 years old age. He embarked upon a career of conquest and aggrandizement. After incessant warfare of six years, Harsha was successful in establishing order over a large part of northern India, Malwa, Bengal and Assam. His advance towards Deccan was checked by a decisive defeat at the hands of Pulakesin, Chalukya king of the south and, thus, his Empire could not extend beyond Narmada. Harshavardhana was a mighty king, combining in himself the qualities of both Samudragupta and Ashoka. The Chinese traveller Tsang, who visited the country during his region, has given a vivid description of social, economic and religious conditions under the rule of Harsha and spoke highly of the king. Harsha, indeed, was the last Hindu emperor of northern India. He respected all religions and worshipped Buddha, once again left India without any central paramount power. The Chalukyas of Badami The Chalukyas were a great power in the southern India between the 6th and 8th century AD and again from the 10th to the 12th century AD. Pulakesin I, the first great ruler of the dynasty, ascended the throne in 543 AD and having made many splendid victories, established a mighty Empire. His son, Kirtivarman who succeeded him in 567 AD also made extensive conquests. But Pulakesin II, (608 – 642 AD) son and successor of Kirtivarman, is regarded as the greatest ruler of the Chalukya dynasty. Apart from 19 his many conquests over the Kadambas, of Vanavasi, the Gangas of Mysore, the Mauryas of Konkan, his most outstanding achievement was to defeat king Harshavardhana and thus preventing the extension of his Empire beyond Narmada. However, Pulakesin II was defeated and killed in the battle with Pallava king Narsimhavarman I who had attacked the Chalukya territory. Vikramaditya I, son of Pulakesin II, renewed his struggle against the Pallavas and inflicted crushing defeats on three Pallava kings in succession, Narsimhavarman, Mahendravarman II and Parmeshwaravarman. He also defeated the kings of Pandyas, Cheras and Cholas and thus restored the old glory of Chalukya dynasty. He died in 681 AD. His son Vinayaditya continued his struggle against Pallavas and the other contemporary powers and became a mighty ruler who established diplomatic relations with Persia and Ceylon. Vijayaditya, son and successor of Vinayaditya, was a peace loving king who did not embark upon many aggressions except for his expedition against Pallavas toward the close of his reign. Vijayaditya’s son, Vikramaditya II, who ruled from 733 AD to 747 AD, continued the struggle against Pallavas and captured their capital Kanchi. He, however, did not go in for any plunders, rather he gave handsome donations to temples and religious places. He defeated the contemporary powers of Cholas, Pandyas and Cheras abd threw back the Arabs who had invaded the northernnparts of the Chalukya Empire. His son ans successor, Kirtivarman II, was, however, a weak king who was onerthrown by his own feudatory chief Dantidurga, who founded a new dynasty called the Rashtrakutas. The Pallavas of Kanchi Not much is known about the early history of the Pallavas till the reign of Sinhavishnu who ruled in the last quarter of the sixth century AD and whose domain is said to exist between the rivers Krishna and Kaveri. His son and successor Mahendra – vermin was a versatile genius who unfortunately lost northern parts of his dominion to the Chalukya king, Pulakesin II. But his son, Narsimhavarman I, crushed the power of Chalukyas. The Pallava power reached its glorious heights during the reign of Narasimhavarman II, (695 – 722 AD) who is well known for his architectural achievements. He built many temples, and art, and 20 literature flourished in his times. Dandin, the great Sanskrit scholar, lived in his court. However, after his death, the Pallava Empire began to decline and in course of time they were reduced to a mental local tribal power. Ultimately, the Cholas defeated the Pallava king Aparajita and took over their kingdom towards the close of the ninth century AD. 21 CHAPTER TWO MEDIEVAL INDIA Between the eighth and tenth century AD a number of powerful Empires emerged in India. While the Palas dominated over the eastern and northern parts of India, the Pratihara Empire extended over the western and parts of northern India. In the south, the Rashtrakuta Empire which dominated the Deccan, had also under its control some territories of north India. Of these three, the Rashtrakuta Empire lasted the longest. The Palas The Pala Empire was founded by Gopala somewhere around 750 AD. The greatest king of Pala dynasty was Dharmpala, son of Gopala, who reigned from about 770 AD to 810 AD. Since the days of Harsha, Kanauj was considered as the symbol of sovereignty of north India and Dharmpala, after his initial defeats as the hands of Pratihara ruler Vasantraja and Rashtrakuta king Dhruva, succeeded in gaining control over Kanauj, which was again lost to the Pratigaras. Devapala, the son of Dharmpala, ascended the throne in 810 AD and extended his control over Assam and parts of Orissa. After Devapala’s death, the Pala Empire disintegrated till it once again revived in the tenth century and continued the early thirteenth century. The Palas, who ruled over a large Empire in eastern India and parts of the north, were great patrons of Buddhist religion, Dharmpala revived the world famous Nalanda University and also founded the Vikramashila University at Magadha. They built many viharas for Buddhist monks and had close cultural relations with Tibet. The Pratiharas Though the Pratiharas, also known as Gurjara – Pratiharas, had risen to prominence somewhat earlier than Palas, the real foundations of the Pratihara Empire was laid by Bhoja who gradually rebuilt the Empire and regained control over Kanauj by 836 AD. King Bhoja’s attemps to conquer Gujarat and Malwa led to his conflict with Rashtrakutas. Parts of Malwa, Gujarat and some territories on the eastern side of the river Sutlej are believed 22 to have formed the Bhoja Empire. After Devapala’s death, Bhoja also extended his Empire to the east. He died in 885 AD and was succeeded by his son Mahebdrapala who ruled till 908 – 09 AD and extended the Empire over Magadha and north Bengal. The Pratiharas were great patrons of art, learning and literature. They built many fine building and temples. The Pratiharas Empire gradually declined after Mahipala, the grandson of Bhoja, was defeated by the Rashtrakula king Indra III in 915 AD. The Pratihara Empire gradually declined after the death of Mahipala. Another Rashtrakula ruler, Krishna III invaded north India in about 936 AD and defeated the Pratihara ruler, and with this the Pratihara Empire came to end. After the decline of Pratiharas, many kingdoms sprang up which were ruled by the Rajput kings, the Chauhans, the Paramaras and the Chandellas. The Rashtrakutas The Rashtrakuta dynasty which ruled over Deccan at the time when Palas and the Pratiharas were ruling over the northern and western India, was founded by Dantidurga who overthrew the Chalukyas in the middle of the eighth century AD. It was a remarkable dynastry which produced a number of able administrators and brave warriors. Three of its rulers, Dhruva, Govinda III and Indra III, carried their victorious armies into the heart of north India and inflicted crushing defeats on the most powerful rulers of that region. They also fought constantly with the Chaluktas of Vengi in the east, the Pallavas of Kanchi and the Pandyas of Madurai in the south. Among the greatest Rashtrakuta kings was Krishna III (939 – 965 AD), who crushed the power of all his opponents in the south and is believed to have led glorious expedition to the northern India wherein he gained the occupation of Ujjain. The Rashtrakuta Empire began disintegrating following the death of this mighty king. The Rastrakuta kings were great patrons of art and literature. They were also tolerant in their religious views and patronized Saivism, Vaishnavism as well as Jainism. They also allowed the Muslim traders to settle down in their Empire and permitted them to preach Islam. 23 The Chola Empire of The South The Chola Empire, which emerged in the middle of the ninth century, covered a large part of Indian peninsula as well as parts of Sri Lanka and the Maldive Islands. It was founded by a Pallava feudatory, Vijayalata, who captured Tanjore in 850 AD. The greatest among the Chola rulers were Rajaraja (985 – 1014 AD) and his son Rajendra I (1012 – 1044 AD). Under Rajaraja the Chola kingdom grew into an extensive and well knit Empire. Rajaraja, in his career of aggression and conquest, defeated the Pandyas of Madurai, the Chera ruler of Kerala, and also invaded Sri Lanka and annexed its northern part of his Empire. On his noval exploits, he conquered the Maldive Islands. He also conquered the estern Chalukya kingdom of Vengi and the Kalinga. Rajaraja was succeeded by his son, Rajendra I, who carried forward the annexationist policy of his father. He led armed expeditions to distant lands of Bengal, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. The conquest of Sri Lanka was also completed. The most remarkable exploit of Rajendra I was his conquest of Kadaram and a number of other places in Malay peninsula. The successors of Rajendra I, Rajadhiraj (1018 – 1052 AD) and Rajendra II (1052 – 1063 AD) , were brave rulers who fought fiercely against the later Chalukya kings,but could not check the decline of Chola Empire. The later Chola kings were weak and incompetent rulers. The Chola Empire came to an end with the invasion of Malik Kafur in 1310 AD. Rise of Islam Islam, the Muslim religion, was founded by Prophet Muhammad at the beginning of the seventh century AD. Prophet Muhammad was born in Mecca in Arabia in 517 AD, at a time when the Arab was a land of superstitions and ignorance, full of undesirable customs and practices. A child of religious bent of mind, he often retired to a cave near Mecca for meditation. At the age of forty, he had to the “visions of truth” which completely convinced him that Allah was the only God and that he himself was the Prophet of God. He preached the message to the people, forbade the worship of idols and enjoined upon people to have full faith in God and His Prophet. He won some followers but many 24 people, chiefly the rich merchants, turned against him. Ultimately, he left Mecca in 622 AD and came over to Medina. This event is known as Hijrat (departure) and the Muslim calendar Hijri begins from this year. He died in 632 AD and was buried a Medina and by this time the entire Arabia had accepted Islam. Islam teaches faith in one all – powerful Allah, before whom the man is powerless. It speaks confidently of life after death and of the day of final judgement when all shall receive the reward for their early actions. According to the five fundamental tenets of Islam, a Muslim (i) must proclaim the unity of God and the Prophethood of Muhammad; (ii) he must offer prayers five times every day and on a Friday afternoon in a mosque; (iii) he must give aims to the poor as a religious act; (iv) he must keep fast from dawn to dusk throughout the period of Ramzan; and (v) he must endeavour to go to a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in his life time. Besides these five principles, Islam forbids idol worship, enjoins upon Muslims not to eat pork and not to lend money on interest. It emphasizes the life of virtue and benevolence. No rituals govern a Muslim’s worship. Quran, the holy book of Muslims, reports the words of God as received by His Prophet Muhammad through the angel Gabriel. A simple, humane and benevolent religion, Islam soon spread out from Arabia and attracted many adherents all over the world. Muslim Invasion Of India The rise of Islam and the Muslim invasions in India inexorably changed the course of Indian history. Muhanmad – bin – Qasim invaded India in 711 AD and captured Sind and Multan, but his career came to a sudden end as he was recalled and put to death. It was later after about three hundred years that Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni, the ferocious leader, carried out as many as seventeen raids on India during the years 1000 – 1026 AD. His most daring raids, however, were against Kanauj in 1018 and against Samnath in Gujarat in 1025. He was a staunch Muslim whose aim was not to conquer India but to propagate Islam and plunder India’s fabulous wealth. Every time he came, he plundered the temples and ruined the cities. Beyond this, he left no imprint on India’s history. 25 Muhammad Ghori invaded India in 1175 AD. After the conquest of Multan and Punjab, he advanced towards Delhi. The brave Rajput chiefs of northern India headed by Prithvi Raj Chauhan defeated him in the first Battle of Tarain in 1191 AD. After about a year, Muhammad Ghori came again to avenge his defeat. A furious battle was fought at Tarain in 1192 AD in which the Rajputs were defeated and Prithvi Raj Chauhan was captured and put to death. This Second Battle of Tarain was, thus, a decisive battle which laid the foundations of Muslim rule in northern India. However, before he could consolidate his conquests, Muhammad Ghori was stabbed to death in 1206 AD. The Delhi Sultanate The period between 1206 AD and 1526 AD in India’s history is known as the Delhi sultanate. During this period of over three hundred years, five dynasties (32 kings) ruled in Delhi. These were: the Slave dynasty (1206 – 1290); the Khilji dynasty (1290 – 1320); the Tughlaq dynasty (1320 – 1414); the Sayyad dynasty (1414 – 1450); and the Lodhi dynasty (1451 – 1526). THE Slave Dynasty The Slave dynasty was founded by Qutb – ud – din Aibak, a slave Mukammad Ghori. After defeating Prithvi Raj Chauhan in 1192, Muhammad Ghori returned to Ghazni leaving his Indian possessions in the hands of his trusted and able slave, Qutb – ud – din Aibak, who worked as his Viceroy from 1192 to 1206. He became the ruler after the death of his master. He was the first Muslim king of India who made marriage relations with powerful Muslim chiefs and consolidated his conquests. He was a great builder who built the majestic 238 feet high stone tower known as Qutb Minar in Delhi. He died in 1210 due to injuries received in fall from his horse. The next important king of the Slave dynasty was Shamas – ud –din Altamash (1211 – 1236) who himself was a slave of Qutb – ud – din Aibak. He is regarded as one of the greatest rulers of the Delhi sultanate who consolidated conquests made by his master and gave it the shape of a well – knit Empire. Altamash died in 1236. 26 Razia Begum (1236 – 1240), the capable daughter of Altamash, was the first and the only Muslim lady who ever adorned the throne of Delhi. A highly talented woman, she possessed all the virtues necessary in a monarch. However, her special weakness for Yakut, an Abyssian slave and her public appearances without a veil could not be tolerated by orthodox Muslim nobles who banded against her in revolt. Razia fought valiantly, but was defeated. She was murdered while asleep in a jungle. Nasir – ud – din Mahmud, son of Altamash, (according to some historians he was the grandson of Altamash) succeeded to the throne in 1246. A gentle, pious and noble person, he is called the Davesh king. He had entrusted all the work of his Government to his minister Balban, who was wise and capable and faithfully served his master for twenty years. He not only suppressed the internal revolts of the Rajputs but also repulsed the invasion of the mighty Mongols. Nasir – ud – din Mahmud died in 1266 AD. Ghias – ud – din Balban (1266 – 1286), originally a slave of king Altamash and then a minister of Nasir – ud – din Mahmud, ascended the throne in 1266 AD. Having shown his competence as a minister for about 20 years, Balban proved to be one of the ablest of the Delhi sultans. He not only saved the country from the Mongol invasion, but also established peace and order in the country. A strict disciplinarian, he held his court with great punctuality and etiquette. Amir Khusrau, the great Urdu and Persian poet, adorned his court. Balban died in 1286, and was succeeded by his grandson, Kaikobad, an incompetent, indolent person who was defeated by Jalal – ud – din Khiliji, and thus came to an end the powerful Slave dynasty. The Khilji Dynasty (1290 AD – 1320 AD) Jalal – ud – din Khilji (1290 – 1296) founded the Khilji dynasty when he ascended the throne in 1290 AD after defeating the weak and incompetent successor of the powerful Slave king Balban. An old man of seventy, Jalal – ud – din was mild, generous and a person of religious disposition. However, he was able to put down several revolts as well as a Mongol invasion in 1292. He was 27 got murdered in 1296 by his ambitious nephew and son – in – law, Ala – ud –din. Ala – ud – din Khilji (1296 – 1316) was the first Muslim ruler whose Empire covered almost the whole of India up to its extreme south. An intrepid general and an ambitious administrator, Ala – ud – din ranks high among the rulers of Hindustan. During his reign of 20 years, he fought many battles, conquered Gujarat, Ranthambhor, Chittor, Malwa, Deccan and thus extended the Delhi Empire up to deep south. He also repulsed several attacks by the Mongols. He introduced several measures to curb internal revolts and external invasions and adopted methods to regulate market prices of essential commodities. However, this great king was poisoned by his own Prime Minister, Malki Kafur and he died in January 1316 AD, and with it the Khilji dynasty came to an end. The Tughlaq Dynasty (1320 AD – 1412 AD) Ghias – ud – din Tughlaq (1320 – 1325), who was the Governor of Punjab during the reign of Ala – ud - din Khilji, ascended the throne in 1320 AD and founded the Tughlaq dynasty. An able and merciful king, he introduced many socio – economic reforms and built the city of Tughlaqabad near Delhi. He went out and conquered Warrangal and put down a revolt in Bengal. On his way back he was killed when the wooden pandal erected to welcome him collapsed suddenly. Muhammad – bin – Tughlaq (1325 – 1351) was a great intellectual, just merciful, generous and a strictly religious person, but a man devoid of any practical wisdom. Therefore, all his schemes for improvement of administration and extension of his dominions came to nothing. He inherited a massive Empire but lost many of its provinces, more particularly Deccan and Bengal. He died in 1351 AD while pursuing a rebel chief in Sind. Feroz Shah Tughlaq (1351 – 1388), a cousin of the late Muhammad Tughlaq, ascended the throne of the Delhi sultanate in 1351. A God fearing, pious and merciful king, Feroz Tughlaq, 28 devoted much of his energy to the battlement of his people. He built canals, schools, hospitals and founded many cities. After the death of Feroz in 1388, the Tughlaq dynasty came virtually to an end. Although the Tughlaqs continued to reign till 1412, the invasion of Delhi by Timur in 1398 may be said to mark the end of the Tughlaq Empire. Timur’s Invasion – 1398 AD It was during the reign of the last king of the Tughlaq dynasty, Sultan Mahmud Tughlaq, that the mighty king of Tukestan Amir Timuror Timurlang (Timarlane – Timur the Lame) as he is popularly known, invaded India in 1398 AD. He crossed Indus and captured Multan and just walked over to Delhi without much resistance. At Delhi he defeated Mahmud Tughlaq and entered the city where for five dayshis men killed and plundered in a general massacre. After about 15 days stay he returned to Samarkand with a large booty, leaving behind a shattered Delhi sultanate caught in famine, disease and anarchy. The Sayyad Dynasty (1414 AD – 1450 AD) Timur, on his way back, appointed Khizar Khan his Viceroy, who became the king of Delhi in 1414 AD. Khizar Khan was a Sayyad and his dynasty ruled over Delhi for about 37 years. The last king of this dynasty, ling Alam Shah handed over the rule to Bahlol Lodhi, the Afghan Governor of Punjab, in 1451 and himself retired. The Lodhi Dynasty (1451 AD – 1526 AD) Bahlol Lodhi (1451 – 1489) was the first king and founder of the Lodhi dynasty. With a view to restoring the Delhi sultanate its part glory, he conquered many territories including the powerful kingdom of Jaunpur. Sikandar Lodhi (1488 – 1517), son and successor of Bahlol Lodhi, was a powerful king who conquered Bihar and Tirhut. He 29 founded the Agra city and transferred his capital from Delhi to Angra. The place called Sikandra, near Agra, where the tomb of the mighty Mughal Akbar stands, is named after Sikandra Lodhi. He was an efficient administrator and a patron of arts and letters. Ibrahim Lodhi (1517 – 1526), who succeeded his father Sikandra Lodhi, was a cruel and arrogant king. His Afghan nobles could not pocket the insults heaped upon them by the king and, thus, there were many revolts. At last, Daulat Khan Lodhi, the Governor of Punjab, invited the king of Kabul, Babur, to crush Lodhi and conquer India. In the Battle of Panipat, Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodhi and became the ruler of Delhi and Agra. With this the Delhi sultanate ended and began the era of the great Mughal Empire in India. The Vijayanagara and The Bahmani Kingdoms The Vijayanagara and the Bahmani kingdoms emerged during the later years of the reign of Muhammad Tughlaq and dominated southern India for more than two hundred years. The Vijayanagara and Bahmani kings built beautiful capitals, magnificent buildings, promoted art and culture, maintained law and order and encouraged trade and commerce. In brief, while the northern part of India was overrun by the forces of disintegration, the southern India was witnessing an era of peace and prosperity. The Vijayanagara Empire (1336 – 1565): The Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagara was founded by the two brothers Harihara and Bukka in 1336 AD under inspiration of their guru Madhav Vidyaranya. They soon established their sway over the entire territory between the rivers Krishna in the north and Kaveri in the south. The rising power of the Vijayanagara Empire brought it into clash with many powers and they frequently fought wars with the Bahmani kingdom. The most famous king of Vijayanagara Empire was Krishnadeva Raya (1509 - 1529). A learned man, a great conqueror and an enlightened ruler, he suppressed the revolts with ability, seized Raichur from the Sultan of Bijapur and humbled the king of Orissa. As a great builder, he built magnificent temples, constructed irrigation projects, beautified the capital and the other cities and promoted the welfare of his people. The kingdom of 30 Vijatanagara reached the heights of its glory under Krishnadeva Raya. However, his death in 1529 was the beginning of the decay of this magnificent Empire, which was virtually wiped out in 1565. Achyuta Raya, son and successor of Krishnadeva Raya, struggled throughout his reign against heavy odds as the foes of the Vijayanagara Empire had renewed their onslaughts, After his death in 1542, two quicksuccessions took place and the throme passed on to Rama Yana, an ambitious person who attempted to rebuild the glory of the Vijayanagara Empire through diplomacy, which did not yield much result. He invaded Ahmednagar and during his triumphant march his army commited horrible atrocities, including the insult of Muslim women, destruction of mosques and disrespect for holy Quran. This infuriated the religious sentiments of Muslim rulers, who sank their differences and combined to wage a holy war against Vijayanagara Empire. In the fierce Battle of Taikota, the combined armies of Bahmani sultans inflicted a crushing defeat on the Vijayanagara armies; Rama Raya was captured and beheaded , about a hundred thousand Hindus were slain and wealthy Empire was plundered. The battle of Talikota thus, sealed the fortunes of mighty Vijayanagara Empire, through in its crippled from it continued to survive for another hundred years. Bahmani Kingdom (1347 - 1526) : The Muslim kingdom of Bahmani was established by some nobles against the Deccan who revolted against the repressive policies of sultan Muhamed Tughlaq. In 1347, Hason became the king of Bahmani under the title Abdul Muzaffar Ala – ud – din Bahma Sha and founded the Bahmani dynasty. This dynasty lasted for about 175 years and 18 rulers. At the height of its glory, the Bahamani kingdom extended from north to Krishna rivers up to Narmada, and stretched east – west from the coast of the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian sea. The rulers of Bahmano were often war with the neighbouring Hindu kingdom of Vigayanagara. The most distinguished figure of the Bahmani lingdom was Mahmud Gawan who was a minister in the State for over two decades. He fought many wars, subdued many kings and annexed many territories to the Bahmani kingdom. Within the kingdom he improved the administration, organized finances, encouraged public education, reformed revenue system, disciplined army and 31 removed corruption. A man of character and integrity, he was held in high esteem by the common massed. But the jealousies of the other nobles, and their machinations led to his execution and with this started the decline of Bahmani Empire, which came to an end with the death of its last king Kalimullah in 1526. In contract to the Vijayanagara rulers, the Bahmani kings make a dismal reading. Most of them were drunkards, bigots and tyrannical, and did not do much for the welfare of their subjects. However, a few of them devoted their attention to the development of agriculture and irrigation. But largely the people in the Bahmani kingdom were poor while the nobles were extremelt opulent indulgent in luxury. The Bhakti Movement An important landmark in the cultural history of the medieval India was the silent revolution in society brought about by a galaxy of socio – religious reformers, a revolution known as the Bhaki movement. About the time Islam made its appearance in India, a religious upheaval was in the offing. The leader of this Hindu revivalist movement was Shankaracharya, a great thinker and a distinguished philosopher. But his preaching of the doctrine of pure monoism (Advaitwad) being beyond the intelligence of the common people, it was left to Ramanuja to revive Hinduism (Vaishnaism) by preaching “Bhakit” as a means of salvation. Ramanuja lived in the twelth century AD. Ramanuja built up the philosophy of Vishishtavaita (qualified monoism) and preached the doctrine of personal devotion of God. He traveled extensively throughout India to peach his ideas and his teachings won a large number of adherents. His followers are called Vaishnavas. Among the later exponents of the Bhakit movement, the notables were Ramananda, Chaitanya, Kabir and Nanak. These saints were free from the bondage of any particular creed or sect and put their faith in one God. Their main tenet was Bhakit (devotion) as the only means of salvation. “Bhakit” means to them, single mindedness, uninterrupted extreme devotion to God that could be gradually covered into love akin to love to a man for his dear or near ones. God to them was this source of all joy and bliss and could be worshipped by a devotee as his supreme beloved. 32 God dwelt in the heart of an individual and one, therefore, does not need to go to any place worship to realize Him. His realization could be attained only through Bhakit. Ramananda raised his voice against the increasing formalism of the orthodox cult and founded a new school of Vaishnavism based on the gospel of love and devotion. His most outstanding contribution is the abolition of distinctions of caste among his followers. He also employed the common man’s language, Hindi, to preach his teachings. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who is regarded as the greatest among the Vaishnava saints, emphasized universal love and brotherhood as the first step to the love of God. He was against ritualism and casteism and accepted disciples from all regions and classes of people. His deity was Lord Krishna accompanied by his beloved, Radha. He enjoined his followers to enjoy recitation of Load’s name with accompaniment of dance and song (Kirtanas) in the course of which one could reach a state of ecstasy and feel the personal presence of God near him. Kabir was the greatest among various disciples of Ramanand. He was the first religious teacher of prominence to foster a spirit of unity among the Hindus and the Muslims. He fought against superstitions, ritualism, idol worship and caste system. According to him, there was one God who could be described by various names. “Call him Ram, Rahim, Allah, Khuda, Hari, Gobind, but He is one.” There could be no separate God for Hindus and Muslims. All the men and women of the world are His living forms. Nanak, the founder of Sikh religion, was opposed to all distinctions of caste as well as the religious rivalries. He declared “There is no Hindu, There is no Musalman.” His gospel was that of universal tolerations based on all that was good in Islam or Hinduism. He preached the Unity of God and condemned formalism and ritualism of both Islam and Hinduism. Although the Bhakit movement could not help to remove permanently the gulf between Islam and Hinduism, it helped a good deal in creating harmony between the Hindus and Muslims. The movement reduced the bitterness between the two religions and developed understanding and respect for each other. The 33 noble Islamic concepts of oneness of God and universal brotherhood of man were incorporated in Hinduism. The movement also helped regeneration of the Hindu society. It reduced the distinctions of caste and birth and weakened the domination of Brahmins and priests. The high and the low among the Hindus forgot their prejudices and began to believe in the equality of all human beings before the God. Sufism The terms Sufi, Wali, Davesh and Faqir are used for Muslim saints who attempted to achieve development of their intuitive faculties through ascetic exercises, contemplation, renunciation and self denial. By the 12th century AD, Sufism had become a universal aspect of Islamic social life as its influence extended over almost the entire Muslim community. Sufism represents the inward or esoteric side of Islam or the mystical dimension of Muslim religion. However, the Sufi saints, transcending all religious and communal distinctions, worked for promoting the interest of humanity at large. The Sufis were a class of philosophers remarkable for their religious catholicity. Strictly speaking, Sufism is the philosophy of oneness of all goodwill and religion of love of God. Sufis regarded God as the Supreme Beauty. To achieve the Beauty, one must admire it, take delight in his thought and concentrate his attention on Him only. They believed that God is “Mashuq” and Sufis are the “Ashiqs”. Sufism crystallized itself into various “Silsilahs” or orders. Abul Fazal makes a mention of 14 “Silsilah” in Ain – i – Akbari which were common in the times of Akbar. The four most popular among these were Chishtis, Suhrawardis, Qadiriyahs and Naqshbandis. The Chishtis had established their centres in Ajmer, waragal, Surat, Nagpur, Rajputana and later on extended their sway over Assam, Bengal, Bihar and Deccan. The Chishtis were opposed to the idea of private property, led a pure and simple life, used minimum clothings and did not accepted any charity from State Khwaja Mouin – ud – din Chishti, Baba Farid, Nizam – ud – din Auliya and Nasir – ud – din Chiraghi are among the famous Chishti saints. 34 Suhrawardis were confined to Sind, Multant and Punjab. They differed from Chishtis in their organization and policies. They mixed up freely with ruling classes, accepted State charities and accumulated wealth. Among the famous saints of this order were Baba – ud – din Zakariya and Hamid – ud – din Nagauri. Multan and Uch were the two principal centres of this order of Sufis. The Naqshbandis lay great emphasis on observing the law of Shariat and denounced all innovations which spoil the purity of Islamic doctrine. They challenged the idea of Unity of being. The Qadiriyah order was opposed to music and singing. Sufism took roots in both rural and urban areas and exercises a deep social political and cultural influence on the masses. It rebelled against all forms of religious formations, orthodox, falsehood and hypocrisy and endeavoured to create a new world order in which spiritual bliss was the only and the ultimate goal. At a time when struggle for political power was the prevailing madness, the Sufi saints reminded men of their moral obligations. To a world torn by strife and conflict they tired to bring peace and harmony. Sufism, a religion of intense devotion, provided to the Muslims as well as the Hindus, a common mode of worship for realization of God, the Supreme Beauty. The most important contribution of Sufism is that it helped to blunt the edge of Hindu Muslim prejudices by forging the feelings of solidarity and brotherhood between these two religious communities. The Mughal Empire (1526 AD To 1540 Ad And 1555 AD To 1707 AD) Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodhi at Panipat in 1526 AD and founded the Mughal dynasty in India. His successors expanded the Mughal dominion extensively till in the reign of Aurangzeb nearly the entire country was brought under one sway. The period between the coming of Babur and the death of Aurangzeb in 1707 is one of the most distinct and glorious period of Indian history. Under the Mughals, the country attained political unity and administrative cohesion. Trade and industry flourished. People were largely happy and prosperous Art and letters blossomed. As a result, the frame of India’s wealth and splendour spread throughout the world. 35 Babur (1526 – 1530): Zahir – ud – din Muhammad Babur was the first of the great Mughal emperos of India. A descendent of Timur on father’s side and Changez Khan on his mother’s side, Babur was brave warrior. After defeating Ibrahim Lodhi in the first Battle of Panipat in 1526 he entered Delhi and soon gained control over Agra. After many more battles with Rajputs he extended his Empire over Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and north Bihar. He died at a young age of 48 years in 1530 at his capital Agra without getting much time to consolidate his victories. Humayun (1530 – 1540 and 1555 – 1556): Babur’s eldest son was Humayun who was only 23 years of age when he became to the throne. Ha had many admirable qualities. He was brave soldier as well as a great general. His manners were polished and charming. As a man, he was generous and affectionate. But Humayun lacked resolution and his easy – go nature proved his worst enermy. Not surprising, troubles for him started sooner then expected. Bahadur Shah raised the banner of revolt in Gujarat. Humayun was able to defeat him but he did not consolidate his gain and left his enemy to recover back his dominions. His other adversary Sher Khan, known as Sher Shah Suri, proved too shewed for him and was soon able to drive Humayun out of Hindustan and crown himself as the emperor. Humayun wandered for about 15 years. Meanwhile Sher Shah Suri died and Humayun was able to defeat his successor and regain his crown of Mughal Empire. However, soon after he died in January 1556 like his father at a young age of 48 years. The Afghan Revival Sher Shah Suri (1540 – 1545): Sher Shah, whose original name was Farid, was son of a pretty Jagirdar. He passed his childhood in adversity but this, however, brought out the in Farid who embarked upon an independent career. He became the governor of Bihar. Seeing the Mughals indulging in luxury under Humayun, he made up his mind to expel them from India. 36 Through difficult, he accomplished his task with courage and shrewdness. After defeating Humayun he became the emperor and re – established the Afghan rule in India. As a king, Sher Shah has so many achievements to his credit. He established an efficient system of public administration. He recognized the military system and brought about revenue reforms that won him the title of the forerunner of Akbar. He built roads and planted shady trees over them with “sarais” (rest houses) at regular intervals. Sher Shah did not survive long after his accession on the throne and died in 1545. Islam Shah (1545 - 1553): After the death of Sher Shah Suri, his younger son, Jalal Khan ascended the throne in 1545, under the title Islam Shah. He annexed some regions of eastern Bengal and hilly tracts of northern Punjab. However, in his short rule of about eight years, there were revolts from within his own army and his Afghan Sirdars, which he suppressed successfully. He died of illness in 1553 AD. Muhamman Adishah (1553 – 1555): After the death of Islam Shah, his 12 – year - old son, Firoz ascended the throne, but was murdered by his maternal uncle Muhariz Khan, after three days of his coronation. Muhariz Khan, himself became the Emperor under the title Muhammad Adilshah. A weak, incompetent and pleasure loving king, Adilshah handed over his entire administration to Bania of Rewari, named Himu. The prevailing discontent and internal strife during this period, provided an early opportunity to the ousted Mughal Emperor, Humayun, to regain his Empire with the help of Iran in 1555, which led to the fall of Sur Empire and re – establishment of the Mughals. Mughals Re – Established Akbar (1556 - 1605): Jalal – ud – din Muhammad Akbar was the greatest of the Mughal emperors and one of the ablest kings the world has ever seen. It was under his reign that the Mughal Empire reached its climax. He united the whole of north India and 37 built up and Empire which extended from Afghanistan to Bengal and from Kashmir to Godavari in the south. Akbar along with his tutor and guardian Bairam Khan was Kalanaur in Punjab where he got the news of the death of his father, Hunayun. There itself, on February 14, 1556 he was coronated at a simple ceremony by Bairam Khan, who himself became hisregent. But the new king had neither a kingdom nor a capital as in the turmoil of Humayun’s death, Himu, the Hindu general of Muhammad Adi Shah, captured Delhi and Agra and ascended the throne as Vikranaditya. Akbar, with the help of Bairam Khan, defeated Himu in the second battle of Panipat in 1556 and, thus, became the king of Delhi and Agra. He was a brave general and capable administrator. Through uneducated, he was highly cultured and refined. He initiated a policy of toleration and goodwill towards all his subjects. He befriended the Rajputs and married the daughter of Raja Bharmal of Amber. He abolished the “Jizya” (a tax that had been imposed on Hindus by the earler rulers). He introduced a new Divine Faith (Din – I -llahi) which combined the good points of all the religions. His long reign of five decades forms the bright chapter of the Indian history during which the country made rapid progress in all walks of life, establishment of a regular revenue system, organization of civil and military administration, encouragement to art and literature and construction of magnificent buildings and monuments. Akbar also brought about social reforms and made efforts for the abolition of Sati and child marriage. During his rule, the public services were open to all on merit, without discrimination on the basis of caste, sect or colour. Akbar died in 1605 and was buried at Sikandara near Agra. Jehangir (1605 – 1627) : Akbar’s son Salim became the king after his father ‘s death under the title of Nur – ud – din Muhammad Jehangir. He married Mehr – un Nisa whom he gave the title of Nur Jaham (light of the world). He loved her with a blind passion and made over the complete reins of administration to her. Jehangir was generous and good – hearted king who had a passion for justice. He was a keen lover of nature and took interest in arts and paintings. He laid a number of gardens, of which Shalimar and Nishat gardens near Srinagar are widely known and appreciated. His interest in architecture is borne out by the 38 majestic Akbar’s tomb and ltmad – ud – daula’s tomb in Agra. Jehangir died in 1627. Shah Jehah (1627 – 1658) : At the time of the death of Jehangir, Prince Khurram (later known as Shah Jehan when he became the king) was in Deccan. Therefore, Shahryar, the other son of Jehangir, who was in Lahore, proclaimed himself as the emperor. However, he was defeated by Asaf Jah and when Khurran reached Agra, he was seated on the throne in 1627. Shah Jehan was a man of great excutive ability and had a love for art and architecture. An able administration, he never fought shy of looking into the details and intricacies of administration. As a result, complete peace, law and order prevailed in the country. Art and literature made phenomenal progress in his reign. But, above all, he was in a special sense, the architecture director of his days who left for posterity the immortal gifts like Taj Mehal, Jama Masjid and the Red Fort at Delhi and the Agra Fort which was reconstructed under his inspiration and supervision. It was an irony of his fate that, towards his leader years, he was taken prisoner by his own son and successor, Aurangzeb and kept in Agra Fort where he died loneliness. As a ruler he governed India for thirty years with firmness and ability and left behind him a legend of magnificence. Aurangzeb Alamglr (1658 - 1707): In September 1657, Shah Jehan fell seriously ill at Agra and it was feared that he would not recover. This led to a war of succession among his four sons, Dara, Shujam Aurangzeb and Murad. Aurangzeb succeeded to the throne after destroying his brothers, son and nephew. He governed India for over 48 years and left an Empire larger than the one he inherited. Though he rose to power in a ruthless manner, he was an orthodox Muslim who was extremely simple and austere in his private life. During the first twenty – five years of his reign, he lived in the northern India, attempting to advance the cause of Islam and chasting the infidels. It this, he lost the sympathy of his subjects, especially the cooperation and support of the Rajputs whose friendship and affection had helped Akbar to build a strong and prosperous Empire. In the remaining two and a half decades of his Deccan to crush the power of the Marathas. The latter could not be crushed but the great puritan was totally exhausted both in the state resources and personal health. Aurangzeb died in 39 February 1707. With his death the fores of disintegration set in and the mighty Mughal Empire started collapsing. Rise of The Sikh Power Sikhism was found by Guru Nanak Dev, a leading personage of the Bhakit Movement during the latter medieval period. Guru Nanak Dev was born at Talwandi, new called Nankana Sahib, in Pakistan in 1469. Even as a child, he was given to deep thinking with no interest in worldly pleasure. At the age of thirty, he got enlightenment. Thereafter he traveled almost the whole of the country and went over to Mecca and Baghdad, preaching his message. Guru Nanak Dev believed in the Unity God and brotherhood of man. He rejected the caste system, idol worship, blind superstitions and the Brahminic hold over the religion. Guru Nanak Dev: The first Guru of Sikhs who founded the Sikh religion. He believed in the Unity of God and preached all that was good in both the Hinduism as well as Islam, He was oppose to all distinctions of caste and religion, as for him, all human beings were His creation, and thus for him there was “no Hindu and no Musalman”. He was against all the formalism and ritualism of both Hinduism and Islam. He traveled far and wide to preach his message of goodwill and human brotherhood. He died in 1538 and was followed by nine and period of Guruship is given below: Guru Angad Dev (1538 - 1552): The second Guru strengthened the system of langar (common dining) irrespective of the caste, creed or social position, a system which has continued ever since contributing to universal brotherhood and unity of man before God. Guru Amar Das (1552 - 1574): The third Guru of the Sikhs, he was a great social reformer. He constructed the sacred – baoli at Goindwal and organized regular congregations where he preached his religion and impressed upon his followers to disband caste distinctions, purdah system and santi pratha. Guru Ram Dev (1574 - 1581): The fought Guru founded in holy city of Amristar and built the sacred tank, the pool of nectar, which has since became the place of the holy pilgrimage for the Sikhs. 40 Guru Arjan Dev (1581 – 1606): The fifth Guru, he built the world famous Harmandar Sahib, popularly known as the Golden Temple, in the middle of the sacrec tank of Amrister. He also compiled the holy Granth Sahib, which iss the most sacred religious book of the Sikhs. Thus, Guru Arjan Dev gave to the Sikhs their own script (Gurumukhi), their separate pilgrimage place (Amnister) and their own scripture (the holy Granth Sahib). Guru Arjan Dev suffered martyrdom in 1606 which proved a turning point in the Sikhs history as it transformed the peace loving Sikh community into a military brotherhood. Guru Hargobind (1606 - 1645): The sixth Guru, he found it necessary to train the Sikhs in military art. He built the Akal Takht opposite the Golden Temple, fought several battles with the Mughal’s and spent the last days of his life at Kirapur Sahib. Guru Har Rai (1645 - 1661): He was the seventh Guru of the Sikhs who passed away at the early age of 30 years in 1661. Just before his death he had his second son, Harkishan ordained as the Guru. Guru Harkishan (1661 - 1664): The eighth Guru, he died of small pox while he was yet a small boy. He built the famous “sarovar” at a place where the Gurdwara Bangal Sahib stands in Delhi. Guru Tengh Bahadur (1664 - 1675): He was the ninth Guru. He led a saintly life at Anandpur Sahib. But when Mughal Governor of Kashmir resorted to forcible conversation of Hindus, Guru Tegh Bahadur decided to fight it out. He was summoned to Delhi by Aurangzeb and askedto embrace Islam, to which he refused. He was beheaded on the orders of the emperor. Gurdwara Sisganj in Delhi stands at the place of Guru Sahib’s martyrdom and Gurdwara Rakabganj at the site of his cremation. Guru Gobind Singh (1675 - 1708): The tenth and the last Guru of the Sikhs, he was the real founder of the Sikhs power. Born on December 26, 1666 at Patna he succeeded his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, at the tender age of nine years and decided to end the Mughal tyranny. He lived at a time when Aurangzeb was at the height of power, Shivaji had died Afghans’ spirits had been subduded, Rajputs had been humiliated and Hindus had lost their 41 self – respect. The Guru raised the dormant energies of the people and organized them into valiant fighters. He believed in the brotherhood of man and preached that all mankind was created by one creator. Among his followers and fighters were Hindus, both high and low, as well as the Muslims. Guru Gobind Singh spent about twenty years in consolidating his resources worked for removing differences based on caste, creed, sex and religion, gave his followers training in the art of warfare and then, on the Baisakhi Day in 1699, founded the “Khalsa” at Anandpur Sahib. He inspired the martial spirit and selfconfidence among the Sikhs and made the Khalsa a symbol of valour and character. He fought battles with the Mughals at Anandpur Sahib, Chamkaur Sahib and Muksar. Though he suffered many brutalities – all his four sons became martyrs and many of his followers were killed – yet he remained unshaken in his resolve. At a young age of 42 years, he passed away in 1708 at Nanded in Maharashtra, where on the banks of Godavari stands the famous Gurdwara Hazur Sahib. Ever since the death of Guru Gobind Singh, the holy book of the Sikhs, Guru Granth Sahib, is regarded as the Guru or the inspiritual guide of the Sikhs. While at Nanded, Guru Gobind Singh appointed Banda Bairagi, also known as Banda Singh (whose original name was Lachman Dev), as the military leader of the Sikhs, Banda Bairagi fought with the Mughal for eight years, killed Subedar Wazir Khan, the murderer of Gobind Sigh’s sons, and plundered many Mughal territories. However, he was captured in 1716 and put to death during reign of Farrukhsiyar. After the executive of Banda Bairagi, the Sikh forces disintegrated and took refuge in the forests and hills. However, soon they organized themselves into bands of warriors, called “Misls”, captured large territories in Punjab and established many small independent states towards the end of the eighteen century. 42 CHAPTER THREE MODERN INDIA Decline of the Mughals The gallery of the great Mughals ends with the death of Aurangzeb as those who came to the throne after him were only puppet kings and the real power passed into the hands of the nobles. In the war of succession that followed the death of Aurangzeb, Prince Muazzam came out to be successful and ascended the throne under the name Bahhadur Shah in 1707 AD. During his short reign of about five years up to 1712 AD, he made settlements with Marathas and released Shahu, the grandson of Shivaji, whom Aurangzeb kept imprisoned for about 18 years. He made conciliation with the Rajputs and defeated the Sikhs in Punjab. Jahandar Shah came to the throne in 1712. However, he was overthrown within one year and Farrukhsiyar became the emperor in 1713 with the help of two most powerful nobles, Abdullah Khan and Husain Ali Khan, known as Saiyid brothers, they got him murdered in 1719 AD. After trying three puppet kings in quick succession, they raised Muhammad Shah to the throne. Muhammad Shah (1719 - 1748), who reigned for next twenty – nine years, was a weak king who spent most of his time merry – making and having fun, to the absolute neglect of the affairs of the state. For this reason he is popularly known as Muhammad Shah Rangila (Muhammad Shah, the marry monarch). Under his reign the real power was usurped by the nobles. Gradually many provinces seceded from the Empire and thus emerged the semi – independent kingdoms of Bengal, Awadh, Hyderabad and Rihikhand. The successors of Muhammad Shah were kings only in name. Among them the two who deserve attention were Shah Alam (1759 - 1806) who granted Diwani rights to British in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, and Bahadur Shah Zafar (1837 - 1857) who was the last in the line of Mughal kings. He took part in the 1857 War of Independence and was sent to Rangoon as a prisoner where he died in 1862. 43 Nadir Shah’s Invasion It was during the reign if Muhammad Shah that in 1739, Nadia Shah, the mighty king of Iran, invaded India and defeated the Mughal army in the battle at Karnal. This was followed by the cruel massacre and reckless plunder at Delhi. After a stay of about two months, Nadir Shah went back to Iran, taking with him immense wealth as well as the Koh – I – Noor diamond and the Peacock Throne of Shah Jehan. This invasion by Nadir Shah led to the futher disintegration of Mughal Empire. The Matathas The Marathas movement during the reign of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, developed into a challenging power under Shivaji and posed a great threat to the weak kings of the later Mughal period. These study, capable and brave people were stretched along the Western Ghats, spilling over into the plains of Konkan and across the Deccan into central India. They had a common language, Marathi, a common religion, Hinduism, a strong sense of belonging and national feeling. Shivaji the great Maratha leader freed them from the Muslim yoke and made them a mighty power which dominated India in the 16th century and contributed to the decline of the Mughal Empire. Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha emoire, was born in 1627. His father Shaji, was a fieldholder of Bijapur and his mother, Jijabai, was a highly religious and talented woman. From the very childhood Shivaji came to believe that his mission was to liberate the Hindus and free his country from the Muslim yoke. He conquered some forts in Bijapur state, disposed off the army general of the Sultan of Bijapur, Afzal Khan, in 1659 and after his initial success with the Mughal armies, he was made to make submission to Aurangzeb by the Rajput Raja Jai Singh. A settlement was attempted with Shivaji in Aurangzeb’s court at Agra but it broke down because of the mutual suspicion of both the parties. Shivaji was imprisoned from where he made his dramatic escape. After his daring return from Agra, Shivaji conquered almost all the forts which he had surrendered to the Mughals. He celebrated his conronation in 1674 and shortly thereafter made great expectation into southern India. Shivaji died 44 in 1680 at the age of 53 years having founded an Empire which dominated India for about a century and a half. The Peshwas The Peshwas came to power in the Maratha kingdom during the reign of Shahu, Shivaji’s grandson. “Peshwas” was the title of the Prime Minister of the Maratha state. Since Shahu as a weak and incompetent ruler, the state power passed on into the hands of his Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath (1713 - 1720), who founded the Peshwa dynasty and inaugurated an era of Maratha expansion. He was succeeded by his son Baji Rao I (1720 – 1740), clever statesman, a fine soldier and a strong administrator. During his time the Marathas conquered Malwa Gujarat and Bundelkhand and strengthened their hold over the Deccan. He died at the early of 42 years in 1740 and was succeeded by his eighteen year – old son, Nalaji Baji Rao (1740 – 1761). During his Peshwaship the Marathas reached as far as Bihar and Orissa in the east and Punjab in the north. His was a time of the hight of the Maratha Empire. The Marathe power, however, suffered from some weaknesses which contributed to its downfall. They lacked a political system which could establish a stable administration. Over the time the Maratha Sardars established their independent principalities and consequently, by the middle of eighteen century five distinct Maratha powers, vz., Peshwa at Poona, Geakwad at Baroda, Bhonsle at Nagpur, Halkar at Indore and Scindra at Gwalior, had emerged. The Maratha raids into the territories of the other rulers and their policy of ruthlessness and plunder, alienated them from other Indian rulers and the common masses. So when Ahmed Shah Abdali, the successor of the Persian invader Nadir Shah, invaded Punjab and came in direct conflict with the Marathas, a decisive battle was fought at Panipat in 1761, where Abdali gave the Marathas a crushing defeat. Neither the Rajputs nor the Jats or the Sikhs came to the Maratha support. Once routed, the Marathas lost their supremacy of the north, and whatever unity existed between the five Maratha powers, it was soon dissolved after the Third Battle of Panipat, which heralded the era of the disintegration of the Maratha Empire and the rise of the British influence in India. 45 The British Conquest of India Even before the Marathas suffered defeat in the Third Battle of Panipat, the era of the British conquest of India had begun. Vasco do Gama’s discovery of the sea route to India had attracted trading companies from Portugal, Holland, England, France and Denmark. By the early eighteen century, the English and the French East India Companies had ousted the Portuguese, the Dutch and the Spaniards and established their supremacy in the Indo – European trade. However, soon after the conflict arose between them as both of them sought to extend their areas of supremacy by medding in the political affairs of the local Nawabs. Anglo – French conflict began over the question of succession in Carnatic and as a result of war, the English company replaced the French as the overloads in the state of Carnatic. Nawabs Siraj – ud – daulah of Bengal tired to contain the growing influence of the Company, but was defeated and killed by Clive’s forces in the Battle of Palasi (Plassey), near Murshidabad in 1757; the main cause of Nawab’s defeat being treason by one of his own commanders, Mir Jafar, who had entered into a conspiracy with the English. Mir Jafar was made the Nawab of Bengal by the English Company in Bengal expanded. However, when Mir Jafar fell out with the Company, he was deposed and replaced by Mir Qasim as the Nawab of Bengal. But as Mir Qasim tired to consolidate his power and free himself from the yoke of the Company, he was overthrown and turned out of Bengal and Bihar. He took refuge with the Nawab of Awadh, Shuja – ud – daulah, where the Mughal emperor Shah Alam had also taken refuge after the murder of his father Alamgir II. All the three, viz., Shuja – ud – daulah, Mir Qasim and Shah Alam prepared for a battle against the English, and the two armies fought at Buxar in western Bihar in 1764 in which the Nawab of Awaddh, having been deserted both by Shah Alam and Mit Qasim, suffered a crushing defeat. Consequently, Shuja – ud – daulah and Shah Alam signed treaties with Clive under which the East India Company was given Diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa which entitled the Company to collect revenue from these provinces. From this time onwards the period of British conquest of India began in 1772, Warren Hastings became the Governor – General of British territories in India and from 1775 to 1782, the British forces were at war the the 46 Marathas which were largely indecisive. Meanwhile, in the first Anglo – Mysore War of 1767 – 1769, the British were defeated and peace treaties were signed between both the parties. Soon the Mysore rulers were embittered with British. Hyder Ali, the ruler of Mysore, attacked the British in 1780 and was supported by French troops. Hyder Ali died in 1782, but his son, Tipu Sultan carried on the war which ended in 1784, and the pre – war position was restored. Thus between 1765 and 1785, the British could not gain any new territories in India, though their political influence certainly extended to keep alive the differences among different India rulers. In 1786, Cornwallis was appointed the Governor – General who initially followered the policy of non – intervention, but soon rallied his troopa against Tipu Sultan when he attacked the kingdom of Coorg and Travancore. In this Third Anglo – Mysore War, (1790 - 92) Tipu was defeated and had to surrender large parts of his territories to the British. With the appointment of Wellesley as Governor – General in 1798, the new wave of British expansion started. Wellesley formalized the policy of giving military help to one Indian state against another in the form of “subsidiary alliance”. An Indian ruler accepting this subsidiary alliance was allowed to maintain a British force in his state and pay for its maintenance, in lieu of which he had to give some of his territory to the British. Tipa Sultan, who had shown open sympathy for French Revolution and sought to secure French help for driving the British out of India, was defeated and killed in 1799, and in his place, the British appointed a puppet king. Carnatic was also taken over by the British. The Marathas, whose internal conflictes never ceased, were played one against the other by the Britishers. In the war between the Holkar and Scindia, the Peshwa Baji Rao II accepted a subsidiary alliance with the British, and the Britishers drove out Holker. The combined armies of Scindia and Bhonsle were also defeated both in the south as well as in north, and Delhi was taken over by the British from the Scindia. So both Bhonsle and Scindia signed the subsidiary alliance, surrendered large part of 47 their territories to the British and accepted the appointment of British Residents in their states. However, the Holkar was still holding out when Wellesley was recalled. Soon afterm, peace treaty was signed with Holker. Minto’s tenure as Governor – General saw further expansion of the British power in India and the neighbouring countries. Conquests of Jawa, Sumatra, Singapore and Malay peninsular laid the foundations of Britain’s naval supremacy in this part of the world. Within India, the British power was extended up to river Sutlej. In the early years of the nineteenth century, the British decided to subdue the Pindaris, a force of plunderers which had been carrying out raids in many parts of the country and was being helped by many Indian rulers. The British wanted to use the Maratha armies against Pindaris, but the Maratha leaders were actively helping the Pandaris. Thus, the war against Pindaris turned into the Third Anglo – Maratha War (1817 AD) which proved a total disaster for the Marathas. Within a few years Maratha territories passed on into the hands of the British and the Maratha armies were disbanded. Rajputs were also brought under the British influence under the subsidiary alliances. Between 1824 and 1826, the British fought war with the Burmese who had been extending their influence over Assam. The Burmese were defeated and the British took over the control of Assam. However, the subsequent British efforts to annex Afghanistan could not materiallise, but they were able to extend it in 1843. However, Punjab under Maharaja Ranjit Singh did not yield and the British had to sign a treaty of friendship with him in 1809. The death of Ranjit Singh in 1839 and the subsequent period of instability and intrigues during the reign of his son, Dalip Singh offered the British an opportunity to extend their influence over Punjab. The first Anglo – Sikh war of 1845 brought Punjab under the British protection though Dalip Singh remained the normal king. But the revolt during 1848 led to the Second Aglo – Sikh War wherein the Punjab armies were defeated and the British annexe this powerful state built by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. 48 Maharaja Ranjit Singh: Born in 1780, he became the chief of his “Misl” at the age of 12 years. In 1799 he conquered Lahore, made it his capital, and proclaimed himself a Raja. In 1802 he conquered Amritsar and within next five years brought the entire area between Sutlej and Jhelum under his control. In his mission to establish a unified Sikh state, he crossed the river Sutlej in 1806, captured Ludhiana and some more territories and posed a threat to the Sikh states of Nabha, Patiala, jind, etc. These states appealed to the British for protection, consequent to which lord Minto sent Charles Metcalfe who concluded the “Treaty of Amritsar” with Ranjit Singh in April 1809, under which Sutlej was fixed as the boundary of his state. After this, Ranjit Singh moved to the other side and annexed Kangra, Jammu, Kashmir, Multan, Bannu and Peshawar. He died in June 1839, after having established a strong Sikh kingdom which extended from Sutlej to the base of Afghan hills. The British Paramountcy The British Paramountcy was established over India during the tenure of Dalhousie who became the Governor – General of India in 1848. After annexing Punjab, he extended his control over Peshawar and the Pathan tribes in the north – west of India. He also annexed a large part of Burma and thus extended the British Empire in the east. The successor of Dalhousie, Canning tired to extend his control over the Persian Gulf region. But the revolt of 1857 prevented his grand design from materializing. Thus, by 1856, the British conquest of India has been virtually completed and its authority firmly established. The paramountcy of the British in India was established through a number of devices such as direct annexation as in the case of Mysore and Sind. The method of subsidiary alliance, though initially designed to help and protect the local rulers against their wars with the others, also used to create such conditions whereby it led to annexation of these territories by the British. The “Doctrine of Lapse” was another common device used by Dalhouseie and also the later Governor – Generals to take over Indian States. Under the Doctine of Lapse, any Indian ruler who died without a male heir as a natural successor, his territory 49 automatically passed on into the British hands. The states of Jhansi, Nagpur and Satara were annexed by the British under this Doctine of Lapse. Nana Sahib, the adopted son of Peshwa, was denied his legitimate claim. While the British power gained its heights during the middle of the nineteenth century, the discontent of the local rulers, the peasantry, the intellectuals, common masses as also of the soldiers who became unemployed due to the disbanding of armies of various states that were annexed by the British, became widespread. This soon broke out into a revolt which gathered the dimensions of the 1857 Mutiny. The Indian Mutiny of 1857 The British conquest of India, which could be said to have begun with the Battle of Plassey, was practically completed by the end of Dalhousie’s tenure in 1856. The conquest of India was by no means a smooth affair as the simmering discontent of the people manifested itself in many localized revolts during this period. However, the Mutiny of 1857, which began with revolt of the military soldiers at Meerut, soon became widespread and posed a grave challenge to the British rule. Even though the British succeeded in crushing it within a year, it was certainly a popular revolt in which the Indian rulers, the masses and the militia participated so enthusiastically that it came to be regarded as the First War of Indian Independences. The hundred years of Britished misrule preceding the great Mutiny had oftended the local rulers and the ruled alike. The principle of subsidiary alliance was used as an instrument to play one ruler against the other with the ulterior motive of annexing the territories of both. The doctrine of lapse was a naked violation of Indian traditions and customs to deny the legitimate rights to Indian rulers and to grab their territories. The armies of the annexed states were largely disbanded and soldiers found themselves out of job. The brave and learned people who devotedly worked for the Indian rulers and got their patronage were driven out of administration and their land and jagirs were taken over by the British. The peasants were ruined through exorbitant charges made from them by the new class of landlords established under 50 the zamindari system introduced by the British. The craftsmen were destroyed by the influx of the British manutactured goods. The religion and the caste system which formed the firm foundation of the traditional Indian Society was endangered by the British administration. The Indian soldiers as well as people in administration could not rise in hierarchy as the senior jobs were reserved for the Europeans. Thus, there was all – around discontent and disgust against the British rule, which burst out in a revolt by the “sepoys” at Meerut whose religious sentiments were offended when they were given new cartridges greased with cow and pig fat, whose covering had to be stripped out by biting with the mouth before using them in rifles, who refused to use such cartridges, were arrested which resulted in a revolt by the fellow soldiers on May 9, 1857. The rebel forces marched towards Delhi and captured it in no time. They proclaimed Bahadur Shah Zafar as the emperor of India. Soon the revolt spread to a wider area and there were uprisings in Uttar Pradeshm Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Bihar, Assam, Orissa, Sind, Hyderabad and Bengal. Through at many places the revolt was only localised, it was widespread in Delhi, Awadh, Rohikhand, Bundelkhand, Allahabad, Agra, Meerut and western Bihar, where most ferocious battles were fought. The rebellious forces under the commands of Kanwar Singh in Bihar and Bakht Khan at Delhi gave a stunning blow to the British soldiers. In Kanpur, Nana Sahib was proclaimed as the Peshwa and his troops were led by the brave leader Thanya Tope. Rani Lakshmi Bai was proclaimed the ruler of Jhansi who herself led her troops in the heroic battles with the British. The Sikh regiment from Punjab joined the rebels in eastern Uttar Pradesh while in western Uttar Pradesh Wazid Ali Shah’s son was put on the throne by the rebels who besieged Lucknow Residency. The Hindus, the Muslims, the Sikh and all the other brave sons of India fought shoulder to shoulder to throw out the British and recognized Bahadur Shah Zafar as the legitimate emperor of India, who thus emerged as symbol of India’s unity and her past glory. But the revolt, through popular and widespread, was controlled by the mighty British within one year. In September 1858, the British troops regained the control over Lucknow. Rani 51 Lakshmi Bai was driven out of Jhansi and was killed in the battlefield in June 1858. Kanwar Singh died in April 1858, having sustained severe wounds in the battle. Nana Sahib escaped to Nepal, while Tantya Tope was captured and hanged after having kept the British troops engaged for two years. Thus, by the end if 1858, the revolt was crushed and Bahadur Shah Zafar was taken as a prisoner and sent to exile in Rangoon, where he died in 1862. The queen’s proclamation and the British Paramountcy Consequent to the Revolt of 1857, many important changes took place in the British Government’s policy towards India which sought to strengthen the British rule through wining over the Indian princes, the chiefs and the landlords. Queen Victoria’s Proclamation of November 1, 1858 declared that thereafter India would be governed by and in the name of the British Monarch through a Secretary of State. The Governor – General was given the title of Viceroy which meant the representative of the Monarch. The proclamation also made it clear that (i) the treaties entered into between the native princes and the east India Company could be respected and scrupulously maintained; (ii) the British Government would not embark upon any further conquest or aggrandizement over the territories of the native princes; (iii) the natives of India would obtain the same treatment as is enjoys by other subjects of the Queen; (iv) there would be no discrimination for the natives on the basis of race or creed in appointment to the public services under the Queen; and (v) the British Government would in no way interfere with their various modes of religious worship. The Queen’s Proclamation of 1858, thus, constituted an important landmark in India’s history. It assured the princes the territorial integrity of their states and secured to the common people of India their full rights as the subjects to the common people of British Empire. It is also secured to them the right to appointment in Public services and the right to freedom of worship without any hindrance or interference from the state. Apart from these concessions the Mutiny also brought the native discontent to the immediate attention of the British Government. The Indian Councils Act, 1861, added one more ordinary member to Executive Council which earlier consisted of the Government – General, four ordinary members and 52 commanders – in – Chief of the army as an extraordinary member. Legislative Council which was set up in 1853 and comprised six members in addition to the members of the Executive Council, was also expanded by another six to twelve members, half of which were to be non-officials. In 1892, the number of additional members in the Legislative Council was increased from 12 to 16, but the official members continued to be in majority. Local Government in the form of Municipalities and District Boards were also set up. Bureaucracy was strengthened and army was reorganized. Queen Victoria assumed the title of Empress of India and thus gave the British Government unlimited powers to intervene in the internal affairs of the Indian states. Consequently, the dependence of the princely states upon the British Government further increased and each succession to the throne in these states had to be approved by the British Monarch or the Victory of India. In case of mismanagement, the British could depose any ruler and appoint a successor. In brief, the British paramountcy over India, including the Indian states, was firmly established. The British gave their support to the loyal princes, zamindars and local chiefs but neglected the educated people and the common masses. They also promoted the other interests like those of the British merchants, industrialists, planters and civil servants. The people of India, as such, did not have any say in running the Government or formulation of its policies. Consequently, people’s disgust with the British rule kept on mounting which gave rise to the birth of Indian National Movement. The Struggle for Swaraj The foundations of Indian National Movement were laid by Surendranath Banerjee with the formation of the Indian Association at Calcutta in 1876. The aim of the association was to represent the views of the educated middle class, inspire the Indian community to take a living interest in public affairs and teach the value of united nation. The Indian Association was, in a way, the forerunner of the Indian National Congress which was founded in 1885 with the help of A.O. Hume, a retired British official. The first session of the Indian National Congress was held in Bombay in December 1885 under the presidentship of W.C. 53 Bonnerjee and was attended among others by Dadabhai Naoroji and Badr – ud – din Tyabji. The second session of the Congress was held at Calcutta in 1886 under the presidentship of Dadabhai Naoroji where surendranath Banerjee also joined the organization. Soon the Congress attracted a galaxy of leaders such as Pherozeshah Mehta, Romesh Chandra Dutt, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Anand Mohan Bose. The Congress demanded that the legislative Councils be given more powers, the members of the Councils should be elected representatives of the people, that Indians should be recruited to the higher posts, that the civil services examinations should be held in India, that economic policies of the Government should be modified to facilitate the growth of Indian industries and that the welfare programs should be expanded. But the British Government, particularly under Viceroy Curzon, adopted repressive measures and flouted Indian opinion. Under its “divide and rule” policy, the province of Bengal, which included Bihar and parts of Orissa, was partitioned in 1905 and the Muslim – dominated East Bengal was created. This created a wave of indignation and the Swadeshi and boycott movements were started for undoing the partition of Bengal. The Call for Swaraj The Congress session at Calcutta in 1906, presided by Dadabhai Naoroji, gave a call for attainment of “Swaraj” a type of self – government elected by the people within the British Dominion, as it prevailed in Canada and Australia, which were the parts of British Empire. The British could not really stomach this demand and arrested many leaders including Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal, who were soon released, but Tilak was deported to Burma for six years. Meanwhile, in 1909, the British Government announced certain reforms in the structure of Government in India which are known as Morley – Minto Reforms. Under these reforms, the number of additional members in the Central Legislative Council was raised from 16 to 60, of which 27 were to be elected, not by the people, but by the organizations of landlords and industrialists, and separate representation was given to the Muslims. The number of members of the Provincial Councils was also increased. These reforms were vehemently opposed by all the 54 leaders, including the Muslim leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Subsequently, in the Delhi Durbar held in 1911 in hour of King George V, two important announcements were made: firstly, the partition of Bengal, which had been affected in 1905, was annulled and, secondly, it was announced that the capital of India was to be shifted from Calcutta to Delhi. The disgust with the reforms announced in 1909 led to the intensification of the struggle for Swaraj. While, on the side, extremists led by the great leaders Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal waged a virtual war against the British, on the other side, the revolutionaries stepped up their violent activities. There was a widespread unrest in the country. The British Government responded with the Montague – Chelmsford Reforms of 1919 introduced “dyarchy” in the provinces wherein provincial subjects were divided into two parts, viz., the reverse subjects and the transferred subjects. While the reverse subjects were entrusted to the charge of senior civil servants, only the transferred subjects were handed over to the ministers who came from the elected representatives. These reforms did not satisfy the aspirations of the Indian people who had hoped to achieve Swaraj after the end of the First World War. To add to the already growing discontent among the people, Rowlatt Act was passed in 1919 which empowered the Government to put people in jail without trial. This caused widespread indignation, led to massive demonstration and hartals, which the Government repressed with brutal measures. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre of April 13, 1919, in which thousands of unarmed peaceful people were gunned down on the order of the General Dyer, also aroused the fury of the Indian people. Non – Cooperation and Civil Disobedience After the First World War, Gandhiji became the undisputed leader of the Congress and the organization adopted a new form struggle against the British. The Non – Cooperation Movement launched in 1920 was a great success as even the arrests, firings and brutalities of the British could not stem its tide. Meanwhile, new leaders like Jawaharial Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose also emerged on the scene and advocated the adoption of complete 55 independence as the goal of national movement. Under their influence the national movement became more vociferous and militant but over all quiet prevailed till about 1927. The Simon Commission was sent to Indian in 1927 by the British Government to suggest further reforms in the structure of Indian Government. The Commission did not include any Indian member and the Government showed no intention of accepting the demand for Swaraj. Therefore, it sparked a wave of protests all over the country and the Congress as well as the Muslim League gave a call to boycott it. When the Commission arrived in 1928, there were lathicharged and Lala Laipat Rai, the Sher – e –Punjab, died of the blows received in an agitation. Civil Disobedience Movement The Indian National Congress in its annual session at Lahore in 1929, under the presidentship of Jawaharlal Nehru, adopted a resolution demanding complete independence and decided to launch a Civil Disobedience Movement. It also decided to celebrate January 26 as the Independence Day. The observance of Independence Day on January 26, 1930 was followed by the Civil Disobedience Movement which began with the famous Dandi March by Gandhiji, which lakhs of people joined. Government tired to repress the movement and resorted to brutal firing, killing hundreds of people. Thousands were arrested along with Gandhiji and Jawaharlal Nehru. But the movement spread to all the four corners of the country. Following this, Round Table Conference were arranged by the British and Gandhiji attended the second Round Table Conference at London. But nothing came out of the conference and the Civil Disobedience Movement was revived. Quit India Movement In 1942, Gandhiji started the “Quit India Movement” and decided to launch a mass civil disobedience movement to force the British to leave India. However, all the prominent leaders were arrested, the Congress was banned and the police and army were brought out to suppress the movement. Meanwhile, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, who had escaped from India in 1941, 56 organized the Indian National Army to overthrow the British from India. At the conclusion of the Second World War, the Labour Party, under Prime Minister Attlee, came to power in Britian. The Labour Party was largely sympathetic towards Indian people in their struggle for freedom. A Cabinet Mission was sent to India in March 1946 which, after a careful study of the Indian Political scenario, proposed the formation of an interim Government and convening of a Constituent Assembly comprising of members elected by the provincial legislatures and nominees of the Indian states. An Indian Government was formed which was headed by Jawaharlal Nehru. The Muslim League refused to participate in deliberations of the Constituent Assembly and pressed for the separate state of Pakistan, Lord Mountbatten, the Viceroy of India, presented a plan for the division of India into India and Pakistan, and the Indian leaders had no choice but to accept the division, as the Muslim League was adamant. Thus, India became free on August 15, 1947 and Punjab and Bengal were partitioned to carve out Pakistan on the basis of communal majority. The Constituent Assembly completed its work on November 26, 1949 and gave the new Constitution which came into force from January 36, 1959 when India became a Sovereign Democratic Republic. Independent India The Congress neither acknowledged the Muslim League's performance, albeit poor, in the elections nor deigned to form a coalition government with the League, a situation that led to the collapse of negotiations and mutual trust between the leaders. Mohammad Ali Jinnah, a Western-educated Muslim lawyer, took over the presidency of the moribund Muslim League and galvanized it into a national force under the battle cry of "Islam in danger." Jinnah doubted the motives of Gandhi and Nehru and accused them of practicing Hindu chauvinism. He relentlessly attacked the Congress-led ministries, accusing them of casteism, 57 corruption, and nepotism. Skillfully, he succeeded in unifying various regional Islamic organizations and factions in Punjab and Bengal under the umbrella of the Muslim League. Electoral gains by the Congress in 1937 were rendered ephemeral as its leaders ordered provincial ministries to resign in November 1939, when the viceroy (Victor Alexander John Hope, Marquis of Linlithgow--1936-43) declared India's entrance into World War II without consulting Indian leaders. Jinnah and the Muslim League welcomed the Congress withdrawal from government as a timely opportunity and observed a day of thanksgiving on December 22, 1939. Jinnah persuaded the participants at the annual Muslim League session in Lahore in 1940 to adopt what later came to be known as the Pakistan Resolution, demanding the division of India into two separate sovereign states, one Muslim, the other Hindu. Although the idea of Pakistan had been introduced as early as 1930 at Allahabad, very few had responded to it. However, the volatile political climate, the personal hostilities between the leaders, and the opportunism of Jinnah transformed the idea of Pakistan into a popular demand. Between 1940 and 1942, the Congress launched two abortive agitations against the British, and 60,000 Congress members were arrested, including Gandhi and Nehru. Unlike the uncooperative and belligerent Congress, the Muslim League supported the British during World War II (see The Indian Military under the British Raj, ch. 10). Belated but perhaps sincere British attempts to accommodate the demands of the two rival parties, while preserving the unitary state in India, seemed unacceptable to both as they alternately rejected whatever proposal was put forward 58 during the war years. As a result, a three-way impasse settled in: the Congress and the Muslim League doubted British motives in handing over power to Indians, while the British struggled to retain some hold on India while offering to give greater autonomy. The Congress wasted precious time denouncing the British rather than allaying Muslim fears during the highly charged election campaign of 1946. Even the more mature Congress leaders, especially Gandhi and Nehru, failed to see how genuinely afraid the Muslims were and how exhausted and weak the British had become in the aftermath of the war. When it appeared that the Congress had no desire to share power with the Muslim League at the center, Jinnah declared August 16, 1946, Direct Action Day, which brought communal rioting and massacre in many places in the north. Partition seemed preferable to civil war. On June 3, 1947, Viscount Louis Mountbatten, the viceroy (1947) and governor-general (1947-48), announced plans for partition of the British Indian Empire into the nations of India and Pakistan, which itself was divided into east and west wings on either side of India (see fig. 4). At midnight, on August 15, 1947, India strode to freedom amidst ecstatic shouting of "Jai Hind" (roughly, Long Live India), when Nehru delivered a memorable and moving speech on India's "tryst with destiny." 59 CHAPTER FOUR ENTERING A NEW DECADE India is a land of ancient civilization, with cities and villages, cultivated fields, and great works of art dating back 4,000 years. India's high population density and variety of social, economic, and cultural configurations are the products of a long process of regional expansion. In the last decade of the twentieth century, such expansion has led to the rapid erosion of India's forest and wilderness areas in the face of ever-increasing demands for resources and gigantic population pressures--India's population is projected to exceed 1 billion by the twenty-first century. Such problems are a relatively recent phenomenon. Rhinoceros inhabited the North Indian plains as late as the sixteenth century. Historical records and literature of earlier periods reveal the motif of the forest everywhere. Stories of merchant caravans typically included travel through long stretches of jungle inhabited by wild beasts and strange people; royal adventures usually included a hunting expedition and meetings with unusual beings. In the Mahabharata and the Ramayana , early epics that reflect life in India before 1000 B.C. and 500 B.C., respectively, the forest begins at the edge of the city, and the heroes regularly spend periods of exile wandering far from civilization before returning to rid the world of evil. The formulaic rituals of the Vedas also reflect attempts to create a regulated, geometric space from the raw products of nature. The country's past serves as a reminder that India today, with its overcrowding and scramble for material gain, its poverty and outstanding intellectual accomplishments, is a society in constant change. Human beings, mostly humble folk, have within a period of 200 generations turned the wilderness into one of the most complicated societies in the world. The process began in the northwest in the third millennium B.C., with the Indus Valley, or Harappan, civilization, when an agricultural economy gave rise to extensive urbanization and long-distance trade. The second 60 stage occurred during the first millennium B.C., when the Ganga-Yamuna river basin and several southern river deltas experienced extensive agricultural expansion and population growth, leading to the rebirth of cities, trade, and a sophisticated urban culture. By the seventh century A.D., a dozen core regions based on access to irrigation-supported kingdoms became tied to a pan-Indian cultural tradition and participated in increasing cross-cultural ties with other parts of Asia and the Middle East. India's inclusion within a global trading economy after the thirteenth century culminated in the arrival of Portuguese explorers, traders, and missionaries, beginning in 1498. Although there were ebbs and flows in the pattern, the overall tendency was for peasant cultivators and their overlords to expand agriculture and animal husbandry into new ecological zones, and to push hunting and gathering societies farther into the hills. By the twentieth century, most such tribal (see Glossary) groups, although constituting a substantial minority within India, lived in restricted areas under severe pressure from the caste-based agricultural and trading societies pressing from the plains. Because this evolution took place over more than forty centuries and encompassed a wide range of ecological niches and peoples, the resulting social pattern is extremely complicated and alters constantly. India had its share of conquerors who moved in from the northwest and overran the north or central parts of the country. These migrations began with the Aryan peoples of the second millennium B.C. and culminated in the unification of the entire country for the first time in the seventeenth century under the Mughals. Mostly these conquerors were nomadic or seminomadic people who adopted or expanded the agricultural economy and contributed new cultural forms or religions, such as Islam. The Europeans, primarily the English, arrived in force in the early seventeenth century and by the eighteenth century 61 had made a profound impact on India. India was forced, for the first time, into a subordinate role within a world system based on industrial production rather than agriculture. Many of the dynamic craft or cottage industries that had long attracted foreigners to India suffered extensively under competition with new modes of mass production fostered by the British. Modern institutions, such as universities, and technologies, such as railroads and mass communication, broke with Indian intellectual traditions and served British, rather than Indian, economic interests. A country that in the eighteenth century was a magnet for trade was, by the twentieth century, an underdeveloped and overpopulated land groaning under alien domination. Even at the end of the twentieth century, with the period of colonialism well in the past, Indians remain sensitive to foreign domination and are determined to prevent the country from coming under such domination again. Through India's long history, religion has been the carrier and preserver of culture. One distinctive aspect of the evolution of civilization in India has been the importance of hereditary priesthoods, often Brahmans (see Glossary), who have functioned as intellectual elites. The heritage preserved by these groups had its origin in the Vedas and allied bodies of literature in the Sanskrit language, which evolved in North India during the second millennium B.C. This tradition always accepted a wide range of paths to ultimate truth, and thus encompassed numerous rituals and forms of divinity within a polytheistic system. Generally, Brahmans supported the phenomenon known as Sanskritization, or the inclusion of local or regional traditions within Sanskrit literary models and pan-Indian cultural motifs. In this way, there has been a steady spread of North Indian cultural and linguistic forms throughout the country. This process has not gone unopposed. Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) and Mahavira (founder of Jainism) in the fifth century B.C. represented alternative methods for truth-seekers; they renounced the importance of priesthoods in favor of monastic orders without reference to birth. The largest challenge came from Islam, which rests on Arabic rather than Sanskritic cultural 62 traditions, and has served, especially since the eleventh century, as an important alternative religious path. The interaction of Brahmanical religious forms with local variations and with separate religions creates another level of complexity in Indian social life. Closely allied with religious belief, and deeply rooted in history, caste remains an important feature of Indian society. Caste in many Indian languages is jati , or birth--a system of classifying and separating people from birth within thousands of different groups labeled by occupation, ritual status, social etiquette, and language. Scholars have long debated the origins of this system, and have suggested as the origin religious concepts of reincarnation, the incorporation of many ethnic groups within agricultural systems over the millennia, or occupational stratification within emerging class societies. What is certain is that nineteenth-century British administrators, in their drive to classify and regulate the many social groups they encountered in everyday administration, established lists or schedules of different caste groups. At that time, it seemed that the rules against intermarriage and interdining that defined caste boundaries tended to freeze these groups within unchanging little societies, a view that fit well with imperialistic models imposed on India as a whole. Experience during the twentieth century has demonstrated that the caste system is capable of radical change and adaptation. Modernization and urbanization have led to a decline in the outward display of caste exclusiveness, so that issues of caste may never emerge directly on public transit or in the workplace. Entire castes have changed their status, claiming higher positions as they shed their traditional occupations or accumulate money and power. In many villages, however, the segregation of castes by neighborhood and through daily behavior still exists at the end of the twentieth century. In the cities, segregation takes more subtle forms, emerging directly at times of marriage but existing more often as an undercurrent of discrimination in educational opportunities, hiring, and promotion. The British schedules of different 63 castes, especially those of very low or Untouchable groups, later became the basis for affirmative-action programs in independent India that allowed some members of the most oppressed caste groups access to good education and high- paying jobs. The reservation of positions for Backward Classes (see Glossary) has remained a sore point with higher- ranked groups and has contributed to numerous political confrontations. Meanwhile, attempts by low-ranking (and desperately poor) castes to organize and agitate against discrimination have been met with violence in most Indian states and territories. Caste, therefore, is a very live issue. Religious, caste, and regional diversity exist in India against a background of poverty. At independence in 1947, the British left India in terrible condition. The country emerged from World War II with a rudimentary scientific and industrial base and a rapidly expanding population that lived primarily in villages and was divided by gross inequalities in status and wealth. Under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister (1947-64), India addressed its economic crisis through a combination of socialist planning and free enterprise. During the 1950s and 1960s, large government investments made India as a whole into one of the most industrialized nations in the world. Considerable expenditure on irrigation facilities and fertilizer plants, combined with the introduction of high-yield variety seeds in the 1960s, allowed the Green Revolution to banish famine. The abolition of princely states and large land holdings, combined with (mostly ineffective) land redistribution schemes, also eliminated some of the most glaring inequalities in the countryside and in some areas, such as Punjab, stimulated the growth of middle-sized entrepreneurial farms. Building on the education system bequeathed by the British, India established an infrastructure of universities, basic research institutes, and applied research facilities that trained one of the world's largest scientific and technical establishments. The socialist model of development remained dominant in India through the 1970s, under the leadership of Prime 64 Minister Indira Gandhi, Nehru's daughter. Government- owned firms controlled iron and steel, mining, electronics, cement, chemicals, and other major industries. Telecommunications media, railroads, and eventually the banking industry were nationalized. Import-substitution policies, designed to encourage Indian firms and push out multinational corporations, included strict and time- consuming procedures for obtaining licenses and laws that prohibited firms from operating in India without majority ownership by Indian citizens or corporations. These rules were instrumental, for example, in driving IBM from India in the 1970s, leading to the growth of an indigenous Indian computer industry. By the late 1980s, however, after Mrs. Gandhi's 1984 assassination, the disadvantages of the centrally planned economy began to outweigh its benefits. Inefficiency in public-sector firms, lack of entrepreneurial innovation, excessive bureaucracy, and the inability of the Indian scientific and technical apparatus to transfer technology to marketable goods kept many Indian firms from being competitive in international markets. Under Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and his successors, the national and state-level (states, union territories, and the national capital territory) governments liberalized licensing requirements and eventually rescinded rules on foreign ownership, while taking steps to scale down government market share in a number of high-technology markets. Multinational firms began to reenter India in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, as the government encouraged private enterprise and international sales in its search for foreign exchange. India began to open its economy to the world. Indian-style socialism was probably necessary in the years after independence to protect the nation from foreign economic domination, but its biggest problem was that it did not eliminate poverty. The vast majority of India's population continued to live in small agricultural villages with few public amenities. A significant minority of the population in the 1990s live below the Indian definition of the poverty line, surviving at subsistence level, unemployed or 65 underemployed, with little education or opportunity for training, and suffering from a variety of curable health problems. There are also some 200 million people who live above the official poverty line, but whose lives remain precariously balanced on the border of destitution. The per capita income of India as a whole remains among the lowest in the world. One of the biggest issues facing India as its economy has changed direction is that free-market capitalism offers little help for this large mass of people, who lack the skills or opportunity to participate in the new economy. The big social story of India in the 1980s and the 1990s is the emergence of the middle class. This group includes members of prosperous farming families, as well as the primarily urban-based professional, administrative, and business elites who benefited from forty years of government protection and training. By the mid-1990s, the drive toward modernization had transformed 26.1 percent of the country into urban areas, where, amid masses of impoverished citizens, a sizable class of consumers has arisen. The members of this increasingly vocal middle class chafe under the older, regulated economy and demand a loosening of economic controls to make consumer goods available on the free market. They want education for their children that prepares them for technical and professional careers, increasingly in the private sector instead of the traditional sinecures in government offices. They build their well- appointed brick houses in exclusive suburban neighborhoods or surround their lots with high walls amid urban squalor, driving their scooters or automobiles to work while their children attend private schools. The result of these processes over the course of fifty years is a dynamic, modernizing India with major class cleavages. The upper 1 or 2 percent of the population includes some of the wealthiest people in the world, who can be seen at the racetrack in the latest fashions from Paris or Tokyo, who travel extensively outside India for business, pleasure, or advanced medical care, and whose children attend the most exclusive English-language schools within 66 India and abroad. For the middle class, which makes up between 15 and 25 percent of the population, the end of the twentieth century is a time of relative prosperity: incomes generally keep pace with inflation and jobs may still be obtained through family connections. The increase in consumer goods, such as washing machines and electric kitchen appliances, makes life easier and reduces dependence on lower-class (and low-caste) servants. For the industrial working class, the 1990s are a period of transition as dynamic new industries grow, mostly in the private sector, while many large government-sponsored plants are in jeopardy. The trade union movement, closely connected in some states with communist parties, finds itself under considerable pressure during a period of structural change in the economy. For large numbers of peasants and dwellers in urban slums, a way out of poverty remains as elusive as it had seemed for their grandparents at independence. The political system responsible for these gigantic successes and failures has been democratic; India has called itself "the world's largest democracy." Paradoxically, it was the autocratic rule of the British that gave birth to the rule of the people. Democratization started when a group of concerned British citizens in India and well-to-do Indian professionals gathered in Bombay in 1885 to form a political debating society, the Indian National Congress (Congress--see Glossary). Originally conceived as a lobbying group, the Congress after 1900 became radicalized and took the forefront in a drive for home rule that encompassed elected assemblies and parliamentary procedure. In the face of British intransigence, the Congress soon became the leading organization within a broad-based freedom struggle that finally forced the British out in 1947. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (the Mahatma or Great Soul) was a central figure in this struggle because he was able to turn the Congress from an elite pressure group into a mass movement that mobilized hundreds of millions of people against the immorality of a foreign, nondemocratic system. 67 Gandhi perfected nonviolent techniques for general strikes and civil disobedience, and coordinated demonstrations with mass publicity; the techniques that he popularized have played a part in later Indian and world politics (including the United States civil rights movement). He evolved a philosophy of political involvement as sacrifice for the good of the world and played the role of a holy man who was also a cagey politician--an image that remained important for Indian political figures after independence. In a move to undercut British industrial superiority, Gandhi encouraged a return to a communal, rustic life and village handicrafts as the most humane way of life. Finally, he railed against the segregation of the caste system and religious bigotry that reduced large minorities within India to second-class citizenship. Gandhi was thus able to unite European humanistic and democratic ideas with Indian concepts of an interdependent, responsible community to create a unique political philosophy complete with action plan. In the last years before his assassination in 1948, Gandhi's idiosyncratic program fell out of step with the modernization paradigm of Nehru and the leadership of an independent India, and his ideas became a background theme within Indian political economy. On a regular basis, however, Indian leaders continue to hearken back to his message and employ his organizational and media tactics on the independent Indian political scene. The Congress remained the most important political organization in India after independence. Except for brief periods in the late 1970s and late 1980s and until the mid- 1990s, the Congress always controlled Parliament and chose the prime minister. The political dynasty of Jawaharlal Nehru (1947-64), his daughter Indira Gandhi (1965-77, 1980-84), and her son Rajiv Gandhi (1984-89) was crucial in keeping the Congress in power and also providing continuity in leadership for the country. The party was able to appeal to a wide segment of the poor (including low castes and Muslims) through its ideology of social equality and welfare programs, while appealing to the more prosperous voters--usually from 68 upper castes--by preserving private property and supporting village community leadership. Because it stayed in power so long, the Congress was able to dispense government benefits to a wide range of constituencies, which prompted charges of corruption and led to Congress reversals in the late 1980s. Because it affected a type of socialist policy, the Congress diffused or incorporated left-wing political rhetoric and prevented the growth of a communist-led insurrection that might have been expected under the difficult social conditions existing in India. Although a vibrant communist movement remains a force in Indian politics, it manifests itself at the state level of government rather than in national political power or large- scale revolutionary turmoil. Challenges from the right were small as well until the early 1990s, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP--Indian People's Party) emerged as a serious contender for national leadership. The BJP advocated a blend of Hindu nationalism that inserted religious issues into the heart of national political debates, unlike the secular ideology that officially dominated Indian political thought after independence. In the early 1990s, however, the Congress, after having entered its second century of dominance over the Indian political landscape, continued to hold on to power with a middle-of-the-road message and smaller majorities. The federal structure of India, embodied in the constitution of 1951, attempts to strike a balance between a strong central government and the autonomous governments of the nation-sized states, each with a distinct culture and deep historical roots, that make up the union. A formidable array of powers at the center makes it possible for the central government to intervene in state issues; these powers include control over the military, the presence of an appointed governor to monitor affairs within each state, and the ability of the president to suspend state-level legislatures in times of internal disorder and declare direct President's Rule. In theory, these powers should come into play rarely because the regular administration of the states resides with elected 69 assemblies and chief ministers appointed through parliamentary procedures. State governments have extensive powers over almost all of their internal affairs. The framers of the national constitution constructed a series of checks and balances among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches at the center, and between the center and the states, designed to provide national security while allowing a maximum of state autonomy within the diversified union. The Indian political system has proven to be flexible and durable, but major internal conflicts have threatened the constitution. In practice, the elected office of the nation's president has gravitated toward the formal and ritual aspects of executive power, while the office of the prime minister, backed up by a majority in Parliament, the cabinet, national security forces, and the bureaucracy of the Indian Administrative Service, has wielded the actual power. The national Parliament has not developed an independent committee structure and critical tradition that could stand against the force of the executive branch. The judiciary, while remaining independent and at times crucial in determining national policy, has stayed in the background and is subject to future change through constitutional amendments. The constitution itself has been subject to numerous amendments since its adoption in 1950. By August 1996, the constitution had been amended eighty times. National politics have become contests to set up the appointment of the prime minister, who then has considerable power to interfere directly or through a cooperative president in all aspects of national life. The most drastic example of this power occurred in 1975, when Indira Gandhi implemented the constitutional provision for a declaration of Emergency, suspending civil rights for eighteen months, using Parliament as a tool for eliminating opposition, and ruling with the aid of a small circle of advisers. The more common form of executive interference has been the suspension of state legislatures under a variety of pretexts and the implementation of President's Rule. This typically has occurred when opposition parties have captured state 70 legislatures and set in motion policies unfavorable to the prime minister's party. After Indira Gandhi's assassination in 1984, her successors engaged in such overt acts of interference less often. The main opposition to the national executive comes from the states, in a variety of legal and extralegal struggles for regional autonomy. Most of the states have developed specific political identities based on forms of ethnicity that claim a long historical past. The most common identifying characteristic is language. Agitation in what became the state of Andhra Pradesh led the way in the 1950s, resulting in the reorganization of state boundaries along linguistic lines. Agitations in the state of Tamil Nadu in the 1960s resulted in domination of the state by parties dedicated officially to Tamil nationalism. In the northeast, regional struggles have coalesced around tribal identities, leading to the formation of a number of small states based on dominant tribal groupings. Farther south, in Kerala and West Bengal, communist parties have upheld the banner of regionalism by capturing state assemblies and implementing radical socialist programs against the wishes of the central government. The regional movements most threatening to national integration have occurred in the northwest. The state of Punjab was divided by the Indian government twice after independence--Haryana and Himachal Pradesh were sliced off--before it achieved a Sikh majority population in what remained of Punjab. That majority allowed the Sikh-led Akali Dal (Eternal Party) to capture the state assembly in the early 1980s. By then radical separatist elements were determined to fight for an independent Sikh Punjab. The result was an army attack on Sikh militants occupying the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Indira Gandhi's assassination by her Sikh bodyguards, both in 1984, and a ten-year internal security struggle that has killed thousands. In India's state of Jammu and Kashmir (often referred to as Kashmir), where Muslims constitute the majority of the population, regional struggle 71 takes a different religious form and has created intense security problems that keep bilateral relations with Pakistan, which also lays claim to Kashmir, in a tense mode. The central government usually has been able to defuse regional agitations by agreeing to redefinition of state boundaries or by guaranteeing differing degrees of regional autonomy, including acquiescence in the control of the state government by regional political parties. This strategy defused the original linguistic agitations through the 1970s, and led to the resolution of the destructive political and ethnic crises in Assam in the mid-1980s. When national security interests came into play, however, as in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, the central government did not hesitate to use force. In the mid-1990s, India remains a strong unified nation, with a long history of constitutional government and democracy, but at any moment there are half a dozen regional political agitations underway and a dozen guerrilla movements in different parts of the country advocating various types of official recognition or outright independence based on ethnic affiliation. The unity of the country as a whole has never been seriously threatened by these movements. Because the benefits of union within India have outweighed the advantages of independence for most people within each state, there have always been moderate elements within the states willing to make deals with the central government, and security forces have proven capable of repressing any armed struggle at the regional level. In addition, state-level opposition, whether in the legislatures or in the streets, has been an effective means of preventing massive interference from New Delhi in the day-to-day lives of citizens, and thus has provided a crucial check that has preserved the democratic system and the constitution. One of the most serious challenges to India's internal security and democratic traditions has come from so-called communal disorders, or riots, based on ethnic cleavages. The most typical form is a religious riot, mostly between Hindus 72 and Muslims, although some of these disturbances also occur between different castes or linguistic groups. Most of these struggles start with neighborhood squabbles of little significance, but rapidly escalate into mob looting and burning, street fighting, and violent intervention by the police or paramilitary forces. Religious ideology has played only a small part in these events. Instead, the pressures of urban life in overcrowded, poorer neighborhoods, combined with competition for limited economic opportunities, create an environment in which ethnic differences become convenient labels for defining enemies, and criminal behavior becomes commonplace. Whether ignited by a street accident or a major political event, passions in these areas may be directed into mob action. However, after the catastrophe of independence (when hundreds of thousands in North India died during the partition of India and Pakistan and at least 12 million became refugees), and because the pattern of rioting has continued annually in various cities, a culture of distrust has grown up among a sizable minority of Hindus and Muslims. This distrust has manifested itself in the nationwide agitations fomented by elements of the BJP and communal Hindu parties in the early 1990s. It reached a peak in December 1992 with the dramatic destruction of the Babri Masjid, a mosque in Ayodhya (in Uttar Pradesh), and communal riots and bombings in major cities throughout India in early 1993. In this manner, the frictions of daily life in an overcrowded, poor nation have had a major impact on the national political agenda. The internal conflict between Hindus and Muslims has received some of its stimulus since 1947 from the international conflict between India and Pakistan. One of the great tragedies of the freedom struggle was the relentless polarization of opinion between the Congress, which came to represent mostly Hindus, and the All-India Muslim League (Muslim League--see Glossary), which eventually stood behind a demand for a separate homeland for a Muslim majority. This division, encouraged under British rule by 73 provisions for separate electorates for Muslims, led to the partition of Pakistan from India and the outbreak of hostilities over Kashmir. Warfare between India and Pakistan occurred in 1947, 1965, and 1971; the last conflict led to the independence of Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) and a major strategic victory by India. The perception of Pakistan as an enemy nation has overshadowed all other Indian foreign policy considerations because neither country has relinquished claims over Kashmir, and a series of border irritations continue to bedevil attempts at rapprochement. In the late 1980s, tensions over large-scale military maneuvers almost led to war, and regular fighting over glacial wastelands in Kashmir continues to keep the pressure high. An added dimension emerged in 1987 when Pakistan publicly admitted that it possessed nuclear weapons capability, matching Indian nuclear capabilities demonstrated in 1974. In the mid-1990s, both nations continue to devote a large percentage of their military budgets to developing or to purchasing advanced weaponry, which is mostly aimed at each other--a serious drain of resources needed for economic growth. Nehru and the early leadership of independent India had envisioned a nation at peace with the rest of the world, in keeping with Gandhian ideals and socialist goals. Under Nehru's guidance, India distanced itself from Cold War politics and played a major part in the Nonaligned Movement (see Glossary). Until the early 1960s, India spent relatively little on national defense and enjoyed an excellent relationship with the United States, a relationship that peaked in John F. Kennedy's presidency. India's strategic position changed after China defeated the Indian army in the border war of 1962 and war with Pakistan occurred in 1965. During this period, the situation became more precarious because India had opponents on two fronts. In addition, Pakistan began to receive substantial amounts of military assistance from the United States, ostensibly to support anticommunism, but it was no secret that most of the weapons purchased with United States aid were a deterrent 74 projected against India. Under these circumstances, India began to move closer to the Soviet Union, purchasing outright large amounts of military hardware or making agreements to produce it indigenously. Relations between the United States and India reached a low point in 1971 during the Bangladesh war of independence, when a United States naval force entered the Bay of Bengal to show support for Pakistan although doing nothing to forestall its defeat. This display of force, which could not be opposed by India or the Soviet Union, served only to strain the relationship between India and the United States and heightened Cold War tensions in South Asia. During the 1970s, as the United States and China improved relations and China became closer in turn to Pakistan, India's strategic position became more entwined with Cold War issues, and the Soviet connection became even more important. These international postures contrasted dramatically with the increasing importance to India of American scientific and economic links, which were strengthened by the increasing emigration of Indian citizens to North America. The overall result, however, was India's weaker international situation in the view of some Americans. During the 1980s, then, India was still officially a nonaligned nation but in fact found itself deeply embedded in Cold War strategy. India's reaction to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan was a disquieting feature of Indian foreign policy, in that India decried the Soviet military presence but did nothing against it. Continued United States support for Pakistan, plus the buildup of United States strike forces on the small island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, heightened tensions. It was no coincidence, therefore, that the 1980s witnessed a major expansion of Indian naval forces, with the addition of two aircraft carriers, a submarine fleet, and major surface ships, including transport craft. But although the Indian buildup made the United States unhappy, India's technological capacities remained inferior to those of the United States Navy, and the Indian navy was never a large threat to United States interests. Instead, the 75 growth of the Indian navy had major implications for the regional balance of power within South Asia. The Indian navy could potentially create a second front against Pakistan should major hostilities recur. India's military buildup allowed it to intervene in low- intensity conflicts throughout South Asia. From 1987 to 1990, the Indian Peace Keeping Force of more than 60,000 personnel was active in Sri Lanka and became embroiled in a fruitless war against Tamil separatist guerrillas. And, in 1988 Indian forces briefly intervened in Maldives to prevent a coup. Regular border problems with Bangladesh after 1971, the Indian annexation of Sikkim in 1975, and the 1989 closure of the border with Nepal over economic disagreements all added up to the picture of a big country bullying its smaller neighbors, a vision Indian leaders took great pains to dispel. Thus, even though the country officially remained at peace during the 1980s, India's growing military power and the intersecting problems of regional dominance and Cold War ambivalence drove an ambitious foreign policy. The Indian strategic position changed dramatically in the early 1990s. The end of the Cold War, and then the disintegration of the Soviet Union itself, deprived India of a great ally but also put a stop to many of the worldwide tensions that had relentlessly pulled India into global alignments. When the United States cut off military aid to Pakistan in 1990, it defused one of the most intractable barriers to good relations with India. Then, in 1992, the Persian Gulf War against Iraq brought India grudgingly into an alignment with both Pakistan and the United States, a connection strengthened in 1994 when troops from all three nations cooperated in Somalia under the aegis of the United Nations. The possession of nuclear weapons by Pakistan and India immersed them in a familiar scenario of mutually assured destruction and made it more problematic for India, despite its military superiority, to overrun Pakistan. Thus, in the mid-1990s, despite continuing hostility over Kashmir, 76 which intensified as the internal situation there disintegrated in the 1990s, the long-term possibilities for official peace between the two countries remained good. Threats from other South Asian nations were negligible. Issues with China were unresolved but not very significant. No other country in the world presented a strategic threat. As budgetary problems beset the government in the mid-1990s, therefore, the Indian military began cutbacks. The military also expanded contacts with a variety of other nations, including Russia and the United States. India hence has entered a period of relative security and multilateral contacts quite different from its twenty-five-year Cold War immersion. India is a complex geographic, historical, religious, social, economic, and political entity. India is one of the oldest human civilizations and yet displays no cultural features common to all its members. It is one of the richest nations in history, but most of its people are among the poorest in the world. Its ideology rests on some of the most sublime concepts of humanism and nonviolence, but deep- seated discrimination and violent responses are daily news. It has one of the world's most stable political structures, but that structure is constantly in crisis. The nation is seeking a type of great power status, but no one is sure what that involves. India, in the end, defies easy analysis. The most notable event that occurred in India after the manuscript for this book was completed in the summer of 1995 was the nationwide general elections for the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, held in April and May 1996. The elections were held in the wake of a US$18 million bribery scandal and resignations involving seven cabinet members and numerous others. Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, leader of the ruling Congress (I), was accused of accepting substantial bribes. Lal Krishna Advani, head of the BJP, the leading opposition party, was arrested for his alleged acceptance of bribes. For many voters, this scandal was the culmination of scandals and corruption associated for years with old-guard politicians. 77 The world's largest democracy went to the polls, except in Jammu and Kashmir, over three days between April 27 and May 7 with nearly 14,700 candidates from 522 parties running for 543 of the 545 Lok Sabha seats (the other two seats are filled with Anglo-Indians appointed by the president). Some 16,900 others vied for 914 seats in six state and union territory assembly elections. The candidates were as diverse as ever, with a plethora of Backward Class candidates rising to challenge high-caste hopefuls. Prominent among them was Janata Dal Party candidate Laloo Prasad Yadev, the chief minister of Bihar, who ran on an anti- Brahman caste platform. Phoolan Devi, a former convicted outlaw, who became world-famous as India's "Bandit Queen," also successfully ran for office. One highly favored potential candidate who decided not to run was Sonia Gandhi, widow of Rajiv Gandhi, daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi, and granddaughter-in-law of Jawaharlal Nehru. She resisted the honor amidst tensions between herself and Rao and, in the minds of some observers, ended the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty while sealing the fate of the Congress (I). Some 60 percent of India's 590 million voters turned out, but failed to elect a majority government. The BJP, which had tried to tone down its Hindu nationalist rhetoric, won with its allies 194, or 37 percent, of the seats announced on May 10. The Congress (I) won 136, or 25 percent, of the seats. The National Front-Left Front won 110 seats (21 percent), with the remaining ninety-four seats (17 percent) going to unaligned regional parties, independents, and others. The Congress, which had held national power for all but four years since 1947, received the lowest votes ever as many of its traditional Muslim and low-caste constituents defected to other parties and high-caste voters sided with the BJP. After thirteen days in office as the head of a BJP minority government, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee resigned on May 28, three days before a vote of no confidence would have brought down his government. He was succeeded as India's eleventh prime minister by the chief minister of 78 Karnataka, the Janata Dal's Haradanahalli (H.D.) Deve Gowda, who headed a minority coalition with thirteen parties--the United Front--made up of some members of the National Front, the Left Front, and regional parties. Deve Gowda, a sixty-three-year-old civil engineer of middle-class, lower-caste farmer background, proclaimed the United Front as representative of India's great diversity and reaffirmed his commitment to modern India's secular heritage. Although the Congress is not part of the left-center coalition, the United Front is dependent on it for survival. The United Front sought Congress and bipartisan support by declaring that the economic reforms started by the Congress were "irreversible" and committing itself to continued reforms and attracting foreign investment. Despite the Congress's electoral debacle, the party continued to be an important behind-the-scenes force in the new government. Former Prime Minister Rao's legal problems led him to resign as president of the Congress in September 1996. His successor, Sitaram Kesri, pledged to continue backing the coalition. Because of continuing unrest in Jammu and Kashmir, long-awaited special elections for six Lok Sabha seats were held under tight security between May 7 and 30. The central government's Election Commission proclaimed that the elections were "relatively free and fair" despite the efforts of militants and separatists to sabotage them. There were widespread reports, however, that Indian security forces had coerced people into voting. In September state-level elections were held in Jammu and Kashmir for the first time in nine years. Farooq Abdullah's National Conference party won the violence-prone contest. In foreign affairs, India and Pakistan continued to seek ways to reduce tensions between the two nations. Deve Gowda offered conciliatory signs to Benazir Bhutto, his counterpart in Islamabad, as the two sides moved toward high-level talks. Despite the opposition of the United States and the withdrawal of technical support from Russia, in April 1996 India completed its own design of a 7.5-ton cryogenic 79 engine capable of launching rockets with 2,500-kilogram payloads. Such a development was a major technological advance for Indian science and gave India the potential to move into the company of the other space-exploring nations. India continued to maintain its stand in regard to nuclear weapons proliferation and in August 1996 refused to ratify the United Nations-sponsored Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty unless the treaty required the destruction of the world's existing nuclear weapons within a prescribed period. To concur with the treaty as it stood, some Indian observers felt, would limit the country's sovereignty. Meanwhile, several senior active-duty and retired military and foreign servicers proposed that India should formally declare itself a nuclear- weapons state and give a "no-first-use" assurance. Five Features of Modern India Many people in the Western world think of India as an inert and distant [grouping] of people and poverty, a combination of the exotic and tragic. This misperception, popularized through years of media stereotyping, conceals reality. India is, in fact, a vibrant society with an increasingly vigorous internal dynamic and an increasing influence, directly and indirectly, in the world. Its significance lies not only in its size -- some 930 million Indians are 15 percent of the planetary population -- but also in the questions raised by the path India has chosen in domestic and foreign policy. This nation is the largest functioning democracy, with regular and freely contested elections. Thus, it is the test of whether democracy is a suitable system of govemment for large numbers of relatively poor people_in a world where democracy, as we understand it, is a much- endangered political species, especially in Third World countries. 80 Modern India is also a test of two middle-ground philosophies. As an early proponent of non-alignment in international politics, India has attempted to establish a [middle] position between Western and [communist] oriented states. Over the years, its leadership in carving out a Third World posture demonstrated that there is a viable route for nations who did not want to take sides in Cold War politics, an approach which many other nations in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East have followed and hope to sustain. India's economic policies have also broken new ground. They were the first large-scale test of the modern mixed economy: central government planning with a combination of both private and public ownership of economic enterprises. It is perhaps still too early to evaluate the results. On the one hand, poverty remains widespread and unemployment is high. On the other, Indian agriculture has performed much better than either Soviet or Chinese agriculture. India now feeds her population and has imported hardly any grain in the past four years. Also, India now ranks as the ninth largest industrial economy in the world. A further significance of India today comes from the geopolitics of South Asia. Bordering the Indian Ocean into which the Persian Gulf flows, it is a key location in an era of oil logistics. Add the proximity of Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and China, and India's situation becomes critical to the tensions and interactions of current global politics. From this perspective alone, apart from the many human, cultural and other reasons, it behooves thoughtful people around the world to make efforts to understand this vast and vital nation. It is possible to say almost anything about India and have it apply to some part of that subcontinent. India is a land 81 of poverty and, in some ways, of plenty. It is a nation both powerful and weak, ancient and modern, climatically dramatic in its contrasts. The very term "India" implies a unity which exists more as a tentative political form than as a human and socio- cultural reality. From the intertwining of its complex history with contemporary society, one can distill five important features which will perhaps give us some aids in understanding modern India. The first feature to remember when thinking of India is its diversity. It is a country in which there are 15 official languages, over 300 minor languages and some 3,000 dialects. Twenty-four languages have more than one million speakers each. The largest spoken language is Hindi, but this is the mother tongue of only about 40 percent of the population. Often Indians cannot understand each other and frequently use English as a link or administrative language. But language is not the only diversity. There are four principal social groupings, what we sometimes call castes, and several thousand sub- categories of the castes. Although predominantly Hindu, all the world's major religions are represented in India. Ethnic differences also abound. This mosaic is culturally extraordinary. It is a source of divisiveness in a nation where particular loyalties have a deep meaning, both spiritually and physically. Given this diversity, it is remarkable that India has remained and grown, and continues to grow, as one nation. A second feature is the depth of culture, which contrasts with the newness of the nation in its present form. There has been over 4,000 years of philosophical and cultural development in India, going back to early Aryan civilization. Since then, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Islamic, Sikh and other influences have left deep imprints on society. Every Indian, even the poorest illiterate, 82 can tell stories of myth and history, a consciousness of a great civilizational heritage which is unusually widespread. Yet, there was no India as we know it until the achievement of independence in 1947. Before that there were various fragmented territories. Many of these were absorbed into the British Indian Empire which mixed direct British rule with supervision of many areas ruled by traditional princes and local kings or maharajas. The modern state of India is only 34 years old and its development must be understood in the context of trying to impose a national framework on old cultural patterns. The consciousness of the great past and the newness of the present sometimes produce an abrasive reaction. The third feature is that India is a land of minorities. About 80 percent of the population is Hindus. But Hinduism is an amalgam of pluralistic beliefs and forms, often containing conflicting elements. An additional 12 percent are Muslims, deeply aware of their Islamic faith. Hindu, Urdu, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Telegu, Punjabi and other languages create minorities of their own. Tribal and neo- aboriginal peoples number almost 40 million. No contestant for political office can be successful without an awareness of these constituencies. And this, in turn, conditions both domestic and foreign policy. A fourth feature of modern India is that its future depends on the interaction between two worlds: the cities of India, where 20 percent of the population live, and rural India, where about 600,000 villages contain the rest of the population. Urban India is the India of modern industry, national politics and foreign policy, government planning, the national media, the major universities, business, the armed forces, science 83 and technology. Its best products are frequently as good as the best in the world, its orientation is cosmopolitan. Rural India is the India of age-old patterns where tradition is the principal dynamic of society, where outsiders come and go but life continues, often without much change. When the two Indias mesh effectively, India is a success, as in the expansion of education, the reduction of illiteracy, the extension of the average lifespan, the introduction of some basic health care, the sustenance of a democratic political system. When they do not connect effectively, India is in trouble, as with population control and unemployment. For the nation to realize its considerable potential, the linkage between those two Indias has to be expanded and strengthened. The fifth and final feature we must remember is that poverty, spirituality and modernity mix and coexist in India, without the paradoxical implications which a Western perspective suggests. It is the essence of Indian spirituality which enables even the most deprived to endure poverty and it is modernity which provides the prospect of improvement. It is this spirit, a composite of many small individual visions and inspirations, which characterizes modern India and offers the best hope for the nation and its people. 84 CHAPTER FIVE GREAT INDIANS 1. Gautama, The Buddha More than 2500 years ago, there lived a Kshatriya king named Suddhodana who ruled over the little kingdom of Kapilavastu on the India-Nepal border. He had a soh named Siddhartha who later came to be known as the Buddha and is regarded as one of the greatest luminaries of the world. Siddhartha was born in Lumbini, situated near the border between India and Nepal.Gautama was his family name. His mother, Mahamaya, passed away when he was only seven days old. The child was brought to Kapilavastu and was nurtured by Mahaprajapati Gautami who was Mahamaya’s sister and Suddhodana’s second wife. His father bestowed all his loving attention and care on the child. It is said that Asita, an old seer, went to the royal palace to see the new-born prince. Looking at the baby, he predicted that the child was destined to be a Mahatma or a great man. Saying so, he laughed, but a moment later tear trickled down his face. Those present were surprised at this and asked him why he has both laughed and wept at the same time. He explained: "I had laughed because I was delighted at the thought that the child would renounce the world, found a new religion and be a savior of mankind. I shed tears because I would not live long enough to see the future greatness of the child realized." Suddhodana was not very happy about the prophecy because he wanted his child to succeed him as the king of Kapilavastu. The child, Gautama, was very sweet and charming as well as extremely intelligent. He lived in a big palace in the midst of beautiful gardens. There was nothing he wished that he did not get. As he grew up, he was taught reading, writing, music, riding, swimming and hunting. He knew well how to use the sword and pull the bow. He trained himself in evening a prince ought to know. 85 Deep inside his heart, however, Gautama longed for solitude. He was a dreamer by temperament. Often he left his associates in the midst of sports and wandered away to seclusion, absorbed in deep thought. Once his companions found him missing for pretty long. They searched and searched for him until at last they found him sitting in meditation under a rose-apple tree. Gautama had a kind and tender heart and could not bear the pain and suffering of others. When out hunting, his heart would suffer in sympathy for the innocent birds and animals and he would not kill them. Once he found a wounded swan in a corner of his lovely garden and was overwhelmed by its agony. All this was noticed by his father and it made him very sad. He tried to keep Gautama away from unhappiness and miseries of life. Gautama grew up into a handsome youth, and was married to Yashodhara, a beautiful princess, whom he dearly loved. Together, they lived blissfully. He was given three seasons--winter, summer and monsoon. There were dancing, music, games and hunting to entertain him. He had all the pleasures and luxuries that a royal life could offer. In time, he was blessed with a son who was christened Rahul. All this, however, did not make him really happy. He longed for something else. The prince once expressed a desire to see the city and to kwon how the people lived. As he rode in his chariot, he saw a tottering old man with his back bent, leaning on a stick in his hand, his eyes sunk , his teeth all gone, his hair turned all grey. The wretched condition of the man set him thinking. He thought that his own plight in old age would not be very different. He became pensive and sad at the thought that all living beings were doomed to suffer from old age. On another occasion, he came across a man who was suffering from a terrible disease. He realized that a man suffer from a disease any time in his life--in childhood, youth or old age. Sometime later, he saw a dead body being taken to the cremation ground, followed by wailing mourners. He felt that all men must die one day.He now began to brood over the spectacle of old age, sickness and death which made him increasingly distressed. He came to the conclusion that human life was full of pain, suffering, sorrow and misery and misery and no one could escape them. One day Gautama happened to meet a wandering ascetic. He asked him why he had taken to that life. The ascetic replied 86 that he had renounced the world, because he wanted to free himself from the miseries of life. Gautama now saw that some people were trying to find a way out of human misery. This created an intense urge in him to find out why there was suffering in the world and how man could free himself from it. In the prime of his youth, he made up his mind to give up all the comforts and pleasures of princely life and adopt the life of a mendicant in quest of Truth. He was only twenty-nine at that time. At midnight, when everyone in the palace was in deep slumber, he rose from his couch and called his charioteer to fit out his favourite horse, Kanthaka. He had a last, lingering glimpse of his beloved wife, Princess Yashodhara, who was fast asleep, with baby Rahul next to her. He softly walked out, mounted his horse and rode away. This was the Great Renunciation. He rode towards a forest all night long and the next morning he reached a place far, far away from his father’s kingdom. He dismounted from his horse, cast off his princely attire, cut off his hair, wore a yellow robe and marched alone in search of the secret of happiness. He began the life of a wandering ascetic. He met some of the most famous religious teachers of the time and learned something from them, but he was still not satisfied. He walked on and on and reached the forest of Uruvela near Gaya in Bihar. Here, he practiced rigorous penance for six long years. In the process, he was reduced to a skeleton. He however, did not gain the Truth he was seeking. He found that self-torture was not the right way he took food again. He now began to meditate under a papal tree near Gaya. At last one day he suddenly attained supreme knowledge. Thereafter, he came to be known as the Buddha or the Enlightened One. The Buddha, who was then thirty-five years of age, was eager to share the light of knowledge with humanity. He proceeded to Sarnath near Varanasi and began to preach his new faith called Buddhism. The Buddha taught the four Noble truths. They were: 1. Life is full of suffering: 2. The cause of this suffering is that man is selfish and has desires: 3. Suffering ceases when the desire ceases: 4. Desire can be eliminated by following the Eight-fold Path 87 which consisted of Right Faith, Right Resolve, Right Speech, Right Conduct, Right Living, Right Effort, Right Remembrance and Right Meditation. The Buddha concluded from his own experience that one should neither indulge too much in the pleasures of life nor torture oneself too much. These were extremes and did not bring happiness and should, therefore, be avoided. There was a Middle Path which led to knowledge and happiness. The Buddha said: One should learn self-control; if someone is angry, one should not be angry in return but be kind instead; one should not have any hatred or malice towards others; one should show compassion, love and kindness to all living beings; one should not lie, steal, kill or drink; one should have a good heart and mind which will manifest itself in good thoughts, good words and good deeds; and one should lead a simple and pure lift. That is the way to achieve happiness. He went from place to place teaching the people the way to happiness. Disciples began to gather round him and thousands of people became his followers. His father, wife and son also embraced Buddhism. Extremely gentle and tolerant, full of human sympathy and kindness, universal love and compassion, the Buddha preached his Dharma to the rich and the poor, the low alike. He said: "It is not by birth, but through one’s acts, that one becomes a Brahman or an untouchable". He said that all the castes united in his religion as did the rivers in the ocean. The Apostle took his gospel to the doors of the people and taught them in their own language and in a manner that was at once simple and touching. For forty-five years, the master Preached sermons on universal love, morality and purity, leading people to the path of righteousness. The Buddha died at Kusinara (modern Kushinagar in U.P.), about 190 kilometres (120 miles) from Varanasi (banaras) at the age of eighty. The Buddha called Kashmir "the land of blue forests". He is said to have predicted that a disciple of Anand, his constant 88 companion, would propagate his religion in Kashmir, Later, Kashmir became a great centre of Buddhism and Buddhist learning. Several Buddhist scholars lived and studied there. The third Buddhist Council was held in Kashmir. A number of Buddhist scholars from Kashmir went beyond the borders of India, especially to China, to spread the sacred message of the Buddha. Most of the people in Ladakh, one of the divisions of Jammu and Kashmir Stata, are Buddhists. There are a number of Buddhist monasteries and priests there. Millions the world over follow Buddhism even today and draw inspirations from his life and work. 2. Ashoka the Great AN eminent American historian was once asked to name haft a dozen men among those who rose above the common level, who deserved to be called great. He turned the question over for a day or two and then gave a list of six names. Ashoka, the Mauryan Emperor of India, was one of them. Others in the list were Jesus, the Buddha, Aristotle, Roger Bacon and Abraham Lincoln. Down the road of history, one would come across a large number of emperors who have battled for fame, or who have sought to command unmatched power, splendor and influence. Yet Ashoka was the only king who found a place in that list. The historian argued that this was so not because he was a victorious conqueror, but because he voluntarily abandoned war and devoted himself to peace, humanity and the betterment of his subjects. Further amplifying, the historian said: “These six men stood on the corners of history. Events hinged on them. The current of human thought was freer and clearer because they had lived and worked. They took little from the world and left it much. They did not get; they gave”. When he ascended the throne of Magadha in 273 B.C., Ashoka was no different from his father, Bindusara, and his grandfather, Chandragupta, who had founded the regal title of “Devanampriya Priyadarsi” (or “Priyadarshini”) and increased his power and splendor. He raised a vast army consisting of elephants, 89 chariots, cavalry and infantry, 6, 00,000 men in all. With the help of this huge force, he vanquished many a kingdom and humbled many a king throughout the length and breadth of the country. And then, in 261 B.C., Ashoka set out to conquer the last remaining independent kingdom in northern India. This was Kalinga (modern Orissa), a wild, wooded country on the east coast, between the Godavari and Mahanadi rivers. The army of Kalinga fought fiercely, but could not hold ground against the superior tactics and behave with great cruelty in this war; 125,000 people were taken prisoners, 100,00 were slain and many time that number were rendered orphan, destitute and homeless. No mercy was show and neither old people nor women nor were little children spared. Militarity, it was a great conquest which made Ashoka the master of the whole of non-Tamil India. His domain now extended from the land of the Yavanas, Kambojas and Gandharas in the Kabul Valley and some adjoining mountain territory to the country of the Andhras in the Godavari-Krishna basin and the district of Isila in the north of Mysore, and from Sopara and Gimar in the west to Dhauli and Jaugada in the east. His kingdom included the vales of Kashmir and Nepal and the plains of North Bengal and East Bengal. The battle of kalinga proved to be a turning point in the life of Ashoka and produced results which had far-reaching consequences in the history of India and the whole of the eastern world. Just about the time of this campaign, Askoha made the acquaintance of a Buddhist teacher named Upagupta. Upagupta instructed the emperor in the teachings of the Buddha, and he especially pointed out to him the doctrine of Ahimsa or non- violence. Life was a sacred trust and it was the greatest sin to deprive anyone, man or animal, of this. The teaching and the sight of the terrible misery and bloodshed in the Kalinga war filled Ashoka with remorse at the thought of the brutalities committed by his army. He vowed that he would never go to war again and that, in future, his war-drum would sound no more in this land. The only drum would be that which proclaimed the Dharma or Law of piety. "If a hundredth, nay a thousand th part of the persons who were then slain, carried away captive, or done to death, were 90 now to suffer the same fate, it would be a matter of remorse to us", he declared. Ashoka, hereafter, became intensely devoted to the practice of Dharma (morality and piety), to the love of Dharma and to the instruction of the people in Dharm. There came about a redical change in his foreign policy. The emperor eschewed military consequests involving slaughter and deportation of people and evolved a policy of dharma-vijaya, or conquest bows and arrows. Shortly after the Kalinga war, he became a layworshipper (upasaka) of the Buddha and went out to Sambidhi, or Bodh- Gaya in Bihar, and established closed relations with the Buddihst close relations with the Buddhist Sangha or order of monks. He undertook "tours of morality" (dharma-yatra) in place of pleasure (yihara-yatra) of his ancestors. In the course of these tours, he visited the people, the highest and the lowlies, and instructed them in Dharma. The law, as taught by the royal preacher to his people, was simple to understand. True religion, he said, consisted in observing four great rules: honouring one’s father and mother; liberality to friends, relations, holy men and Brahmins; abstension from the slaughter of any living creature; and kindness to slaves and servants. The Law of Piety, Ashoka declared, lay "in good deeds, compassion, liberality, truthfulness and purity". Above all things, he enjoined men to observe strict religious toleration. "A man must not revere his own religion and condemn that of his neighbour. Other people’s beliefs deserve respect for one reason or another ". At the end of "256 nights" spent on tour, the emperor was satisfied that the people in India had turned to morality and piety. But his dominions were vast and he realised that, with all his zeal, he alone would not be able to carry the message of Dharma to the people in the remotest corners of his Empire. He, therefore, ordered all his commissioners and district officers to publish scripts on morality and set out on tour every five years to give instructions in morality as well as for ordinary official duties. In order that the message might reach everyone, Ashoka’s edicts were engraved on rock and existing stone pillars. New "pillars of morality" were set up in places where they were most likely to attention of passers-by. Special officers were appointed to look after welfare of people belonging to all sects and classes, including 91 princes and princesses of the blood, prisoners in jails, ordinary householders and their servants as well as homeless ascetics. It was characteristic of Ashoka that he always practised what he preached. He assumed the life of an ordinary monk or Bhikku, gave up the splendeours and luxuries of the court and was content with a single yellow robe, a needle to mend it, a razor to shave his head and beard, a strainer lest he shoulfe in his destroy life in his drinking water, and a begging bowl. In the eleventh year of his reign, he stopped the royal hunts. The slaughter of animals to make curries in the imperial kitchen was discontinued and sacrificial slaughter of animals was also abolished. He never spared himself. He said: "I must work for the public benefit. For what do I toil? For the discharge of my debt to all living beings, so that I may make them happy in this world, and sure of heaven in the next." He provided medical care both for men and animals. Under his orders, reservoirs of water were constructed at various places, trees were planted and wells dug along the roads for the comfort of travelers, and rest-houses and hospitals were built. Special measures were taken for the protection of the poor, the backward jungle tribes and the downtrodden castes. The Queen and the princess were encouraged to distribute alms to the poor and to make gifts to cave-dwelling to the homeless. One of his queens, Karuvaki, seems to have excelled others in these acts of charity. The reference to cave-dwelling affords us a glimpse into another side of the Emperor’s activity. Ashoka was a great builder, he introduced the use of stone and workmen learnt to carve and polish stone pillar in a most exquisite manner. In Pataliputra, the capital, he constructed a splendid place, besides numerous mounds, monasteries and temples. He also built monasteries, viharas and the temples all over his kingdom. Ashoka’s rule in Kashmir is a landmark in the history of this region which was then governed through a deputy who had his seat at Taxilla, according to the eminent Kashmir historian, AI-Haj Dr. G.M.D. Sufi. Ashoka built the original town of Srinagar, at a site about 6 kilometres (4 miles) above the existing capital and which is now occupied by a village called Pandrethan. Ashoka’s laws of piety and morality, says Dr. Sufi, "deeply affected the 92 Kashmiri character. The ordinary patience that the Kashmiri shows under the severst visitations of nature, such as cholera and earthquake, is clearly traceable to this early Buddhist influence. The outside appearance of most of the present-day Muslim shrines is not unlike that of a Buddhist pagoda, though all details are entirely Saracenic….." Ashoka was not content to preach his new-found faith in his own domain. The new foreign policy he adopted was one of peace and forbearance, of friendly conquest by morality. The reverberation of the war-drum" (bheri ghosha) was to become" the reverberation of the law" (dharma-ghosha). Not satisfied with what he did himself, he sent out Buddhist missionaries to his Greek friends in the distant West, and to the Eastern countries. He sent his son and daughter, Mahendra and Sanghamitra, to Ceylon with a branch of the sacred Bodhi tree. Devanampriya Tissa, the ruler of that island-kingdom, was converted and his example was followed by his subjects. Missionaries were also sent to Lower Burma, Sumatra and some adjoining islands. Ashoka is said to have made a spiritual conquest of many realms. In 249 B.C., the twenty-third year of his reign, Ashoka made a pil-grimage to the holy places, accompanied by his teacher Upagupta. He visited the Lumbini Garden where the Buddha was born and Kapilavastu where the Blessed One spent his boyhood. From there, he went to deer Garden near Varanasi where the Buddha preached his first sermon; Sravasti where he spent so many years; Gaya where he received his Enlightenment; and lastly, Kusinara where he attained Nirvana and was cremated. At all these places, Ashoka built lofty stone pillars with lion capitals, and established colleges for the study and teaching of the Law of Piety. On his return, he called a council which drew up an authentic list of Buddhist scriptures. Shortly before his death, Ashoka retires from worldly life and left his kingdom to his two grandsons. He passed away an ascetic in 232 B.C. Ashoka is indeed one of the most remarkable personalities in world history. He was tireless in his exertions, and unflagging in his zeal. All his acts were directed to the promotion of the physical, 93 spiritual and moral welfare of his people whom he called his children. It was entirely due to his energy and initiative the Buddhism–a local sect of the Ganga valley—was turned into a world religion. He was great in war, but far greater in peace. There is no doubt that his name will inspire all those who seek to make the world a better and happier place for mankind in the times to come. 3. Tyagaraja You must have read in your history about King Harsha who ruled over Kashmir some nine centuries ago. One of his good deeds was to bring the arts of the other parts of India into Kashmir. He invited masters of Karnatic music from the far south and asked them to give Jessons to the musicians of Kashmir. Already proficient in North Indian music, they now learnt Karnatic music too. These two systems of music are the warp and woof of the fabric called ‘Indian music’. Among the composers of Karnatic music, three were the most famous. They were Tyagaraja, Shyama Sastri and Muthuswami Dikshaltar. Tyagaraja was the greatest of the three. In Tyagaraja’s compositions, we find a unique combination of music, poetry and spiritualism. He was a gifted singer and sang his own compositions to the accompaniment of his Veena. He considered music as a form of worship and said in one of his songs: "Knowledge of the science of music conduces to bliss divine". Saint Tyagaraja was a prolific composer. He has left a rich heritage for nearly 700 precious songs in about 270 ragas, besides two excellent operas,"Prahlada Bhakti Vijayam" and "Nowka Charitam". His songs are as popular today as they were during his life-time, two hundred year ago. Tyagaraja belonged to a Telugu family which had settled in Tiruvarur, in Tanjavur district of Tamilnad. It is an important place of pilgrimage. The two other great composers, Shyama Sastri and Muthuswami Dikshitar, were also natives of Tiruvarur. The name of Tygaraja’s father was Rama Brahmam, and of his mother, Santamma or according to some, Sitamma. It is said that the 94 presiding deity of Tiruvarur tmple, called Tyagaraja, appeared to Ramma Brahmam in a dream and told him that he should be named ‘Tyagaraja’. Tyagaraja was born on May 4, 1767. He was the third child of Rama Brahman. His elder brother was called Panchapakesan, also known as Jalpesan. Ramanathan, the other brother, had died young. When Tyagaraja was seven years old, his family moved to the nearby village of Tiruvaiyar where his father had bought a house. The Upanayanam (sacred-thread ceremony) of Tyagaraja took place in his eight year. Married at the age of 18, Tyagaraja had only one child, a daughter named Sitalakshmi. Tyagaraja’s ancestors were noted for their libraly and musical talents. He studied Telugu and Sanskirt under his father’s guidance and became a learned scholar in these languages. Later, he composed his songs in Telugu. He took his first lessons in music from his mother who was a good singer. Because of natural interest in music, he had studied all available works on music quite early in life. This knowledge enabled him to create many new ragas or musical modes and compose splendid songs in them. Even as a school boy, Tyagaraja used to compose songs and scribble them on the walls of his house. Seeing them, great scholars of the time said that he was a musical genius. As a boy, he used to go near the house of Sonti Venkataramma Iya, a musician, and listen to go near the music lessons given by hi, to his pupils. Saoti was a musician at the court of King Sarabhoji of Tanjavur. Rama Brahman noticed his son’s keen interest in music and requested Sonti to take him as his pupil, sonti readily agreed. Within a year, Tyagaraja had learnt all that his guru could teach. Tyagaraja learnt one more thing which he considered the most precious gift. It was Rama nama; the name of Lord Rama. One Swami Haridas had advised him to recite Rama nama 96 crores of times. Tyagaraja started it in right earnest and completed the task in 21 years. It is said that he had the darshan of Lord Rama several times during this period. His songs reveal inspiration. 95 Tyagaraja started his career when there many famous musicians in Tanjavur. The court of Raja Sarabhoji itself had 360 of them. Tyagaraja did not join the royal court, nor did he seek the patronage of any rich or powerful man. He was content to compose beautiful songs and sing them while he went along the streets begging for alms. He used to do this once a week and he obtained enough to maintain his family and the ever-increasing number of his pupils and guests. Tyagaraja never cared for wealth or status. He considered his music and mental peace as the greatest of joys. In one of his songs he says: "Without peace of mind there is no bliss. Whether he is a man of wealth or a philosopher, whether he is blessed with wife, children and material wealth or whether he has performed japa and tapa to all alike, without peace, there is no bliss." He did not attech much value to any other spiritual path, except that of simple devotion to God. "When there is the royal road of Rama bhakti leading to eternal bliss, why seek the bye-lanes?", he asks in a song. Tyagaraja’s elder brother, who was a man of the world, did not like all this. Jalpesan wanted that his brother should care for the family and should earn money through his music. One day, when Tyagaraja rejected an invitation from Raja Sarabhoji to sing in his court and receive a gift of 50 acres of land and a big jar of gold, Jalpesan became mad with rage. He burst forth, "Is your Rama bhajan going to feed your stomatch or clothe your body?"In reply to this, Tyagaraja sang the famous song, "Nidhi Chala Sukhama" in which he asked himself: "Tell me in truth, O mind, is treasure more highly gratifying than the enjoyment of the presence of the Lord? Does the praise of Rama conduce to greater bliss or the praise of mortal man who is just a mass of pride and conceit?" Jalpesan was deterred by this. He continued his efforts to cure his brother of his ‘malady’. One day he stole Tyagaraja’s idol of Rama and threw it into the Kaveri river. When Tyagaraja found his dear murti missing, his sorrow knew no bound. For two months, he suffered great mental agony and, in that mood, he sang some of his most moving songs. At last, in a dream he saw the exact place where the image was lying. He went to that place, found his idol and started singing in great ecstasy. 96 Except for Jalpesan and a few other jealous persons of the locality, all others praised and venerated Tyagaraja. His fame spread throughout the country. Many distinguished persons came from far and near to his humble dwelling to see his inspiring personality and hear his divine music. Tyagaraja was a thin and tall person, with a fair complexion. He had a saintly face, and was always dignified in his speech. He did not bear any hatred toward anybody, even towards his tormentors. He wore his greatness with humility and was easily accessible to all. Raja Sarabhoji, who had failed in his efforts to bring Tyagaraja to his court, sent his messengers to secretly drop gold coins into the begging bowl of Tyagaraja. His intention was to help the poor singer, but Tyagaraja would not accept them. He felt that the coins had contaminated the rice in the vessels and so emptied thw whole thing on the road and went on his way. The noble king, instead of getting offended by Tyagaraja’s behavior, understood his greatness and himself went to the saint’s house to pay homage to him. Another ruler, Maharaja Svati Tirunal of Travancore, also tried to persuade Tyagaraja to come to his court. Svati Tirunal was himself a great musical composer and he sent his court musician, Vadivelvu to Tiruvaiyar to persuade Tyagaraja to pay a visit to his kingdom. Tyagaraja was captivated by Vedivelu’s music, and went out of his way to praise him. He also praised the royal composer, but politely refused to go to Trivandrum. One of the musical luminaries who visited Tyagaraja was Gopinath Bhattacharya of Varanasi. After seeing the saint Gopinath said that his greatest ambition had been fulfilled Tyagaraja was so moved by his affection that he burst forth into a song. Tumu Narasimha Dasa, a prominent composer in Telugu and Sanskrit, came from Andhra to see Tyagaraja. He was thrilled by the saint’s singing and his joy in a poem: "I felt an experience which is not within the reach of even Brahma…I feel as if I were swimming in the ocean of celestial bliss." One morning a sanyasi came to Tyagaraja’s house and listen to his music. Leaving a bundle behind him, he said he would 97 return for his meal after a bath in the Kaveri river. Tyagaraja waited and waited but there was no trace of the guest. He fasted the whole day and, in the night, it is said, the sanyasi appeared in Tyagaraja’s dream and said that he was the divine musician, Narada, and that he came to present Tyagaraja with some rare musical treatises, which were in the bundle. Tyagaraja was the greatest composer of his time, but he never failed to appreciate the talents of others. On hearing that one Swaminatha Iyer was an expert in singing in the Anandabhairavi raga, Tyagaraja went to hear him and mixed himself with the crowd. Captivated by Iyer’s singing, he could not contain himself and rushed towards the stage and congratulated him. Iyer was overwhelmed by this honour and, to mark that great occasion, he requested Tyagaraja not to compose any more song in the Anandabhairavi raga. One day, a pupil named kuppayyer took the master’s veena in his absence and started playing on it. Tyagaraja, who had returned in the meanwhile, was thrilled to hear the music and went inside to congratulate the performer. Kuppayyer begged his guru to forgive him, but Tyagaraja had nothing but praise and affection for him. Tyagaraja spent most of his life-time in Tiruvaiyar itself. When he was about 67 years old, he started on a short pilgrimage at the reguest of this admirers and disciples. After visiting Kancheepuram, he went to the famous pilgrim centre of Tirupati. When he came near the sanctum of Lord Venkateswara, he was disappointed to see a curtain preventing him from having darshan of the deity. In great humility, he sang a song expressing his feeling. When he concluded the song, it is said, the curtain fell asunder. He had the darshan of the Lord and expressed his joy in another song. On his way from Tirupati, Tyagaraja happened to pass by a place called puttur. There he saw a crowd gathered round the dead body of a man who was pilgrim and had died in a drowning accident. His wife and child were weeping and wailing. Moved by this sight, Tyagaraja asked his disciples to sing his Kriti "Na Jivadhara" (O, the breath of my life) in Bilahari raga and sprinkled 98 Tulsi water on the dead body. Immediately, It is said, the dead man came back to life as if waking from sleep. It is believed that Bilahari raga itself is a life-giver. In the course of Tyagaraja’s pilgrimage, another interesting incident took place. One devotee had placed a bag containing 100 gold coins in Tyagaraja’s Palanquin without his knowledge. The party had to pass through a jungle in the night and some thieves started pursuing it. When the disciples whispered the fact into Tyagaraja’s ears, he prayed to God through a song: "Oh Ram the slayer of Mura and Khara, come quickly with Lakshman to our rescue". It is said that immediately two lads appeared on the scene and rained arrows on the robbers who ran for their lives in fright. At dawn, the thieves came and paid homage to Tyagaraja and left with his blessings. After completing his pilgrimage, Tyagaraja returned to Tiruvaiyar and spent the rest of his life in the same old way— composing and singing diving songs. When he was almost 80 years old, he, one day told his admirers that Lord Rama had promised to take him back the next day—Pushya Bahula Panchami day (January6, 1847)—at 11 a.m. On the morning of his last day on earth, he composed two beautiful songs. He then sat in Yoga Samadhi and left his moral body. A shrine was built at tha place of Tyagaraja’s Samadhi and a great festival is celebrated there every year on the Pushya Bahula Panchami day. The samadhi has become a place of pilgrimage for musicians, music lovers and devotees. 4. Guru Nanak Oor India is like a composite picture, blending in harmony many hues, and bearing the imprint of many great men, from the earliest saints down to Mahatma Gandhi. Each one of these wise men of extraordinary vision moulded the spirit of India and advanced the values that have been cherished through the ages and are even today held dear in this country. 99 One of these great seers was Nanak, founder of the Sikh faith, who aimed at integrating the minds of the people of this vast land and forging a bond of love and tolerance among the adherents of the two great religions then existing in India, namely, Hinduism and Islam. Both Hindus and Muslims claimed Nanak as their mentor. Indeed, it has been said of him: Baba Nanak Sah Fakir, Hindu ka Guru, Mussalman Ka Pir. He lived through an age marked by conflicts and upheavals but left the world a little better and more exalted, and a happier place for mankind to live in. Nanak was born in 1469 at Talwandi, a small village now known as Nankana Saheb. This hallowed place is now in the Sheikhupura district of West Pakistan. His father, Mehta Kalu was the village Patwari or revenue accountant. Nanak was so named because he wasborn at the house of his mather’s parents - nanak in Punjab. His sister Nanki was also born there and similarly named. Nanak felt disinterested in worldly affairs form his very childhood. Indeed, all his father’s efforts to give him a formal education failed. He was fond of the company of sadhus and darveshes who used to roam about the country. It was in this company that he mustered considerable knowledge of the Hindu and Muslim scriptures, beliefs and practices. He also developed mastery of the Sadh-bhasa, the language of the sadhus, then prevalent and also gained a pretty good knowledge of the Sansakrit, Persian and Arabic language. Frustrated at his failure in giving narmal schooling to his child, Kalu married him off at an early age, and a job was found for him as a storekeeper with a petty Nawab at Sultanpur, where his sister lived. He discharged his duties well in this job and led a more or less normal family life. Two sons, Siri Chand and Lakhmi Das, and probably a daughter, were born to him. 100 However, his greatest interest and attachment was always for things spiritual. From his early childhood he had been thinking and asking questions about the Creator and His ways, and about the reason and purpose of life. He was composing hymns from his earliest days and, at Sultanpur, a Muslim minister, Mardana, joined him. Both began singing these hymns together, and became a life long association. Nanak now began having mystic experiences and concrete ideas began to form in his mind about the mission of his life. It was at this time that he formulated his basic gospel- the mool mantra-of Sikhism: “There is one God, the Supreme Truth, the Creator, without fear and hate, omnipresent, not born, not dying. you shall worship Him with His grace, at the beginning of time there was truth, in the courese of time there is truth and for ever there shall be truth”. (Japji) He conceived the righteous way of life as the praise of God (nam), honest labour (Kirt), charity (dan), ablution (isnan), service (seva) and prayer (simran). He left his family and, accompanied by Mardana, undertook vast peregrinations throughout the length and breadth of India, and also probably some neighbouring countries, to spread his message. In all, he is believed to have undertaken four great tours to the East, Weat, South and North. During these travels, he visited holy places of both the religions and entered into discourses with many learned pandits and maulvis, sadhus and fakirs. He reformed many a sinner and spread his gospel of love and tolerance far and wide. Ultimately, he settled with his family on the banks of the Ravi near Lahore. This place came to be known subsequently as Kartarpur. There he died in 1539, naming as his successor not any of his sons but a devout disciple, Lehna, renamed by him as Angad, who became the second Guru of the Sikhs. His son, Siri Chand, took to asceticism and founded the Udasi sect of the Sikhs. 101 Conceived and preached in an atmosphere created by Hindu bhaktas and Muslim sufis, Nanak’s teaching sought to combine the best of two. It was because of their inherent simplicity and transparent sincerity that they came to be universally revered. Oneness of God, superfluity of all ritualism, casteless society and amoral worldly life constitute the basis of the faith which he promoted. Nanak’s concept of God was that of an eternal truth, an abiding reality as againtst all falsehood. God was the father of all mankind, the great giver of all gifts and lover of all His devotees. He was to be praised in the abstract by name and not with the aid of any idols or material symbols. Nanak did not claim prophethood for himself, but accepted only the status of a teacher – guru. Indeed, this institution of guru has come to be recognised as pivotal to his religion. Nine gurus succeeded Nanak and their collected words of wisdom and God’s praise, in the shape of the Guru Granth Saheb, are regarded as a living mentor among the Sikhs. The Granth includes the works of many other saints. Hindu as well as Muslim, and is a holy book respected by all. From the principle of oneness of God and his conception as the Father of all creation and of all mankind flows the ideal of equality of man. Good or bad, high or low, in the words of Nanak, all of as are the children of the one God and are, therefore, brother. It was because of this realisation that he preached for a casteless society. In order to demolish caste and its prejudices, Nanak initiated the custom of guru ka langar, i.e., the community kitchen where all, forgetting distinctions, have to sit together and partake of the common food. This institution is even now a regular feature at Sikh gurudwaras, and function. The casteless character of the Sikh faith was subsequently symbolised in the form of four doors, on each side, in the premier Sikh temper, the Harimandar Saheb of Amritsar. Sikh are forbidden to recognise caste distinction in any form. 102 Nanak did not preach renunciation of family life to attain spiritual bliss. Though on many accasions, he himself had to leave his kith and kin, yet he led a complete family life and, during the last phase of his life, he settled down with his wife at Kartarpur, serving the community and preaching his ideals. Man, according to his teaching, should maintain his purity in the midst of all the impurities of life and society. He should lead a moral and truthful life and serve the society to the best of his ability. This principle of service, seva is one of the basic tenets of the Sikh religion. He ruled out the ways of penance, rigid asceticism and celibacy for the attainment of salvation. The madhya marg, once preached by the Buddha, was adopted dy Nanak in the form of his sahaj marg or the gradual way. His religion was for the masses, ordinary men and women living ordinary lives. Monastic austerity and renunciation were not approved by him. It was these simple and straightforward principles which endeared Nanak to all the simple folks of the Punjab. They took to his religion in a big way and, indeed, thousands gave up their lives to preserve it. Nanak’s ways of preaching also wereas gentle and as straightforward as his tenets. Sometimes they were novel too. There is a legend about his going to Hardwar, one of the foremost religious places of the Hindus. There, according to custom, the Hindus take water in their hands and, facing east, pour it to the morning sun in the name of their ancestors. Nanak also did the same bot, instead of facing east, he faced west. The pandas flocked around him and mockingly asked as to what he thought he was doing. Nanak, in turn, asked what they were doing. The pandas replied that they were sending water to their ancestors. The Guru promptly rejoined that he was water to his parched fields in Kartarpur – much nearer than their ancentors. It was his way of telling the pandas that they were indulging only in ritualism. 103 There is another legend about his having gone to Mecca, the holiest place of the Muslims. There, at a place near the shrine, he fell asleep with his legs towards the mosque. The people around, naturally got angry and told him to turn his legs away from the shrine – the House of God, as they said. The Guru’s retort was quite disarming. He said : “You may yourself put my legs towards a side where there is no God”. This was another example of his characteristic way of telling the people that God is all-pervading and omnipresent. There is a story about his refusing the rich feast of a local dignitary, Malik Bhago, and relying on the hospitality of a poor carpenter, Lalo. The rich man took it as an affront and the guru was promptly hauled up before him. There, according to the legend, he took the rich foods of the Malik in one hand and the poor morsels of the carpenter in the other and squeezed both. Blood, it is said, oozed out of the rich food and milk out of the poor. What a way, indeed, to preach against exploitation and emphasise the worth of honest labour! Nanak was a poet of great merit and is even now recognised to be the greatest poet of Punjub has ever produced. Poetry and music are, in fact, intergral parts of the system founded by him. His teaching and his personality have a unique charm and his footprints on the sands of time are abiding. He is among the greatest sons Mother India has produced. 5. Shankaracharya Even with the most modern and fast-moving means of transport, automobile, railway trains and aeroplanes and all the facilities and amenities that go a long way in marking travel both quick and comfortable, how many of us have seen the whole of India? There is a vast network of roads and railway lines with numerous bridges which enable us to cross thick forests, high mountains and turbulent rivers with ease and make any part of 104 the country readily accessible. But, how many of us have visited the four corners of our country? This query may prove rather embarrassing to most of us even in this 20th century for the simple reason that, in nine cases out of ten, the answer is likely to be in the negative. Yet, there had been a great man, not 10 or 20 years but about 1,200 years back when there were none of the things mentioned above, who traversed the length and breadth of this vast country on foot in a very short span of life. This great man was the greatest Sanskrit scholar and philosopher that the country has produced. He is well-known to all by the name of Adi Shankaracharya. In our country, it is not the emperors or the warriors, but the sages and the spiritual leaders who led a life of self-denial and renunciation that are held in the highest veneration. This great teacher was the chief exponent of the Avaita philosophy, the doctrine of monism which occupies a foremost place in our cultural life even today. This fact convincingly proves his remarkable ability, both as a practical philosopher and an orginiser. Shankaracharya was born in 788 A.D. in a small village, named Kaladi, situated on the banks of river, Purna, in Kerala. His father’s name was Shivaguru and his mother’s Aryamba. Both were ardent devotees of Lord Shiva. Beleiving that he was born because of the grace of Lord Shiva, his parents named him Shankar. Unfortunately, his father expired when he was only three years old and he was brought up by his mother. Shankar was a precocious child. He was gifted with a sharp intellect and a remarkable memory. In his childhood, his mother used to narrate stories from the epics and the Puranas. These, the child Shankar would memories within no time. At the age of five she sent him to a ‘gurukaul’ where he made rapid progress in his studies of the Vedas and other scriptures. After two years, he returned home with a very wide vision of life. It is worth nothing that even at the tender age of eight, he had a spiritual bent of mind. Deeply impressed by the intellect and learning of Shankar, King Rajasshekhar of Cochin offered him riches and a position of honour at his court. The spirit of 105 renunciation was, however, so dominant in Shankar that he politely declined. Neither riches nor honour nor family life held any attraction for him. The pursuit of knowledge was the mission of his life and for that he had chosen a life of asceticism. His mother, a widow with Shankar as her only son, naturally enough wanted him to marry, have a family and take care of during her old age. One can well imagine the reaction of his mother when he told her of his intention to take to ‘sanyas’ and sought her permission. She was stunted and after recovering from the initial shock, she declined to agree. According to the Shastra, a Hindu could not take to ‘sanyas’ unless his mother gave her free consent. Thus, he was in quandary. Legend, however, tell us that a peculiar situation came to his recue. One day, while he was taking bath in the river, a crocodile caught hold of his foot. Shankar tried hard to free himself, all in vain. The crocodile would not release his foot and started dragging him into deep water. Thereupon, Shankar cried for help and told his mother that the crocodile would share his life she granted him permission to take to ‘sanyas’. Seeing the son’s life in danger the mother reluctantly gave him permission. Only then, it is said, did the crocodile release his foot from its jaws. It was not an unmixed feeling of happiness for Shankar. He was happy because he was now free to do as he pleases and sorry because he had to take leave of his mother. He, however, consoled and assures her that he would come to see her whenever she was in need. He then took her blessing and left home in search of a ‘guru’. Wandering about, he reached the Ashram of Sri Govindbhagavatapad, the chief dispite of Sri Gaudapad. Deeply impressed by Shankar’s spirit of rrenunciation, his quest for knowledge and his sharp intellect, Sri Govindbhagavatapad readily accepted him as his disciple, Sri Govindbhagavatapad conferred on him the title of ‘Acharya’. Thus, Shankar became Shankaracharya at the age of eleven. His ‘guru’ then enjoined upon him to proceed to Varanasi (Kashi) to spread the message of Vedanta. The city was both a place of pilgrimage and a very important centre of learning. 106 Eminent scholars, representing of philosophy, used to participate in the synods held there. Reaching Varanasi, Shankaracharya started giving discourses on the Vedanta philosophy and participated in the debates and discussions held in the religious congratulations. Very soon his father spread far and wide and he earned the foremost place amongst the saints and scholars. Everyone was deeply impressed by his erudition, oratory and magnificent power of reasoning. He was a very able debater and all those who came and discussed with him went back fully convinced of the supremacy of Shankar’s advaita philosophy. To be able to assess Shankaracharya’s contribution to our cultural life, it is necessary to take into account the prevalent condition of the society. The history of all the religions of the world tells us that although each one of them is founded on very noble principles, in the course of time there develops a gulf between what the followers of a particulars religion preach and what they practice. Buddhism which had become a widely accepted religion because of its dynamism and popular appeal and had remained so far about one thousand years, was certainly no exception to this. In the process of degeneration, the Buddhist vihara (manasteries) became centres of vested interests and corruption. The followers forgot the teachings of Lord Buddha who had said that good conduct, shorn of any expectation of deriving material benefit, was its own reward. Brahminism too had become equally degenerate. Both had developed degrading practices. There were no less than seventy-two different schools of thought. There was spiritual and moral chaos, and hypocrisy and disruptive forces were rampant. The society badly needed a person who could set things right and guide the people on the correct course. Destiny chose Shankaracharya for this stupendous task and the world knows how admirably well he performed it. He wrote commentaries on Brahmasutras, Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. The hymns he wrote, ‘Anandalahari’ and ‘Saundaryalahari’, are known both for their intense devotional feeling and great literary value. He had completed his writings at the age of 16. 107 Shankaracharya had an untiring zeal for travel and a passion for debating with scholars. He toured all over India, from Kashmir to Cape Comorin and from Gujarat to Assam. As a result of the incessant and extensive tour that he undertook, he came to have a large number of followers. Shri Padmapad was his chief disciple. Among those he met were Kumarila Bhatt, another contemporary scholar, his learned disciple Mandan Misra and the latter’s wife Bharati. In the debate, he defeated the couple and converted them to his views. He renamed Mandan Misra as Sureshwaracharya, who was later to become first ‘sanyasi’ after Shankaracharya, the ‘Sanyasi’ in charge of the Sringeri Math in the south (Mysore State), the first one founded by the Great Master. The other three monasteries set up by him are at Dwarka in the west, Puri in the east and Badrinath in the north. The purpose of establishing these monasteries in the four corners of the country was to propagate the ‘advaita’ philosophy, make the people tour the whole country on pilgrimage and know the people of various parts of the country with all their variety of languages, custom and manners. He created a cultural consciousness among the people and strengthened it. He was not merely a theoretician but a very practical philosopher and an excellent organizer. The cardinal principle of his teaching is that liberation consists in the removal of ‘avidya’ (ignorance) and the realization of the identity of the ‘jeeva’ or the individual-self and Brahma or the Supreme Being. Shankaracharya was an intellectual of the first order, with tremendous moral and spiritual strength. He was a great ‘warrior’, but not in the ordinary sense of the term. The intellect was his weapon; the assembly of scholars was the arena of his batters; and ignorance, hypocrisy and superstitions were the enemies that he vanquished. In classical times, Kashmir was the meeting place of different religions and systems of philosophy. It was also a great seat of learning and of Sanskrit scholarship. The name of Shankaracharya is of particular significance for the people of Kashmir because it was here that he was crowned with glory after having defeated scholars from all parts of the country, ascended the ‘Sarvajna Peetham’ – the throne of omniscience. 108 During his visit to Srinager, he gave discourses on the Adavaita philosophy in the Shiva temple situated on the top of the 305 metre high hill overlooking the Dal Lake. This hill is the most distinguishing landmark of the area and commands a panoramic view of the charming city. It was previously known as Gopadri or Gopa hill, Named after King Godpaditya who built the temple in the 4th century B.C. Both the hill and the temple have since been named after Shankaracharya. This fact speaks volumes for the influence wielded by him on the cultural life of the people. He also visited the holy cave temple of Amarnath situated at a height of 3880 metres in the Himalayas. His end came at the age of 32 when, according to legend, he went into Samadhi in a cave at Kedarnath and did not appear thereafter. This great son of India did his work of many lives in a short span of 32 years. His was a very purposeful life. Several miracles connected with his life are given in ‘Shankar Vijaya’ –a chronicle of his victories. The greatest miracle, however, was his own life. There is a saying in Sanskrit Muhoortam Srey na cha dhoomayitam Chiram—which means "it is better to live and shine for a moment (like lightning) rather than live a long but purposeless life and end in smoke". Shankaracharya’s life bears true testimony to this. 6. Lalitaditya Among all the States of India, Kashmir has the unique distinction of having connected chronicla from the dawn of history. The number of kashmir’s rules known to us is legion. Accordingly, Kashmir’s ruler known to us is legion. Accordingly, Kashmir’s great historian, Kalhana, entitled his well-known history of Kashmir as Rajatarangini or ‘River of Kings’. The greatest among the rulers mentioned by Kalhana was Lalitaditya. Known also as ‘Muktapida’ he ruled from 724 to 760 A.D. Lalitaditya was the youngest of the three sons of Pratapadiya, a good and virtuous ruler whose reign was marked by peace and prosperity. Kashmir had intimate social and commercial relations with the rest of India in those early days, even though the means of communication were difficult and risky. People from different parts of the country came to Kashmir for learning, for pilgrimage 109 and for commerce. King Lalitaditya’s mother hailed from Rohtak in Haryana. Not much is known about the early life to the prince whose reign was to be the golden age in Kashmir’s long history. He had, however, the advantage of witnessing three different regimes in succession—those of his illustrious father and his two elder brothers, Chandrapida and Tarapida. Chandrapida was himself a model ruler. This gave Lalitaditya a through schooling in statecraft and administration. Kashmir was a powerful kingdom when Lalitaditya came to the throne. According to the Chinese pilgrim, Hiuen Tsang, who had visited the valley some decades earlier, the districts of Taxila (Rawalpindi), Urasa (Hazara) and Simhapura (Attock region)—all of them now in Pakistan—as also Rajouri and Poonuch were under the rule of the King of Kashmir. Lalitaditya’s dominions extended over a much wider area. His conquering expeditions ranged from Bengal in the east to Gujarat in the west and from Deccan in the south to the Central Asian deserts in the north. Among the more notable victories of Lalitaditya, mention may be made of his success against Yashovarman, who ruled the fertile tracts of land watered by the Yamuna and the Ganga with his capital at Kanauj. Lalitaditya’s victories over Bengal and Gujarat are borne out by the fact that the rulers of both lived at his court in Kashmir. Even more remarkable were his victories over the Tibetans, the Dards and the still more distant and difficult Kambojas (inhabiting eastern Afghanistan) and the Tukharians who inhabited Badakshan and other areas of the Upper Oxus Valley. According to the Chinese annuals, the Kashmir ruler had defeated the Tibatans several times, and, in alliance with a Central Indian king, obviously Yashovarman or his successor had blocked all the five routes into their country. Lalitaditya’s victory over the Tukharians is unprecedented in the annuals of India and the people of Kashmir justly took pride in it. We have the testimony of the well-known Arab writer, Alberuni, that the Kashmiris, in his time, celebrated on the second of Chitra the signal victory which their great king had won over these distant people in the far north. 110 Kashmir witnessed a period of glory and unprecedented constructional activity I Lalitaditya’s time. The vast treasures which he had brought from the subdued regions were spent in building new towns and splendid edifices. The ruins of some of these are still extent, twelve centuries after they were put up. These testify to the beauty and grandeur of the architectural skill of their builders. The foremost among all his foundations was the new capital of Parihasapora, near the confluence of the Vistasta (Jhelum) and its principal tributary, the Sindh. It was built upon an extensive karewa or flat, loamy table-land commanding a panoramic view of the valley and the mountains surrounding it. The karewa stands high above the level of floods, but had the waters of the Vitasta and Sindh washing its feet. In this town, situated about 18 kilometres to the north-west of Srinagar, the great king put up some of the most massive buildings ever built in Kashmir. A large number of regious and secular structures were erected by Lalitaditya in the old capital and other towns. The best known among them is the celebrated temple of Martand, near the shrine of the same name. Though the temple is in ruins now, it still evokes admiration both for its imposing dimensions and for the excellence of its architectural design and decoration. Situated on elevated ground, it is built of immense rectilinear blocks of limestone. The temple ruins are noted of their massiveness and grace. Though the military exploits of Lalitaditya have deservedly received greater prominence, his achievements in other fields have also been significant. We have already referred to some of the monumental building put up by him. He was also responsible for a number of public works undertaken for the benefit of his people. Floods used to be the bane of Kasmir. Year after year, the water level in the river would rise after the rains, and the poor Kashmiri peasant would helplessly see the fruits of his labour washed away along with his mud hut. Lalitaditya constructed a number of new towns. These were all on high ground and, therefore, secure from the ravages of floods. He also erected bunds or embankments around low-lying lands, thus protecting them 111 from floods. Measures for bringing water to arid tracts like karewas were also undertaken. Kalhana mentions that he erected a number of water-wheels for raising and conveying water to Chakradara—a flat table-land near Bijbihara. A number of irrigation canals were also constructed. Like Ashoka, Lalitaditya was a tolerant ruler and his patronage was extended to all the faiths prevalent in Kashmir and its dependencies. Though himself a Hindu, he had equal regard for Buddhism. He constructed a large number of temples dedicated to the Buddha and to Shiva, Vishnu and other Hindu gods. He put up a number of viharas and monasteries which flourished as seats of learning. Lalitaditya was a truly enlightend monarch. He encouraged the arts and learning. Many artists, sculptors, builders, writers and statesmen flocked to his court. Kalhana records that "he collected from different countries, various wise men as the wind collects masses of full-blown flowers from the trees". These experts vied with each other in putting up magnificent structures and otherwise adding to the learning, beauty and properity of Kashmir. His Chief Minister, Chankuna, who hailed from Tukharistan, put up a number of Buddhist structures. One of them was known as Chankunavihara after him. Lalitaditya was lucky in having as his ministers and counselors persons who both loyal and wise. Though they were prepared to lay down their lives for him, yet they would not carry out his orders blindly if these were not in the public interest. Once at Parihasapora, under the influence of wine, Lalitaditya ordered the destruction of the old capital Pravarapura (corresponding to that portion of the city of Srinagar which lies between ZAinakadal and the foot of Hari Parbat) built about two centuries earlier. This was an order from their king, but they decide to disregard it as it was given under the influence of liquor. To satisfy his momentary whim, however, they got a few hay ricks set on fire in a nearby village. In the morning, when the king rose from his sleep, he remembered his order of the previous night and felt deep remorse. Like a guilty person he dared not look his ministers in the face. Seeing his grief and remorse, the ministers told him what they had done to save the old town from destruction. Lalitaditya felt greatly 112 relieved and congratulated his miminters on their sagacity. He instructed them never to carry out orders given by him when he was drunk. Lalitaditya; the great conqueror, met his end in the course of a military expendition in the north. Thus came to a close the most glorious era in Kashmir’s history. 7. Sant Kabir Our country has produced many great saints and religious teachers. Few of these, however, have expressed their deeper thoughts in such simple words and images as Kabir has done. In numerous hymns and verses, Kabir sang about the joy of having a pure heart filled with the love of God. Kabir’s verses have become a part of our folklore and their simple message continues to move and influence us. Kabir lived in the 15 century, a little more than 500 years ago. This was the period in which man mystics and saints were born in India. There were Muslim saints as well as Hindu saints, but they all put the love of God above the doctrines of this religion or that. However, nowhere else are Hinduism and Islam so beautifully and harmoniously blended as in the life and teaching of Kabir. During his lifetime, and even to this day Kabir was claimed as their own by the followers of more than one religion. Muslim regarded him as a Sufi. Hindus worshipped him as a Bhakt or devotee, no different from Tulsidas or Chaitanya. The Aid Granth, the sacred book of the Sikhs, quotes verses of Kabir in support of doctrines preached by Guru Nanak. Many Christiants have seen a close parallel between the legendary life of Kabir and incidents in the life of Christ. There is great dearth of material of historical value of an authentic story of Kabir’s life. Even the date of his birth is subject to uncertainty, the most propable one being 1440A.D. There are varying legends about his parentage and upbringing. According to one of these, the infant Kabir was found lying on a big waterlily blossom in called Lahar Tara near Varanasi. Tradition has it that 113 he was the abandoned child of a Brahmin widow, and was picked up by a childless couple named Niru and Nima, who were Muslim weavers by castle. Adopted by them as their fosterchild, he was given the name of Kabir which means ‘great’ in the Arabic language. There is an interesting legend about the manner in which Kabir came to acquire this name. It is believed that soon after Niruey and Nima found the child, they called home a kazi (Muslim priest) and requested him to open the Koran to find the name for child. He found the name ‘Kabir’, derived from the same root ‘Akbar’ and ‘Kibriya’. On finding these names the kazi was much perplexed. Other Kazis were called. All opened the Koran, but the result was the same. They closed the book in silent astonishment. It was impossible, they all agreed, that a little of such dignity should be given as a name to weaver’s child. But, the weaver’s child was no ordinary person. From early childhood, Kabir gave signs of mystic nature. The most interesting sign was his refusal, very early in life, to accept the normal distinctions imposed by religion and caste. As a boy, Kabir used to annoy both his Hindu and Muslim playmates by crying out: "Ram, Ram" and "Hari, Hari". While the former resented the chanting of these sacred names by an ‘infidel’, the latter called him in Kafir. He, however, ridiculed both for their narrow-mindedness. From his early days, Kabir was given two periods of silence broken by extraordinary actions and utterances. Some of his acts of love and charity and some of things that he said as a child often used to surprise his parents and neighbours. Being the child of a poor weaver, Kabir did not receive any formal education. But his restless mind made him seek the company of wise and holy man. He used to disappear quietly from his father’s house, in deep thought or engaged in conversation with religious men. He came especially close to holy man. One was Ramanand, a Hindu, and the other was Sheikh Taqi, a Muslim. Both were famous for their piety and learning and had large following throughout the country. 114 In the Dabistan, a Persian history said to history said to have been written by Mohsin Fani of Kashmir during the reign of Akbar, it is stated that Kabir was weaver and a believer in one God. It is further stated that, in his desire to find spiritual guidance, he visited Muslim as well as Hindu sages. Finally, he became a disciple of Ramanand and thereby hangs an interesting tale. Having learnt that Ramanand regulary visited a particular place on the bank of Ganga before dawn, he lay down upon the steps in the hope of attracting Ramanand’s attention. His hope was realised when, in the darkness of night, the holy man stumbled over the body of Kabir and immediately jumped aside exclaiming "Ram, Ram". Kabir knew that no words could have come to his lips so rapidly as the mantra of his order. He claimed that as ha was already in possession of this mantra, he considered himself initiated into the order of his guru. Coming to know of the devotion of Kabir, Ramanand was only too pleased to accept him as his disciple. Kabir was a young man of 30 when he first made the acquaintance with Sheikh Taqi. The Sheikh introduced him to the charms of mysticism. In one of his verses, Kabir refers to Sheikh Taqi in these words: "My Haji is on the bank of the Gomati, where dwells my Pir wearing a yellow robe". According to a legend, Kabir requested the Sheikh to bestow upon him a blessing which might enable him to remove those differences which separated Hindus from Muslims. Thereupon, the Sheikh told Kabir him (Kabir) with equal reverence. This came true, but not before Kabir had encountered the opposition of the orthodox sections among both Hindus and Muslims. Kabir was not a scholar and had no experience of book- learning. He was a seer and a preacher of love. He had no respect for the rituals practiced by orthodox Hindus and Muslims. He openly denounced these rituals and practices. There are many stories, a group of Brahmins were talking about the purifying quality of the water of the Ganga. Kabir filled a wooden cup with water from the river and offered it to them to drink. They were horrified by thought of drinking out of the cup belonging to a low- case man. Upon this, Kabir remarked, "If the Ganga water cannot purify my cup, how can I believe that it can wash away my sins". 115 Because of his being denounce both by Hindus and Muslims as a troublesome person, Kabir seems to have been persecuted by Emperor Sikandar Lodi. It is said that when Kabir went and stood before the Emperor, the men of court asked him to bow before the monarch. Kabir refused to do so. He said that the only monarch he knew was God. At first the Emperor seems to have been provoked to anger, but later he allowed Kabir to go in peace. Though his life was spared, he was banished from the city of Varanasi. Thereafter he appears to have moved about and visited place all over North India. He died at Maghar near Gorakhpur in 1518. By the time of his death, Kabir’s fame had spread far and wide and he had attracted a large following both among the Hindus and the Muslims. On his death, there arose a bitter dispute between the Hindus and the Muslims about the disposal of his dead body. Seeing no end to quarrel, Kabir’s form is said to have appeared before them and asked them to lift the shroud and look beneath. In the place of the corpse, to their great astonishment, they found a heap of flowers. These were equally divided by the Muslims and Hindus. One half was buried by the Muslims at Maghar and the other half taken by the Hindus to Varanasi and cremated. There could hardly have been a more fitting conclusion to a life which had demonstrated the absurdity of all division created by religion. In the religious history of India, Kabir occupies a place of great importance. He believed in the unity of all religions. For him, the true teaching of all religions, was love. Love brought people together, while religion as practiced by ignorant and fanatical people created conflict and division. He condemned idolatry and most of the Hindu ceremonies and rites. He took the Muslims also to task for their intolerance of other faiths. There are numerous poems composed by Kabir. It is propable that he himself did not commit them to writing, but that they were remembered and treasured by his discilples. Most of his teaching were oral and were reduced to writing at a later stage. The earliest writing in which his teachings were recorded are the Bijak and the Adi Granth. A great deal of his teachings has come down to this day through the word of mouth in the form of folk-songs. Most of these songs are in simple Hindi as it was spoken by the common 116 people of these days. Although the poetry of Kabir is not polished and his language full of similes drawn from the everyday life of farmers and artisans, his high place in Hindi literature is unquestionable. Here are some of his more famous saying freely translated into English: "We are idols of clay, to which the name of man has been given; We are quests of four days in a boarding house." "Adding Kauri to kauri, he brings together lakhs and crores. At the time of departure, he gets nothing at all, even his langoti is plucked away from him. " "What you will do tomorrow, do today. What you will do today, do at once. In a moment, death may come, when would you do it then." "A good man does not give up his goodness, though he comes up against crores of bad persons: even as the sandal tree is not deprived of its healing properties though poisonous snakes twine round it." "I and you are of one blood, and one life animates us all. From one mother the world is born. What knowledge is this which keeps us apart." These are pearls of wisdom. But nowhere is the entire message of Kabir more beautifully summed up as in the following song: "O sevant, where does thou seek Me? Lo! I am beside Thee, I am neither in the temple nor in the mosque; I am neither in Kaaba nor in Kailash; 117 Neither am I rites and ceremonies, Nor in Yoga and renunciation. If thou art a true seeker, though shalt at once see Me: Thou shalt meet me in a moment of time. Says Kabir, Listen O Sadhu! God is the breath. There is nothing but water at the holy bathing places; and I know that they are useless, fir I have bathed in them. The Purana and Koran are mere words; lifting up the curtain, I have seen. Kabir gives utterance to the words of experience and he knows very well that all other things are false." 8. Mahatma Gandhi He was neither a great warrior nor a king, and yet Mahatma Candhi exercised greater power and commanded greater devotion than these. He was a man of God and his strength lay in his essential goodness and selflessness. The world lay at his feet because he had renounced it. This England-trained barrister from Gujarat looked, dressed and behaved like a typical Indian peasant and won instant acceptance among the masses. The people chose to se in him not only a sanyasi a holy fakir, but also the village elder to whom one could take ones doubts and disputes and obtain not only sympathy and understanding but also practical solutions. Mahandas Karamchand Gandhi was born at Porbander in Kathiawar on October 2, 1869, in a Vaishya family. Both his father and grandfather, though not verh highly educated, rose to become the Chief Ministers of small State in Kathiawar. His mother, Putlibai, was an intensely religions person and she left a lasting impression on Gand-hiji’s mind. He was married at the early age of thirteen to Kasturba. 118 After matriculating, at the age of eighteen, he went to England where he studied for three years and was called to the Bar. On return, he practised for two year in Bombay and Rajkot, but with no great success. In 1893, Gandhi left for South Africa where he was to stay for more than twenty years. It was there the he thrived as a barrister and developed as a leader of men. Soon after his arrival, he had to suffer, like other Indians, many indignities, one of which marked a turning point in his life. A European guard pushed him out of a railway compartment although he had a first-class ticket. As a result, Gandhiji had to spend the night in a cold, dark, waiting room. “There was a white man in the room; I was afraid of him,” he wrote later. “What was my duty. I asked myself. Should I go back to India of should I go forward, with God as my helper, and face whatever was in store for me? I decided to stay and suffer. My active non-violence began from that date”. Thus stared mahatma Gandhi’s political career, though he preferred to call it moral activity. He founded the Natal Indian Congress to fight for the rights of the Indian community. But, as there was no place for animosity in his non-violence, he helped the British Government in the Boer War and the Zulu rebellion by organizing an Ambulance Corps. The British Government gave him honours and awards, but their treatment of the Indians in general worsened. It was made compulsory for the Indians to register their finger-prints and Mahatma Gandhi resisted it with satyagraha which he defined as the force born of truth, love and non-violence. The agitation continued for eight years, during which 2,000 persons courted arrest, Ultimately, his non-violent satyagraha won and his objectionable rule was withdrawn. Along with his legal practice and political activities, Gandhiji devoted himself to the study of religions and philosophical books. He studied the Upanishads, the Quran and the Bible and memorized the Gita. Ruskin’s book Unto This Last left a deep impression on him prompted his first experiment in community living at the Phoenix Settlement in South Africa. The aim of this colony, as well as of the Tolstoy Farm which followed a few years 119 later, was to develop among young workers the spirit of self- sufficiency, self –reliance and service. The inmates had to work as their own scavengers, cobblers, farmers, etc. Gandhiji’s goal, as defined in Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule (published in 1909) was to achieve for the Indians “an exploitation-free society in which the ordinary individual can claim and defend his rights”. This book was highly praised by the Russian author, Tolstoy In 1915, when he was about 45, Gandhiji returned to India. His reputation had already preceded him. Poet Rabindranath Tagore had the vision to recognize Gandhiji’s inherent greatness and at once hailed him as “Mahatma”. Mahatma Gandhi’s first task was to set up and ashram near Ahmedabad where he settled down with 25 others who, like him, took the vow of truth, non- violence, celibacy, fearlessness, self-control, removal of untounchability, education through mother tongue and use of khadi and other swadeshi products. Later, most of these principles were opted by the Indian national Coagress. Having established a base, Mahatma Gandhi toured India extensively during the next two years. He wanted to know his land and his people thoroughly. In April 1917, he went to Champaran in Bihar to enquire into the grievances of the Indian labour serving on the indigo plantation owned by Europeans. He was immediately ordered by the Government to leave Champaran. He refused to do so and was arrested, but was later released when the bihar Governor himself intervened. The Government appointed a committee with Gandhiji as a member to enquire into the grievances of the labour. Its recommendations were accepted by the Government and relief provided to the indigo plantation workers. At first, Gandhiji was willing to assist the Government during the First World War. At the time, The Rowlatt act was passed, empowering the Government to imprison without trial those suspected of sedition. Gandhiji reacted by calling upon the people to observe a country-wide hartal. He was arrested and the people showed thir anger by indulging in mob violence. The apostle of non-violence at once called off the agitation.The general awakening and unrest not only continued but was further aggravated by the 120 Jallianwala Bagh massacre at Amritsar. To establish direct contact with the masses, Gandhiji started two weeklies, Young India in England and Navajivan in Gujarati. Next year, Gandhiji identified himself with the cause of the Muslims who were agitating against the Brithish treatment of the Turkish Sultan. The Khilafat Movement of 1920 marks a glorious period in annals of Indian history, when Hindus and muslims were drawn as close to each other as they were during the revolt of 1857. In the Non-cooperation Movement which followed, Hindus and Muslims vied with each other in surrendering their titles and honours and in boycotting schools, colleges, law courts and councils. It was at this time that nationalish Muslims broke away from the Muslim University, Aligarh, and founded the Jamia Millia. Gandhi was associated with the Jamia from the very beginning. Mahatma Gandhi also returned his Karser-e-Hind and other medals. He denounced the British Empire as ‘a satanic system’ and made it clear that non-cooperation, though a strictly moral movement, aimed at the overthrow of the Government. In February 1922.He proposed to launch a new Civil Disobedience Movement. The Government arrested him on March 13, 1922. At this trial, Mahatma Gandhi declared: “I am here to invite and submit to the highest penalty that can be inflicted upon me for what in law is a deliberate crime and what appears to me to be the highest duty”. He was sentenced to six years imprisonment, but was released two years later after a surgical operation for appendicitis. In 1924, Mahatma Gandhi was elected president of the Congress session at Belgaum. Soon after the Country had conferred this privilege on him, be renounced the high honour and retired from politics, handling over the leadership to the Swarajists, Motilal Nehru and C.R. Das. He now devoted himself entirely to the development of khadi in the villages. He returned to politics in 1927 when the boycott of the Simon Commission was organized throughout the country. In1930, Gandihiji started another Civil Disobedience Movement. This time, he took up an apparently unimportant issue, i.e. the Salt Tax. He told the Government that he would 121 break the law which prohibited salt-marking by the public and led a processing from Ahmedabad to Dandi, about 380 kilometres (240 miles) away, with a party of 78 persons. On April 6,1930, he broke the law by making salt and was arrested. People later realized how wise Gandhij was to chose this issue. The pinch of he enhanced price of salt was felt by all Indians alike and they responded with tremendous enthusiasm. This time, the Government had to arrest 1,000,000 persons throughout the country. Gandhiji and his followers were released on January 26,1931, when the Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed. The Government made a show of reasonableness by holding a Round Table Conference and asked Gandhiji to attend it. There, the pretext of the minorities was used to deny freedom to India. While Mahatma Gandhi was in England, Government repression was stepped up and Jawaharlal Nehru, Khan Abdul Ghaffar khan and Vallabhbhai Patel were arrested. The British declared the Communal Award which was a trick to drive a wedge among the Hindus by separating the Scheduled Castes from the Hindus. Mahatma Gandhi opposed it by going on fast. On the fifth day of the fast, a compromise was reached. Soon after, he started the weekly Harijan and began touring the country to collect funds for the uplift of the Harijans (God’s people), as he called the Scheduled Castes. In 1934, Gandhiji resigned once more from the membership of the Congress and settle down in Sevagram. He concentrated on organizing khadi work. When the Congress won the elections of 1937, Candhiji declared; “India is still a prison, but the superintendent allows the prisoners to elect the officials who run the jail”. The Second World War broke out in 1939. Among the congress leaders, Gandhiji aline was in favour of giving support to the allies unconditionally. This was because he believed that if the British people wer true in saying that they were fighting for democracy, they would make India free. Actually, the Viceroy took the decision for India to enter the war without consulting the India 122 people or their leaders. Consequently, the congress ministries resigned and Gandhiji planned a campaign of individual satyagraha. The struggle continued for the next two years. When the Japanese swept across Malaya and Burma towards the Indian border, the British Government released the satyagrahis and sent the Cripps Mission. Gandhiji did not have much hope in this mission and raised the slogan of “Quit India” . In August 1942, the Congress Working Committee, under the presidentship of maulana Abul kalam Azad, adopted the “Quit India” resolution. Mahatma Gandhi, Maulana Azad, Nehru, Patel and all the big leaders of the Congress were immediately arrested and massive repression was let loose .it was countered by and equally stiff popular resistance which took the form of a revolt. This popular movement was put down by violent and high-handed measures. Congress leaders were released only in 1945 when the war ended. In 1946, a Cabinet Mission came to India to explore how self government could be granted to Indians. For a time, it seemed that the Cabinet Mission would accept the Congress proposal because it recommended a united India with a federal government to deal with foreign affairs, defence and communication. It was with this hope that Jawaharlal Nehru formed the Interim Government. Mahatma Gandhi kept aloof from these political activities because communal riots had occurred in Calcutta in August 1946. These were later followed by riots in Bihar and East Bengal. Mahatma Gandhi went to live in East Bengal, walked bard-foot from one village to another in the riot-affected areas of Naokhali and Tippera, urging the return of peace and sanity. A miracle was wrought and peace was soon established in Bengal. Mahatma Gandhi now rushed to Bihar to take up the same task there. He was equally effective there too. In June 1947, the Prime Minister of Britain announced the plan for partition which was later accepted by the Congress and the Muslim league. Mahatma Gandhi declared: “I do not agree with what my close friends have done or are doing; 32 years of work have come to and inglorious end”. On August 15, 1947, when India was celebration her Independence, Gandhiji was in riot- affected Calcutta. He fasted and prayed throughout the day and 123 sent no message to the nation. To check the recurrence of riots in Calcutta, he went on a fast unto death, to be broken only if rioting stopped. This had an immediate effect and peace was established. In September 1947, Gandhiji reached Delhi and settled down in the Bhangi Colony. He used to hold daily prayer meetings in which he appealed for Hindu-Muslim unity. On January 12,1948, he again went on a fast because he felt that the Muslims in Delhi were not being treated properly. The fast was broken when a peace committee formed of representatives of all communities promised to protect the life and the property of the Muslims. On January 20,1948, a bomb was thrown at Gandhiji’s prayer meeting. Mahatma Gandhi was not disturbed and even appealed that the misguide youth who threw the bomb should be treated with clemency. Ten days later, shortly after 5 p.m., when Gandhiji was going to address his daily prayer meeting, a Hindu fanatic rushed forward and fired three shots at him. Mahatma Gandhi said “He Ram”, and died. For harmony and unity between Muslims and Hindus, he paid the highest price. Truth, non-violence, remove of untouchability, use of khadi and Hindu-Muslim unity were Gandhiji’s cherished ideals. The quest for truth was the keynote of his life and it gave him courage and strength. It was his overbearing love of truth that made hime realize his own mistakes and weaknesses, to confess them openly and they try to atone for them. His life fully illustrates this point. Mahatma Gandhi was a strict disciplinarian and a hard taskmaster for himself as well as for others. He believed that a sick body cannot produce healthy or noble ideas and, therefore, took great care of his health. Simple diet, hard work, regular walks and a cheerful disposition always kept him fit. Domestic worries did not bother him in the same manner as they do others, because he had expanded his family to include all the poor and the downtrodden of the earth. 124 9. Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore was born in Calcutta in 1861 at a time when the Indian social system was in ferment under the influence of the English rulers. The era of imperial glory of the Nawabs and Badshahs was fading away. The impressionable years of his childhood were influenced strongly by these events and he imbibed the lustre of the Indian mediaeval heritage along with the new vision of modern European culture. Being the son of an idea Hindu saint, Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, he has also drunk deep at the fountain of ancient Indian culture in the Vedas and Upanishads. The creative intellect of Rabindrath Tagore had thus flourished at the confluence of these three currents of ideas. It is interesting indeed, to note that Tagore had no methodical schooling in educational institutions when he was a boy. He felt that like a free bird in the vast expanse of the blue sky, a growing mind should also be given the complete freedom to learn, to know, to think absolutely in his or her own way. So, one could learn being one with Nature from the chirping of birds, the gurgling of streams, and the changing colour of the landscape in different seasons. Later, Tagore conducted educational experiments hased on his idea in his institution, Viswa Bharati of Santiniketan. For some time, of course, he had his schooling at the Oriental Seminary, Calcutta; but he used to feel that the walls of the school building stood there, vigilant and unyielding as a policeman. He also spent some time at another English-medium school, St.Xavier’s School in Calcutta; but him temperament did not permit him to continue his studies there. The onlypleasure he used to associate with his schooling day was remembrance of the affection of one teacher, Fater De Penerenda. At the age of seventeen, Tagore was sent to England for higher studies. He got admission to the University of London, but Irish music and English poetry absorbed him more than the routine syllabus there. He returned home after eighteen months, as a budding young poet of great promise. He not only started composing poems, songs and musical plays, but also began planning new forms of stage-craft and techniques of dance, dramas, etc. He belonged to a very well-to-to family of zamindars 125 (landed gentry_ of Calcutta. Soon, he was commissioned by his wise father to administer their family estate in the eastern and northern parts of Bengal. The mighty river Padma flows inthose regions, spreading the innumerable bounties of nature. Poet Tagore preferred to live in a house-boat upon the rippling water of the Padma. He spent fourteen years living in house-boats on the Padma, of course with frequent breaks. The was the most fruitful period for his poetry and music, short stories and other fiction. In his early forties, Tagore decided to establish an academic institution, exactly on the pattern of the ashram, Where young boys were educated in the ancient days of the Rigvedic civilization. Thus came into being the Brahmacharya Vidyalaya at Santiniketan in 1902. At the time, his poetic compositions entered a new phase that of writing devotional poems and songs. His love of nature now became transformed into love of God. Some of these were later translated in to English and complied in a short volume which became famous as the Geetanjali. It was this book which brought him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. Tagore now came into the lime-light in the field of world literature. He started getting invitations from countries of Europe and America and from China, Japan and other South-East Asian countries. He visited the United States of America and many countries of Europe several time. In 1930, Tagore was invited to deliver the Hibbert lectures at the Manchester College, Oxford. Here, he communicated a new message to the people of the West as an apostle of the East the message of love and compassion for all mankind. Tagore’s Hibbert lectures were later compiled and published as a book entitled Religion of Man. Rabindranath’s versatile genius was yet to flower fully. In his early sixties, he took to painting and started expressing in lines and colours all his vision of men and matters, of nature and the unknown. Soon, he earned wide recognition as very successful painter and an exhibition of his paintings was organized in Paris. What he could not express in words was now presented by him in line and colour. Tagore’s paintings also gave vent to a new form of aesthetic feeling and opened a new chapter in the India form of painting. 126 Visva Bharati, the institution which he had founded had as its basic objective the transmission of the idea of the East to all parts of the world and to bring in all the noble thoughts and vision of other countries of the world. Expressing the idea in verse, Tagore wrote; My country is everywhere. I seek it desperately. My home is everywhere, I shall fight to win it. In ever home there dwells My closest of him. I seek him everywhere. Tagore had very close contact with Mahatma Gandhi and on many occasions, the two met on a common platform. It was Tagore who named Gandhiji as “Mahatma” and the latter addressed Tagore as “Gurudev” On the 7th of August, 1941, at the age of eighty, this great soul departed. Regarding his life and activities, his ideas and visions and the period of eighty years which he had spent in this land of ours, Tagore wrote himself; “I have come on pilgrimage to the shrine of this earth a temple where the god-man is the centre of history of all times, of all countries, of all peoples. I have poured my heart into this dust, this grass, this soil, into shrubs and into forest giants. I am the friend of those who dwell in the lap of the earth, who are brought up by the earth, who take their first step upon the earth, and who, in the end, rest in the earth. I am a poet”. 10. Jawaharlal Nehru The people of our country will always remember Jawaharlal as a great freedom fighter, a crusader for peace, a superb politician and one of the ablest nation-builders. Those who saw him or worked with him had no doubt that he was a man of masses; he seemed to inspire the people and was in turn inspired by them. And yet, he "was born with a silver spoon in his mouth", as the 127 late Maulana Mohammad Ali used to say. The only son of his father, Jawaharlal was born on November 14, 1889. His father, Motilal Nehru, a prosperous and eminent lawyer in Allahabad, was highly westernised in outlook and his son was brought up like a little English prince, dressed in sailor suits and Scottish kilts. Jawaharlal was educated by a series of private tutors at home and had no contact with boys of his age placed in the general Indian environment. When 15 years old, Jawaharlal was taken to England and admitted to the Harrow Public School. Later, he joined the Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied Chemistry, Geology and Botany. He immensely liked the subjects and, in the serene atmosphere of the university diligently studied his textbooks as also the works of famous thinkers. He heard visiting Indian speakers and conversed with them, thus widening his vision every day. After three years, he left Cambridge with a second class honours degree in the Natural Scienced Tripos. It was then decided that he should follow his father’s profession. For the next two years, he studied law in the Inner Temple, London. But the seed of discontent with his environment had begun to take root in the mind of the young graduate. "I have become", he said many years later, "a queer mixture of East and West, out of place everywhere at home nowhere". In 1912, he returned to India, a full-fledged lawyer, ready to take his place alongside his father in the Allahabad High Court. Fate, however, had ordained otherwise. His education in England, the contact with liberal politicians and philosophers and the depressing contrast between conditions in India and England had produced a deep ferment in his mind. The background for a patriotic role had been prepared already; when time came, he made a head-on-jump into politics. Barely six years after joining the Allahabad bar, he became the Secretary of the Home Rule League, Allahabad Branch. Home Rule was a moment started by Mrs. Annie Besant for the liberation of India. But this did not satisfy him and he sought a more active, countrywide movement for the freedom of the country. It was, therefore, natural that when Mahatma Gandhi decided to launch his satyagraha, Jawaharlal was enthused by the campaign, which 128 he left was a way out of tangle, a method of action which was straight and open and possibly effective. The satyagraha in April 6, 1919, was a big success. The unity and strength of Indian people sent the British rulers into panic and they let loose a reign of terror. At Jallianwala Bagn in Amritsar, 379 Indians were kill and about 12 hundred wounded when one General Dyer ordered machine-gun fire on a peaceful meeting of unarmed people. These tragic incidents strengtheners the resolve of Jawaharlal that the country must attain in dependence within the shortest possible time; it also converted Motilal to the beliefs of his son and Ganghiji. Jawaharlal suffered his first imprisonment while organising strikes and hartals during the visit of the Prince of Wales in 1922- 23. His father, mother and sister followed suit and the whole family trooped into prison from their palatial residence, Anand Bhavan In 1923, Jawaharlal was elected Secretary of the All-India Congress Committee. He also became a member of the Allahabad Municipal Board and later, its Chairman. The youngman with a western outlook, who had emerged from Trinity College, Cambridge, attired in a lawyer’s gown, had changed into an active freedom fighter with ten years. But the Process of evolution had only begun. New responsibilities brought new experiences and every new suffering in the following years added to the zeal of the young man to stake everything for his country and its people. The year 1929 marked a turning point, both for Jawaharlal and for the Congress. He presided over the Lahore session of the Congress at which the famous independence resolution was passed. So far, the Congress was only fighting for Dominion Status. But the word "Swaraj" was now to mean complete independence. Jawaharlal was re-elected President of the Congress in 1930. The following year, he was arrested as one of the leaders of the Civil Disobedience Movement, which Gandhiji had started. From the Naini Central Prison, where he was detained several times, he wrote long and interesting letters t his daughter Indira, now Indira Gandhi, on the history of the peoples of the world, of the bright past of India, and of the brighter future which awaited 129 the country. He never felt defeated in prison and undying hope that India would be free sustained him through moments of grief and pain. After his release, he devoted all his time and attention to work for the relief of the earthquake victims in Bihar. But the rulers considered him too dangerous to remain free. He was arrested again in February 1934 and kept in detention throughout the following year. In the meantime, his wife, Kamala, had fallen seriously ill. Jawaharlal was released in September 1934 to enable him to take her to Europe for treatment. But her health had been shattered and five months later, this brave lady, who was Jawarharlal’s comrade in the country’s battle for freedom breathed her last in Lasanne, Switzerland. In 1938 came Jawaharlal’s visit to Spain during the Civil War. It was a grueling experience. He had watched with apprehension the rise of the Fascist powers in Europe and the terroristic measures they adopted to curb democracy. A staunch democrat he detested dictorship in all its forms. He firmly belived that individual liberty and freedom of thought and action provide the base on which individuals and nations grow to their full stature. Without them, life is meaningless. At the outbreak of Second World War, the Congress, on Jawaharlal’s initiative, passed a resolution clarifying the stand of the Indian people. They maintained that, if Britain was fighting for democracy and world order base upon it, for democracy and liberty, she must end her occupation if India. During the individual satyagraha campaign launched by Gandhiji to press home this demand Jawaharlal was arrested on October 31, 1940 and sentenced to four years imprisonment, He was released in December 1941 along with other leaders. The Cripps Mission came to India to discuss and decide upon the constitutional changes in the country. Jawaharlal led the Congress team in talk. The changes proposed did promise some progress for the country. But the mission failed because of the transigence of the Muslim League and the policy of its appeasement followed by the British. 130 The failure of the cripps Mission looked like an end of all hopes of a peaceful transfer of power. The position was desperate and at the AICC session in1942 at Bombay, Jawaharlal moved the famous "Quit India" resolution. He was arrested soon after and taken to Ahmadnager Fort to serve his longest ever detention. He was released in January 1945. The Labour Government had come to power in England after the Second World War. The new British leaders realized that transfer of power to India was inevitable and they sent out in 1946 a Cabinet Missions for talks with Indian leaders. On behalf of the nationalists (Congress Party), Jawaharlal conducted negotiations with the British and the Muslim league for bringing freedom to India. A united free India, with equal rights and opportunities for everyone, irrespective of religion, caste, creed and colour formed the main plank of Jawaharlal’s case in these talks. In the meantime, he accepted the British invitation to form the Interim Government. He was sworn-in as Vice-Chairman and Member for External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations. In the talks, Jawaharlal fought desperately to preserve the country’s unity, pleading with the Muslim League and the British and appealing to the good sense of the masses. But all his efforts failed to avert the tragic partition of India. When Independence came on August 15, 1947, he became the first Prime Minister of free India and held this position continuously until his death. In 1948, Jawaharlal had the unique distinction of being called upon to address the United Nations Assembly in Paris. His great efforts for promoting peace in the world and brotherhood among men won applause from every corner. In later years, he showed that these were not empty word; he meant every word of what he said. Whether it was the warlike threats of China and Pakistan to India, or threats to peace anywhere in the world, he tried and worked for a peaceful settlement. Jawaharlal’s love for our country and its integrity was unbounded. When China invaded India in October 1962, he became a real man of action, organising defence and inspiring the soldiers. It was his leadership that enabled India to withstand the massive aggression of the Chinese. 131 He was indeed a crusader for peace—abroad and at home. Above all, he could not bear to see any one suffer from hunger and want. Kashmir, his ancestor’s home, had always been an object of special love for him. He was enthralled by the beauty of its snow- capped mountains and smiling valleys. But more than the enchanting beauty of the place, or its strategic importance, Jawaharlal looked upon it as a challenge to his dearly held ideals and values. The backwardness and appalling poverty of its people distressed him. The one object of the Government on which he presides was, he said, "to ensure the freedom and the progress of the people there". Jawaharlal looked upon Kashmir as a triumph of secularism. Till he breathed his last, on May 27, 1964, he worked ceaselessly for his ideals, for bettering the lot of the common man, for bringing about an unassailable unity in India and for preserving peace in the world. Jawaharlal has indeed made an indelible imprint on history. But this is not how he wanted to be remembered by his countryman. To quote from his will, he only wanted the people to remember him as one who "with all his mind and heart, loved India and the Indian people and they in their turn were indulgent to him and gave him of their love must abundantly and extravagantly". 11. Subhas Chandra Bose In the history of India’s freedom struggle, the place of Subhas Chandra Bose is unique. He alone, among India’s leaders, thought of fighting the brute force of the British rulers by armed might. It is a tribute to his organizing capacity that he was able to raise a modern army of about 75,000 men and women. He inspired these men with intense patriotic fervour and a burning desire to free their enslaved motherland. However, Subhas Chanda Bose had much more in common with Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru than is generally realized. Like them, he belonged to an educated and proeperous family and was educated in England (Cambridge) and had travelled widely all over the continent of Europe. He had leftist leanings and looked at India in an international perspective. In all 132 these traits, he resembled Nehru. At the same time, he had a deeply spiritual nature. His quest for truth and the right guru had taken him to each and every corner of India. While Gandhi’s guru was Gokhale and Nehru sat at Gandhi’s feet, Subhas chose to follow Vivekananda and Aurobindo Ghosh in the spiritual sphere and Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das in politics. Each of the three great leaders of India—Gandihi, Nehru and Bose—had a special regard for their Muslim countrymen. Subhas Chandra Bose was the sixth son and ninth child of Janakinath Bose, a lawyer. He was born at cuttack (Orissa) on January 23, 1897. Among his ancestors, Mahipati Bose (Subudhi Khan) and Gopinath Bose (Purandar Khan) and some others held the offices of ministers and naval commanders under the Muslim rulers of Bengal. "The quarters in which we lived", says Bose in his autobiography, "was prominently a Muslim one and our neighbors were mostly Muslim…We took part in their festivals, in Muharram for instance, and enjoyed their akharas. I cannot remember ever to have looked upon Muslims as different from ourselves in any way, except that they go to pray in a mosque". The broad-minded views of Bose did not extend to Muslims alone. Describing his childhood, he said: "In my infancy, I was brought into touch with English people, English education and English culture. After that I went back to our culture—both classical and modern". At school, Bose was a brilliant student, but his hungry soul was not satisfied with text-books alone. At first he sought solace in the beauty of Nature. Then he discovered Ramakrishma, Vivekananda and the practice of Yoga. Ramakrishna taught him to renounce the lust for power and gold. As a young man, he resigned from the covered Indian Civil service and, later in life from the Congress president ship on grounds of conscience. Vivekananda taught him the way to spiritual development. From him he also learnt that yogic exercises had to be supplemented by social service. Hence, Bose joined a ‘secret group’ of students who used to go to the village to bring relief to victims of epidemics like plague, cholera and small pox. 133 Bose had a rebellious and independent spirit. That was apparent from his earliest days. In 1914, he left, without the permission either of his parents or of the "group" on a long pilgrimage to holy places in northern India, in search of a guru. On his return, he contracted typhoid. Despite his illness, however, he managed to get a first-class in his intermediate examination and was sent to Calcutta for further studies. In the Presidency College, Calcutta, Bose organized a student’s strike to demonstrate against and English professor who had insultingly push away an Indian student. For this, Bose was expelled from his college. He returned to Calcutta after a year and was allowed to join the Scottish Church College. His intellectual brilliance was undimmed and he got a first class in his B.A. examination. His father asked him to go to England in order to study and appear at the I.C.S. examination. In deference to his father’s wishes, he left for England on September 15, 1919. Some people are born to succeed, yet are never satisfied with the success that they find so easy to achieve. Bose was one of them. In September 1920, the result of the I.C.S. examination was declared and Bose stood fourth in order of merit. But he felt that his conscience would not allow him to serve the foreign rulers as a high executive official. So, he resigned from the I.C.S. and returned to India. Now, he wanted to chalk out of the future course of his life. He had long discussion with Mahatma Gandhi and C.R. Das. Choosing the latter as his mentor, he settled down as Principal of the National College at Calcutta. Next year, when Gandhiji started the Non-cooperation Movement, Bose gave up his job to joint it and court arrest. In 1923 came the first parting of the ways between Bose and the Congress. For him, the issue was simple. He wanted to fight for the freedom of India on all fronts, even inside the legislatures. C.R. Das, the Congress President at the Gaya session, was also in favour of participating the elections. Mahatma Gandhi was opposed to such a course and it was, therefore, not accepted by the Congress. C.R. Das resigned from the presidentship and, along with Motilal Nehru, formed the Swaraj Party. Bose was appointed the editor of the party’s journal Forward. In 1924, he became the Executive Officer of the Calcutta Corporation under the Mayorship 134 of C.R. Das. In this capacity, Bose gained valuable experience of planning and practical administration. He made the use of Khadi compulsory for the Corporation’s employees, opened and education department and orginised health associations. On release from prison, Gandhiji devoted himself to khadi work while Deshbandhu took over the command of the political campaign. Soon, the pressure exerted by the Swarajists became unbearable for the Government. On October 25, 1924, the Government struck at the Swaraj Party and arrested most of its leaders, including Subhas Bose. For some time, Bose continued to carry out his Corporation work from inside the jail, but the Government was uneasy at this presence in Calcutta and sent him, along with other Swarajist leaders to the Mandalay prison in Burma, where Tilak also had suffered six years of imprisonment earlier. Henceforth Bose was in and out of jail repeatedly. He was imprisoned eight times, released each time for reasons of health, and went each time to Europe for treatment. Actually, he spent most of his time touring Europe extensively to mobilized public support for India’s freedom. British secret service agents followed him everywhere. In 1938, while he was still in Europe, Subhas Chandra Bose was unanimous elected as the President of the 51st session of the Indian National Congress, to be held at Haripura. His presidential address revealed him as mature thinker as well as a man of vision and action. He opposed the proposed federation under the Government of India Act, 1935. He talked not only of freedom but also of reconstruction, of the need of planning by setting up a Planning Commission and of the gradual socialization of the entire agricultural and industrial systems. He gave a plan of action for the Congress party outside office as well as inside the legislature and functioning as a government. Bose made such as impact on the Congress that he was re- elected President in 1939, even against the wishes of Mathatma Gandhi. Bose was physically sick at that time and his presidential address was read out. In this, he urged strongly that it was the 135 right time to go give an ultimatum to the British Government for complete swaraj. Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru decided that the Congress should not take unfair advantage of Birtain’s difficulties. It should, on the other hand, co-operative with the british Government, trusting in its sense of fairplay. The majority of Congress leaders followed Gandhi and Nehru. Bose, therefore resigned as President and form a new party, named the Forward Bloc, with the Congress to rally together the left wing of the party. Later, the Congress Executive Committee took disciplinary action against him. To this action, Bose reacted by saying, "I shall cling to the Congress with even greater devotion than before. I appeal to my countryman to come and join the Congress in their millions and to enlist as members of the Forward Bloc". He followed this up with whirlwind tour of the country to organize public opinion against the war effort. As a result, he was arrested on July 2, 1940. On November 26, 1940, he went on a humger-strike to protest against the ill-treatment of prisoners. As his condition suddenly worsened, he was released on December 5, 1940, but was kept under constant police surveillance. On January 17, 1941, Bose made his dramatic dash to liberty which thrilled the whole country. He left his house, somehow, about midnight, took a car to Gomoh where he boarded a train and reached Peshawar. He crossed the Indo-Afghan border on foot; disguised as a Pathan, assuming the name of Ziauddin. He reached Kabul and from Moscow to Berlin. It was only when his voice was heard over the Berlin radio that people knew about his whereabouts. As soon as Japan entered the war, Subhas Chandra Bose received a call from Rash Behari Bose, the veteran revolutionary who had settled down in Japan and had orginised the Indians in South-East Asia to work for India’s freedom, under the Indian Independence League. Subhas left Germany in a German U-boat for Madagascar, where he was transferred to a Japanese submarine. He arrived in Tokyo, met General Tojo, the Japanese Prime Minister, and persuaded him to issue a declaration promising full independence to India in case Japan defeated 136 Britain. Reaching Singapore, he took over the leadership of the Indian independence movement and set up a Provisional Government of Free India which was recognized immediately by Japan, Germany, Italy, Burma, Thailand, Nationalist China and the Philippines. Thus began the most glorious chapter in the life of Subhas Bose. He displayed tremendous energy and organizational skill in recruiting, training and financing the Indian National Army. The Indian soldiers and civilians in South-East Asia at once declared their allegiance to him and began to call him ‘Netaji’. He gave them the inspiring call of ‘Jai Hind’ and ‘Dilli Chalo’. It was with great difficultly that Bose made the Japanese agree that Indian National Army units led by Indian officers should be the first to cross the border into India. Then followed the historic advance of the newly-raised and not very well equipped Indian National Army which fought so well that it soon liberated about 200 square miles of Indian territory from the well- entrenched British forces. The Indian patriots set such illustratrious examples of heroism and sacrifice that, according to Major-General Shah Nawaz Khan of I.N.A., the Japanese Commander-in-Chief in Burma came to Netaji Bose, bowed before him and apologized to him for doubting that the Indian soldiers were brave and patriotic. The Indian National Army was soon beset by various difficulties, such as lack of ammunition and food, rigours of the monsoon and breakdown in communications. Meanwhile, the Japanese air cover was also withdrawn as its air force was needed to fight the Americans elsewhere. This was followed by the gradual withdrawal of the Japanese forces, as the war went badly for them. The Indian National Army, however, refused to retreat, with the result that it was surrounded sustained heavy losses. Thousands of its soldiers were captured by the British forces. They were disarmed and three of its senior officers, Sehgal, Dhilion and Shah Nawaz—a Hindu, a Sikh and a Muslim—were court-martialled. Jawaharlal Nehru himself organized and conducted their defence. There was overwhelming popular feeling in their favour. The British rulers had ultimately to release them. 137 Netaji Bose left Burma for Singapore and continued his boardcasts to his fellow-countrymen from there. On August 18, 1945, he boarded a Japanese aircraft for Tokyo. The Plane landed in Formosa at 2.00 p.m., and according to the Japanese, it caught fire while taking off. Netaji Bose was badly burnt, but managed to come out of the plane. He was rushed to a hospital where he died the same night. It is amazing how much Subhas Chandra Bose was able to achieve and accomplish in his short life of 48 years. He was brilliant as a student and could have easily attained a high position of power as an I.C.S. officer. But he preferred a life of trials and tribulations as a fighter for his country’s freedom. His proud and independence spirit mocked at ill-fortune. He took exile and imprisonment in his stride. He was a door as well as a thinker, and a fighter who never submitted to defeat. In life he was a natural leader of men, who inspired immense devotion and loyalty. In death, he became a legend that seems destined to live forever. People refuse to believe that Netaji Bose is dead. Perhaps they are right, for martyrs never die. 12. Jagdish Chandra Bose About seventy years ago a great Indian scientist astonished the world by a number of starling discoveries. By one of these, he paved the way for modern wireless telegraphy and radio broadcasting. By another, he proved that plants too are living organisms. His dicoveries were so amazing and so much in advance of the times that they seemed more like fairy – tales than the results of scientific enquiry. This great Indian who proved beyond dispute that plants have consciousness and feelings was Jagdish Chandra Bose. The great scientists of the world were so impressed by his epoch-making discoveries that they conferred on him the highest scientific honours of their countries. In one of Bose’s lectures in England, the great physicist and mathematician, Einstein, himself was in the audience. He was so thrilled 138 and excited that he proposed that Bose should be honoured by erecting his statue in the headquarters of the League of Nations at Geneva. Let us now see why Einstein was so impressed and the scientists of the world showered on him the highest honour. Jagdish Chandra Bose had proved by actual experiments that plants have emotions and that everything created lives and dies. In explaining his discivery, Jagdish Chandra Bose said: Hitherto, we have regarded trees and plants as not akin to us, because they are the vioceless of the world. But I will show you that they are sensible creaturcs—in that they really exist and can answer your questions. Jagdish Chandra Bose was born on November 30, 1858 at Vikrampur in East Bengal. His father, Bhagwan Chanda Bose, was a Sub-Divisional Officer. Even as a boy, Jagdish Chandra showed a keen inclination towards invention and a strong love of nature. His father noticed his aptitudes and carefully nursed them by providing all facilities to his promising son. He also sent him later to England for higher studies in science. Bose passed the B.A. Examination in 1874 from the Cambridge University in England, winning a scholarship in Natural Science. Next year he took his B.Sc. degree from the London, Bose returned to Calcutta. At this time, he showed definite signs of his many-sided genius. When he was 25, Bose was introduced to Lard Ripon, the Viceroy of India, by Prof. Fawcett who was a famous economist. Shortly afterwards, Jagdish Chandra was appointed Professor of Physics in the Presidency College, Calcutta. Bose had always been an ardent student of science. To work hard, wihtout looking for reward, was for him the key to success. But the reward came soon in the shape of a major scientific discovery. With the publication of his theory on the “Determination of Indices of Electrical Refraction” in 139 the Journal of the Royal Society of London came the frist glory of his scientific career. The learned Society was gratifird at the important contribution made by him to the advancement of science. The London University hounoured the great Indian scientist by conferring on him the degree of doctor of Science. Western scientists instantly recognised Dr. Bose’s researches on electrical waves that he felt lost in joy. His biographer, Prof. Geddes, records that Lord Kelvin “not only broke into the warmest praise, but limped upstairs into the ladies gallery and shook Mrs. Bose by both hands with glowing congratulations on her husband’s brilliant work.” This happened when Bose addressed the Liverpool British Association in 1896. Next year, Bose was given the unique honour of addressing the Royal Society of England where he spoke of the nature of electrical waves. It may be said here that only the greatest scientists who have done original research work are invited to address this Society. In the year 1900, Dr. Bose went to Europe to represent India at the Paris Congress of Science. In that international gathering, Dr. Bose read his paper on “Response of Inorganic and Living Matter” which won for him universal praise. Swami Vivekananda, who was present at the Congress, felt full of pride at Dr. Bose’s achievement, for he had brouhgt honour to his motherland. Bose was now invited to deliver a series of lectures on his wonderful discoveries. In May 1901, Dr. Bose delivered his second lecture before the Royal Society. In this historic discourse he demonstrated clearly and elaborately the identical nature of reactions in plants and animals. Next year he gave an illustrated address before the great scientists of Vienna. Prof. Molisch, of the Imperial University of Vienna solemnly declared that Europe was indebted to India for the original research initiated by Dr. Bose. Then followed his lecture tour of America. Learned scholars and scientists of New York, Harvard, Columbia and Chicago listened to him with delight and presented him with eloquent addresses. 140 Back in India, he worked alone for more than 29 years. He invented delicate instruments to demonstrate and prove his theories. When western scientists, marvelling at his compricated machines, asked “Where did you get them made?” Dr. Bose replied with real pride, “In India.” In most of his scientific theories, Dr. Bose was much ahead of his times. He succeeded in sending and receiving wireless signals before Marconi did so in 1907. Much before him, a great French scientist was engaged in invesigating plant life but without success. It remained for Dr. Bose to make the amazing discovery that plants have hearts. He invented the crescograph—a delicate instument—for measuring the pulse of plant. His achievements did not stop here. Dr Bose worked on metals and proved that they too react. Inaniment objects like steel and stone are sensitive and subject to tension. He invented the galvanometer to test the fatigue of metals. More wonderful, he showed that, like animals, metals can be “killed” by poison. In 1915, he was again given the honour of addressing the Royal Society of England. In 1917, he received Knighthood from King George V. this is one of the highest British honours for meritorious service. In the same year, he set up a Research Institute at Calcutta, to which he made a personal cintribution of Rs. 5 lakhs. The rest of the money— about Rs. 15 lakhs—came from the Government and admirers from all parts of the world. Known as the Basu Vigyan Mandir, it has in its laboratories delicate instruments made in its own workshops. Although a great scientist, Dr. Bose lived like a hermit and gave away his large earnings for great causes. In his will, he donated Rs. 15 lakhs for educational, social and humanitarian causes. A lakh of rupees was given for a memorial to Sister Nivedita. Dr. Bose was a mystic, but to this trait was added the cold precision of the man of science. He was a great patriot and an admirer of the Indian heritage.”if I am to take a 141 hundred more births, each time I would like to be born in Hindustan,” he wrote in a letter to Rabindranath Tagore, his friend. He had a special love for India,s nationalist song Bande Mataram. Whenever he heard it sung, he sent into a reverential trance. At the instance of Sister Nivedita, he went a team of artists to renovate the famous cave-temples of Ajanta and Ellora. It was also in Sister Nivedita’s company that he visited the places of pilgrimage in India every summer, including Kedarnath and Badrinath. He passed many days in Swami Vivekananda’s ashram at Mayavati (Himalayas) where most of his books were written and revised. In 1925, Bose left for Europe to participate in the League of Nations meeting at Geneva. This was his last European tour. Lecturing before eminet scientists of Europe and England, Bose again demonstrated his sensational discoveries with regard to plant life. On seeing one such demonstration, Mr. Bernard Shaw, the famous British playeright, presented him with a special edition of his works bearing the inscription: “From the Least to the Greatest Biologist”. The French savant, Romain Rolland, sent him his Jean Chistophe with the note “To the Revealer of a New World”. The editor of the Spectator of London organised a lunch in honour of Sir J.C. Bose who “has given a permanence to the Indian civilisation sush as no other nation has approached”. In the gathering, the great literary figures of the time, like Galsworthy, Rebecca, Norman Angel, Yeats, Brown and others came to offer their homage to the great scientist who had enriched human thought. Shortly afterwards, he delivered two lectures at the Vienna University. This was attended by the most eminent scientists and medical men of Europe. 13. Vallabhbhai Patel A valiant freedom fighter and architect of India’s political unity, Vallabhbhai patel was aptly called the ‘Iron Man of India’. In the galaxy of great Indian patriots and leaders, he stands out prominently. 142 Vallabhbhai patel hailed from Karamsad in the Kheda district of Gujarat. Born on October 31, 1875, at Nadiad in the same district, Vallabhbhai came from a middle-class family of agriculturists. His father, Jhaverbhai Patel, and his mother, Ladbai, were of a religious bent of mind and were looked upon with respect and affection for their simple and pious life. It is said that his father had taken part in the Indian Revolt of 1857 against the British. As a child, Vallabhbhai loved to help his father in the fields and his father taught him tables and simple problems in arithmetic. Even in his childhood, he showed remarkable endurance. Once he had a boil in his armpit and someone suggested that a barber be called in to puncture it with a red-hot iron needle. Accordingly, the barber was called but he dared not apply the hot rod to the child’s boil. He feared that the child would not be able to bear it. Vallabhbhai thereupon scolded him and himself inserted into the boil. He had such an amazing capacity to stand suffering. Vallabhbhai received his primary education in his hometown and passed his Matricalculation Examination from the Nadiad High School in 1897. Three years later, he passed the district pleader’s examination and started practice as a lawyer at Godhra. Some time thereafter, he shifted to Borsad. Soon, he became a popular lawyer. He aspired to become a barrister, but his father was a man of moderate means and could not afford to sent him to England to qualify for the bar. However, when Vallabhbhai had saved enough money for purpose, he proceeded to England to study law at the inner Temple. He devoted himself to serious study there and got a first- class first at the Bar Examination. He returned from England in 1913 and joined the Bar at Ahmedabad, where he made a mark as a leading barrister with a flourishing practice. Simultaneously, he started taking part in the public activities of Ahmedabad. In 1917, the monsoon crops completely failed in Kheda district on account of excessive rain. The agriculturists suffered heavy losses and were impoverished. They requested the 143 authorities to postopone revovery revenue so as togive them refief. The Government of the time turned down the request and began to harass the peasants. Gandhiji, there fore, made up his mind to start satyagraha to get the peasants’ grievances redressed .He wanted someone to devote all his time to the campaign he had in mind. Vallabhbhai enthusiastically offered his services. Caring little for his lucrative practice, he took active part in the peasants’movement under the leadership of Gandhiji. Gandhiji and Vallabhbhai exhorted the people not to pay the land revenue, hotwithstanding any harassment by the Government. Vallabhbhai organized the struggle so efficiently that the Government had ultimately to yield and grant relief to the farmers. This success brought him the affection of the people and he became and accepted popular leader. Then followed the agitation against the Rowlatt Act and, later, the Non-cooperation Movement. Vallabhbhai gave up his practice and plunged headlong into politics. Thus began his new life, entirely devoted to the disinterested service of people. In 1921, the annual Congress session was held at Ahmedabad. Here, Vallabhbhai was elected Chairman of the Reception Committee. In this capacity, he showed unexampled organizing ability. In 1923, Government imposed a special punitive tax on Borsad Taluka to meet the expenditure on the additional police which, they maintained, was necessary ofr arrestion dacoits. Vallabhbhai called upon the people not to pay the fine, whatever the consequences. There upon, the Government adopted a policy of repression. The people, however, stood resolute. Ultimately, the Government had to withdraw the fine. That was another feather in Vallabhbhai’s cap. Then came the Bardoli satyagraha. In 1928, The Government arbitrarily enhanced the land revenue in Bardoli Taluka without any justification. Vallabhbhai, therefore, started a passive resistance movement against the unjust demand of the Government. He advised the people to refuse to pay their land revernue dues. The Government began to confiscate the peoples’s 144 land, seize their cattle and other property and arrest the volunteer. The thousands of men and women who joined the movement, however, refused to yield. They remained united, well-disciplined, steadfast and non-violent and showed great bravery and strength in the struggle. Vallabhbhai went from village to village, infusing the people with the national spirit and boosting up their morale. In one of his fiery speeches, he said: “Tell the Government ‘you can do what you like, but only by force you shall get us to agree to what we do not like. Cut me to pieces but I will not pay’. Challenge the Government to take up your land and carry it, if they can, to England. Our strength lies in cheerfully going through all sufferings that may be imposed on us….” The Bardoli satyagraha shook the entire country. The Government ultimately showed readiness for negotiations to settle the sispute. Vallabhbhai suspended for satyagraha and successfully negotiated a favourable settlement. The nation hailed him as a hero and conferred on him the title of ‘Sardar’. Bardoli had become a landmark in the history of India’s non- violent struggle for freedom. The Sardar emerged as an all-India leader and was elected President of the Karachi session of the Congress in 1931. It was at this session that the resolution on fundamental rights was adopted. These fundamental rights were later enshrined in the India Constitution. The first Civil Disobedience Movement was launched in March 1930. Sardar Patel was the first to be arrested. On his release from jail, he again took part in the movement and was arrested thrice in eleven months. In 1936, when the Congress contested the elections to the Provincial legislatures, he organized the campaign so well that it came to power with thumping majorities in most of the provinces. He was then called upon to take over as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Subcommittee of the Congress. In this capacity, he co-ordinated and guided the work of the ministries in the various provinces. In November 1940, he was arrested for individual civil disobedience and released on medical grounds the following year. 145 He was arrested again on August 9, 1942, in connection with the “Quit India” movement and detained in the Ahmednagar Fort till June 15,1945. He was released when the viceroy convened the first conference at Simla for talks with political leaders. In September 1946, when the Interim Government of India was formed at New Delhi, he became the Minister of Home Affairs and Information and Broadcastion. Later, when India gained complete independence on August 15, 1947, he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and also given charge o the newly-created ministry of States. Thereafter began his vital work of consolidation India’s newly-won freedom. He integrated the 550 and odd princely states within the Indian Union. He successfully performed the difficult task of welding the country into a unified whole. It was due to his tact, vision and statesmanship and India’s unity was quickly achieved and consolidated. Sardar Patel died at Bombay on December 15, 1950. In his death India lost one of the most outstanding and brilliant political figures and an astute statesman of modern time 14. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Almost all the countries with ancient culture are marked by many social in equalities and religious evils; the more the ancient culture the more are the inequalities and inhuman practices. India is no exception to these phenomena. The Indian subcontinent is one of the ancient lands where the civilization and culture flowered at the earliest stages of human history. It is no wonder that, we have many castes and sub castes in addition to the outcastes or the so called untouchables. In the other countries and climes, some sudden social upheavals swept away these barbaric practices and in human inequalities, while in a few countries some greatmen dedicated their lives to eradicate the social evils and in instilling some moral and mental courage among the suppressed and oppressed sections of the society. Dr. Ambedkar is one such great leader and liberator, rebel and revolutionary who waged a life-long struggle in the emancipation of crores of suppressed and oppressed people in India who are labeled by society as outcastes and treated as untouchables. 146 The phrase ‘from Dust to Doyen’ describes the full life picture of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. Born in one of the numerous untouchable castes and humiliated as an untouchable, barred out of hostels and hostels, Dr. Ambedkar, by dint of his industry and perseverance, rose to the position of a great scholar and statesman, leader and liberator and the Architect of the Indian Constitution. The life, the struggles and the achievements of Dr. Ambedkar are bound to serve as an ideal for many born in the most unfortunate circumstances, in overcoming the hurdles of life with unflinching devotion and dedication. Although his life with all the sacrifices, struggles and scholarship, is mainly devoted for the liberation of crores of untouchables, from their age-old bondage and ushering in a new era of hope among the suppressed humanity, it is no less a glorious fight for ushering in India, a social and economic democracy. His life is a dedication to human freedom and human values in the society. Dr. Ambedkar hailed from a poor family of Mahar caste, one of the numerous untouchable castes, in Maharashtra. Born on April 14, 1891 to mother Bhim Bai and father Ramji Sackpal at Mahu in Madhya Pradesh, he was named Bhim Rao. Ramji Sackpal was a Subedar in the army at Mahu. Within two years of Bhim’s birth, Ramji Sackpal retired from the army and the family moved to Satara and then on to Bombay, where the early education of Bhim took place. At the High School one of the Brahim teachers took fancy for Bhim and changed Bhim’s surname to his own Surname ‘Ambedkar’ to which name, he achieved fame. Despite these oases of warmth, there was scorching desert all around him. Bhim and his brother were made to sit in a corner of the class and many teachers would not touch them or put questions to them for fear of being polluted. Outside the school, the experience was still bitter, all of which deeply impressed on the young mind. Despite these heavy odds, he completed his matriculation examination in 1907. He passed B.A. in 1912 with the help of a scholarship another Brahmin teacher and well known social reformer K.A. Keluskar arranged an audience with the Maharaja of Boroda. It is an irony of the history that the Brahmins, the upholders of the castle system and gradation of the human-beings, played a major role in the 147 education of Bhim Rao Ambedkar, who, in later years became the arch enemy of ‘Brahminism’. Again with the aid of scholarship from the Maharaja of Baroda, Bhim Rao Ambedkar left for New York in 1913, and joined the Columbia University. Here in an atmosphere free from the oppressive social system back at home, he started his studies. For eighteen hours a day, went on the endless digging for knowledge and this continued for months and years. He obtained M.A. in 1915. Simultaneously he worked on a thesis for Ph.D. in economics which was accepted latter. In the same year he joined the London School of Economics and Grays Inn for law. Although Ambedkar was following the motto of ‘hard study and spare diet’ he had to leave the studies in the middle as the scholarship was terminated and he was called back to India by the Dewan of Baroda. Even during his studies at the Columbia University, Dr. Ambedkar’s mind was preoccupied with political and social problems and the pitiable lot of the untouchables back at home. In one of the letters, addressed to a friend in 1913 he wrote, "We must now entirely give up the idea that parents give birth ‘Janma’ to the child, and not destiny ‘Karma’. Parents can mould the destiny of the children; and if we but follow this principle, be sure that we shall soon see better days and our progress will be greatly accelerated if male education is pursued side by side with the female education, the fruits of which you can very well see in our own daughter". "Let your mission" concludes the young man of twenty, "therefore be to educate and preach the idea of education to those at least who are near to and in close contact with you". According to the bond, Dr.Ambedkar had to serve the Baroda States, for ten years. He was appointed as military secretary. But there too, his birth as an untouchable turned everything topsy- turvy. His high academic honours could not wash the stigma of untouchability from him. He was treated by his staff and peons as a leper. They flunged the bundles of paper and files at his desk. They rolled the mats when he got-out go. And the insulting treatment reached its epitome when he could not locate a house or hotel to live in. Expressing his inability to improve the matters, the Dewan of Baroda agreed to waive the contract and Ambedkar 148 returned to Bombay. It was in such humiliating and unbearable circumstances, Dr. Ambedkar vowed "If I fail to do away with the abominable thralldom and inhuman injustice under which the class into which I am born, has been groaning, I will an end to my life with a bullet". From that moment onwards, Dr. Ambedkar devoted his entire energies and dedicated his life in the mission of uplifting the crores of untouchables. But for short periods devoted to earning a livelihood as a college professor, he continuously engaged in awakening the untouchable masses to unite and fight for their rights and live as dignified human beings. However, the task before him was too big as for renowned General like the Napolean Bonaparte. Centuries of enslavement and the oppressive force all around drove always all spirits and hopes of liberation from the minds of the numerous untouchable castes. He had to wake them up and prepare them for a struggle to achieve human rights. On the other side, there are their oppressive forces represented by ignorant orthodox and superstitious of the caste Hindus, to whom he had to appeal to persuade and threaten. Ambedkar hated the sense of dependency and abhorred the feeling of patronage the caste-Hindu reformers. Ambedkar was a believer in the principle that self-help is the best help. He diagnosed the disease correctly. He knew from history that injustice is not removed till the sufferer himself does away with it by his own exertions and actions. He said that as long as the conscience of a slave does not burn with hatred for his slavery, there is no hope for his salvation. "Tell the slave that he is a slave and he will revolt" was the slogan raised by Ambedkar. The social reform is a thorny path. People may sprinkle rose water on the roads of the political liberators and oraters. But reverse is the fate of those who launch a ruthless attack to liberate society from its ills, superstitions, outworn traditions and evil customs. Take the case of Raja Ram Mohan Roy who was driven out of his home by his own parents as he opposed orthodoxy. Ambedkar faced a ruthless opposition from the castle-Hindus whose customs and superstitions he was attacking. In this epic struggle to enhance the human freedom, fortunately many eminent caste-Hindus became the followers of Dr. Ambedkar. In November 1918, he joined Sydenham College as a professor of political economics and worked there for two years. 149 With his little saving, some help from the Maharaja of Kolhapur, and with a loan of five thousand rupees from his friend, Naval Bhathena, he left for England in 1920 to complete his studies in law and economics. He resumed his studies at the London School of Economics and kept his terms at Gray’s Institute of law. He turned his attention to the London Museum where the relics of the saintly and scientific thoughts are preserved, where the ruins of the antique world are displayed and where Karl Marx, Muzzni, Lenin and Savarkar had dug for knowledge and digested it. In the Museum, he poured over books from morning till evening. Time was an important factor with him. To save both money and time, he would go without lunch. After this the second round of reading begins at his residence. The endless reading would go on till early morning. He told his room-mate that his poverty and want of time require him to finish his studies as early as possible. During these studies in London for his academic eminence, he had not forgotten the real aim in this life. He could not a minute forget the dumb faces of the untouchables in India. He took up this matter with the Secretary of State for India and also held discussions with Mr. Vithalbhai Patel in London. Neither be could forget the alien political realities of the nation. In a paper read before the Students Union and also in his famous thesis "The Problem of the Rupees", he exposed the hollowness of the British policies in India, which caused stir in the academic world of London and Ambedkar was suspected to be an Indian Revolutionary. Ambedkar was now a Barrister reinforced by a London Doctorate of Science, an American Doctorate in Philosophy and studies at the Bonn University. He was thus well equipped as a lawyer and an authority to challenge the scholars of economics and sociology in India and to storm the Indian citadel. He entered the profession of law for a living as it afforded the freedom and the leisure to dedicate himself to the aim of his life ‘the upliftment of the millions of untouchables in India’. The untouchables in India number a few crores. Their population in equal to the combined population of England, Ireland and Scotland. In fact every third person among Hindus, is 150 an untouchable. And they lead a life of utter-privation and inhuman bondage. Before Ambedkar a galaxy of princes, patriots, saints, humanitarians and rationalist tried to improve the lot of the untouchables but in vain. All those reformers coming as they were from the upper castes could not understand or infuse the needed strength among the untouchable to free them, from their age-old bondage. Neither they could threaten the orthodox Hindus nor could they prove their sincerity for they lacked the vision and that revolutionary fervor to reconstruct the Hindus society. Gandhji too launched a movement and advertised his aim to improve the lot of the untouchables but in vain. Gandhji believed in caste-system and the four Varnas. It was his aim to keep the castes intact and raise the untouchables to the level of a fifth caste. On the other hand, Veer Savarkar aimed to reconstruct the caste-Hindu society by uprooting the caste altogether. Though he could not do much or achieve anything, he extended his full support to Dr. Ambedkar’s movement for the abolition of caste and untouchability. Ambedkar awakend the untouchable masses with his fiery speeches, chastised them for their pitiable lives, instilled courage and inspired in them the confidence to fight for dignity of their lives. He taught them that ‘liberty is not received as a gift and it has to be fought for’. Millions and millions of untouchabled heard him with pin-drop silence and resolved to sacrifice their lives to live a life of dignity. It was indeed the noblest mission of his life that aimed at adding to the nation’s strength, health, wealth, honour and culture by retrieving these dumb millions. Ambedkar gave a clarion call to the untouchables and at the same time sounded a warning to the indifferent, callous, caste-ridden Hindus. He wielded the untouchables into a force and even the orthodox realised the strength of his movement. He became the uncrowned king of the untouchable masses. The mass movement generated and the inspiring leadership of Ambedkar forced other parties and personalises to take up the cause of untouchables. Dr. Ambedkar, the messiah of the untouchables talked to them in very caustic manner. He demonstrated them in vain that was at once teasing, carping and goading. He cried out, "My heart breaks to see the pitiable sight of your faces and to hear your sad voices. You have been groaning from time immemorial and yet you are not ashamed to hug your helplessness as an inevitability. Why did you not perish in the pre-natal stage instead? Why do you worsen and 151 sadden the picture of the sorrows, poverty, slavery and burden of the world with your deplorable, despicable and detestable miserable life? You had better die and retrieve of this world if you can not rise to a new life and if you can not rejuvenate yourselves. As a matter of fact, it is your birth right to get food, shelter and clothing in this land in equal proportion with every individual high or low. If you believe in living a respectable life, you believe in self- help which is the best help". The spate of burning speeches like these had a telling effect on their minds which roused them against the inhuman exploitation. Such inspiring speeches and leadership had awakened the masses and launched a struggle for emancipation. Dr. Ambedkar gave a clarion call to his people. He advised them to educate, agitate and organise. Ambedkar’s speeches and actions stirred the depressed class people into action, and they orginised mass meeting and all India conference for the first time. They developed the confidence to lauch mass agitations against their oppressors. Ambedkar participated in the Round Table Conference in London as the representative of the depressed classes of India. For some time, the depressed classes of India expressed reservations on the transfer of power to the Indians by the British. But, Dr. Ambedkar, participating in the discussions of the First Round Table Conference, castigated the British rule in India, and declared that the progress of the untouchables educationally and economically, can be possible with the transfer of power from the British to Indians. For such a bold declaration in the fact of the British rulers, Dr. Ambedkar was hailed as one of the greatest patriots and a nationalist to the core. However, he wanted that power should be transferred with special safe-guards wherein the untouchables will have the opportunity to share power with the case-Hindus and the Muslims in India. He opposed the very idea of the caste-Hindus replacing the Britishers as rulers wherein the untouchables will be left at the bottom rung as serfs and slaves. As a result of his efforts, special provisions were made to get the representation of the depressed classes in the legislatures and special reservations in the matter of administration. Gandhiji opposed separate electorates to the Scheduled Castes on the plea that it will divide the Hindu community. Gandhiji was more interested in the unity of Hindu community and ready to 152 safeguard the same. But for Dr. Ambedkar, unity or division of the Hindu community did not matter. He wanted progress of the untouchables and they should be as free as any other citizen of this land. He was not ready to sacrifice the rights and dignity of the depressed classes for any price. He asked the meaning of freedom and swaraj if the depressed classes population in crores do not get the fundamental rights for life, liberty and equality? He said "I am not going to support a tyrannising majority simply because it happens to speak in the name of the country…whenever there is any conflict of interests as between the country and myself, the country will have precedence, as between the country and the depressed classes, the depressed classes will have precedence". The nation and the freedom counts for nothing if a third of its population fail to get their freedom and become partners in the administration of the national affairs. Dr. Ambedkar tried in vain to create an opening for his people into Hindu society. He had to fight for securing his people the right of drinking water from public places, for the liberty of wearing good dress and of using metal utensils and for the right of receiving education. About the vast changes that came with the leadership of Dr. Ambedkar, Veer Savarkar observed, "Ambedkar’s personality, erudition and capacity to lead and orginise would have by themselves marked him out as an outstanding asset to our nation. But in addition in addition to that the inestimable services he has rendered to our motherland in trying to slamp-out untouchability and the results he has achieved in stilling a mainly spirit of self-confidence in millions of depressed classes, constitute an abiding, patriotic as well as humanitarian achievement. The very fact of the birth of such a towering personality among the so- called untouchable castes could not but liberate their souls from self depression and animate them to challenge the supererogatory claim of the so called touchables". One of the main demands of Dr. Ambedkar which he achieved was ‘reservation’ at a fixed percentage of government posts for the depressed classes. This ‘reservation’ sprang from three reasons. The Doctor was absolutely convinced that but for the predominance of the caste-Hindus in government services, it would have been well nigh impossible for the caste-Hindus to perpetuate tyranny over the depressed classes. Secondly, he 153 wanted depressed classes as a part and parcel of ruling and rhyming thus sharing power in democratic systems. Thirdly, the jobs increased the possibility of their getting justice in government and their economic independence allows them to struggle for justice. In his view, the nation counts for nothing if one third of the populations fail to get their rights of life, liberty and equality. He remained the depressed classes, ‘For ages, they had remained dumb. They could not with justice blame the government or the reformers for their condition!’ Ambedkar observed, ‘Lost rights are never regained by begging and by appeals to the conscience of the usurpers but by relentless struggle—goats are used to for sacrificial offering and not lions’. Such an inspired leadership and such exhortations moved millions and millions of the depressed classes to struggle for their fundamental rights. Millions listened to him with rapt attention wherever he spoke. In his struggle for the emancipation of the oppressed people of India, Dr. Ambedkar criticized the caste system and the reconstruction of the Hindu society for its survival. Ambedkar said, "The outcaste (untouchable) is a by-product of the caste- system. There will be outcaste as long as there are castes. Nothing can emancipate the outcaste except the destruction of the system. Nothing can help Hindus and ensure their survival in the coming struggle except the purging of Hindu faith of this odious and vicious dogma. Such an enlightened criticism of Hinduism evoked strong reaction among the orthodox and Ambedkar became their symbol of hatred. Just as he provoked the untouchables to awake, rebel and revolt, Ambedkar was ruthless in his attack on the caste system and the superstitions. However, he explained that he hated the system of casteism or the Brahminism and not the Brahmins. As a result many eminent Brahmins joined his movement and participated in it actively. Dr. Ambedkar had been a great champion of the equal rights of women. He abhorred the idea of women to be slaves of men. He measured the progress of any community and country by the degree of progress achieved by their women. With foresight he warned against having too many children. He said," Those who will marry will have to keep in mind that to have too many children is a crime. The paternal duty lies in giving each child a better start than its parents had. Above all let 154 every girl who marries stand by her husband’s claim to be her husband’s friend and equal and refuse to be his slave’. The Constituent Assembly to draft a Constitution for the Independent India met on December 9, 1946. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru introduced a resolution on the declaration of the objectives of the Independent India. However, Dr. M.R. Jayakar moved on an amendment seeking the postponement of its passing till the Muslim League and the states representatives came into the Constituent Assembly. This irritated the Congress bosses anf they drowned his speech in a chorus of derision. But the resolution became an issue of hot discussion. And then the President of Assembly quite unexpectedly requested for the views of Dr. Ambedkar, the avoed enemy of the Congress who had lashed at their ideology and scoffed at their leader privately and publicly. In response to the request, a massive figure with along head, a stubborn chin and an oval face rose to support Jayakar’s amendment. The Congress members were itching their palms to drown their avowed enemy with the mover of the resolution. In a powerful speech with unlimited command of language, the learned Doctor said he would not ask whether the House had the right to pass such a resolution. It might be it had the right. "The question I am asking is", he asserted with glow in his eyes, "Is it prudent for you to do it? Is it wise to do it? Power is one thing and wisdom and prudence quite a different thing". He therefore, made a fervent appeal for its postponement and make another attempt for conciliation and said, "Let us prove by our conduct that we have not only the power but also the wisdom to carry with us all sections of the country and to make them march on that road which is bound to lead us to unity". So forceful was the speech, the hand that was itching to smash him, rang with approbation and the Congress member continuously cheers every word of the speech. It was a red letter day in amazing life of Dr.Ambedkar. The sacrilege had now become a counsel, the scoper had become a friend. The consideration of the resolution was postponed. Thus Dr. Ambedkar commanded the respect and regard of the whole House which lead to further developments. Dr. Ambedkar was invited to be the first Law Minister of the Independent India and latter was elected chairman of the drafting committee of the Constitution. 155 How he worked and why was he called that chief architect of the Constitution can be seen from the speech from the speech of T.T. Krishnamachari which he made on November 5, 1948 in the Constituent Assembly. He invited the attention of the House saying, "The House is perhaps aware that of the seven members nominated by you, one had resigned from the House and was replaced. One died and was not replaced. One was away in America and his place was not filled up and another person was engaged in State Affairs and there was void to that extent. One or two people were far away from Dehli and perhaps reasons of health did not permit them to attend. So it happened ultimately that the burden of drafting the Constitution fell on Dr. Ambedkar and I have no doubt that we are greateful to him for having achieved this task in a manner which is undoubtedly commendable". The mission of Dr. Ambedkar’s life was the establishment of human dignity, development of self-respect among the down- trodden classes, and attainment of self-salvation. Ambedkar was a great teacher who taught the common man to the stand on his own feet. He rediculed the idea of fate and belief in it and asked them to seek refuge in reason, From 1938 onwards Dr. Ambedkar made repeated announcements rather issued threat that he and the depressed classes would leave Hinduism and embrace another faith. Many eminent Hindus including Veer Savarkar appealed to Dr. Ambedkar against the step with promises to work for the economic and social progress of the depressed classes and removal of untouchability, where upon Dr. Ambedkar promised to wait and see for five or ten years. A decade passed peacefully after Independence. The curse of untouchability showed some signs of abatement and nothing more. But the social status of the depressed classes did not rise. The castes and castism, however, became more solidified and began to play an increasing role not only in the social field but more so in the field the politics and delections. Viewing this dismal situation, Dr. Ambedkar embraced Buddhism in 1956 along with a ten lakh followers. For sheer numbers, this even surpasses all the 156 records of the history. Such was the spell of the personality of Dr. Ambedkar on his followers. Dr. Ambedkar was a great thinker and a prolific writer. His pen was as sharp as was his tongue. He wrote books to scholars and to uphold human causes! Some of the well known books are ‘The Untouchables’, ‘Who were the Shudras?’ ‘What Gandhi and Congress had done to the Untouchables’, ‘Pakistan or Partition of India’, ‘Gandhi, Ranade and Jinnah’, ‘Annihilation of Castes’, and ‘Buddha and his Dharma’. For the scholar in Dr. Ambedkar, books were his greatest friends and companions. He had purchased over one lakh books which included very many rare books. Pandit Malvaiya had once offered him two lakhs of rupees for his library. And Birla had offered any amount quoted by Ambedkar. But Ambedkar declined and said books were the very breath of his life. Dr. Ambedkar had been a great politician and a statesman par excellence. He was the founder of the Independent Labour Party in 1936, the Scheduled Castes Federation in 1942 and the Republican Party of India in 1954. And above all, Ambedkar was a great teacher and an eminent educationist. He was the founder of the People’s Education Society and under it, a chain of colleges and schools were established to popularise education among the people. The Siddhartha College in Bombay with a host of faculties was the first college started by the great leader. Latter the Milind Viswavidyalay in Aurangabad was started which is today throbbing with intellectual activity and high degree of scholarship. In fact it is the first of the college in the back ward Marathwada region which later became the nucleus around which the present Marathwada University developed. 15. Rammohun Roy 157 In history, individuals have often served as bridge over which nations have marched from one era to another. Rammohun Roy was one such individual. He lived and worked in a particularly dark period in the chequered history of this country. By his hard work and vision, he helped in mitigating to some extent the gloom that pervaded Indian society all round. He released forces of enlightenment which, in course of time, developed into a mighty current and set the country on the path of social progress and modernity. As such Rammohun Roy is rightly called the “Father of Indian Renaissance.” Rammonhun Roy was born on May 22, 1772 in a small village in Bengal. His fathet, Rammohun Roy, was an orthodox Brahmin. The child had his elementary education in the village school and also learnt some Persian under a maulvi. He was later sent to Patna which was then a centre of Islamic learning. Threr, he studied Arabic and Persian and became well-versed in Islamic theology and various sciences of the day. It was during his stay at Patna that he developed the habit of rational thinking. On his return from there, he worte a treatise on idolatry and superstitious beliefs prevalent in the Hindu society. This enraged his orthodox father so mush that Rammonhun was forced to leave his home. He then wandered from place to place, learning from everywhere whatever he could. During these peregrinations, he visited Tibet. There also, he could not restrain himself from criticsing Buddhist idolatry and the Lamas drove him away. After some years, Rammonhun went to Varanasi where he stayed for a long time and studied Hindu philosophy. Meanwhile, in 1803, his father passed away and Rammonhun shifted to Murshidabad. There, he wrote his famous treatise on monotheism, Tuhfat-ul-Muwahidin in Persian with an introduction in Arabic. In this book, he emphasised the basic oneness of all religions and urged a 158 rational approach to religion. He also stressed the necessity for a comparative study of all religions. About this time, Rammonhun took a job in the Revenue Department of the East India Company. After serving at a number of places he resigned in 1814 and settled in Calcutta. During all these years, he continued his spiritual quest and made a thorough study of Tantric, Muslim and Jain literature. He was now fully equipped to take up his life’s mission, which was to salvage the best in Indian thought and to hamonise it with the modern ideas of the West. In 1815, he published a Brngali translation of the Vedanta and wrote many other treatises. In the same year, he founded an association called ‘Atmiya Sabha’ with the object of agitating against various social vices pervalent in the Hindu society. This Sabha faced tough opposition from various orthodox element and came to an end in 1819. Rammonhun Roy, however, carried on his work though his writings. In 1821, the Calcutta Unitarian Association was founded under his guidance and financial support. The objects of this Association included the spread of education and countering of ignorance and superstition. At this time, he entered into a bitter countroversy with an aggressive batch of Christian missionaries. Rammonhun started publishing two journals – the Brahman Sebadhi in Bengali and the Brahminical Magazine in English. Through these, he fought against the onslaught of the missionaries. He also brought out a number of pamphlets during this period. His writings were always logical and dignified and they were highly appreciated in the liberal circles of Europe and America. 159 The Unitarian Association also withered away in course of time and, in 1828, the Brahma Sabha was inaugurated in Calcutta. This was meant to be a meeting ground for adherants of all religions. Rammohun himself drew up a trust - deed for the Sabha, which was remarkable for its universalism and catholicity of approach. The Brahma Sabha functioned for some years according to the principles set down dy its founder. After his death, it mutated into the Brahmo Samaj which was a society only of the reformist Hindu. The Brahmo Samaj developed into a virtually separate religion. In 1830, Rammohun sailed for England, reaching there on April 8, 1831. The object of his visit to England was three fold: to submit a memorandum to the British King on behalf of Akbar ІІ, the then Emperor of Delhi; to present a memorial to the House of Commons for the abolition by law of the custom of Sati; and to be present on the East India Company’s Charter. The Emperor of Delhi had bestowed on him, as his emissary, the title of ‘Raja’ which was recognised by the British. In England, he met distinguished Englishmen and had political and philosophical discussions with them. He was also received by the British King. The Indian Reform Bill was passed while Rammohun Roy was still in England and he was highly pleased with the success of his efforts. Rommohun Roy was a great admirer of France and he was himself well-know and respected in French intellectual circles. In 1823, he visited Paris and had an audience with the French King. Earlier, in 1824, he had received the distinction of being made an Associate Correspondent of the Societe Asiatique of the Societe Asiatique of France. All this hectic activity had an adverse effevt on his health. Meanwhile, he found that his financial resources had 160 almost dried up. This was a great shock to him and his health completety broke down. He suddenly fell ill and on September 27, 1833 passed away while staying with a friend in Bristol. Rammohun Roy’s work has a great impact on Indian society which was aroused from the slumber of centuries. He was a reformist parexcellence and throughout his life he fought against social and religious bigotry and evils. He had been instumental in the abolition of the cruel Hindu custom of Sati, whereby windows were burnt alive on the pyres of their dead hunsbands. He also fought for the emancipation of women and the spread of education among them. Through his efforts, a number of schools and other educational institutions were opened and the British rulers were pervailed upon to start the teaching of English and of Science in India. He was a pioneer journalist and started a new trend of prose writing in Bengali. As a matter of fact, he is recognised as the father of modern Bengali literature. He was a seeker of universal value and was the fist intellectual to make a comparative study of the four world religions – Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism and Christianity. He preached tolerance and forbearance in religious matters and did everytihng in a practical way to give shape to his ideals. Rammohun Roy was one of the first Indians with enlightened political and economic ideas. He worked in these fields tirelessly, creating a healthy consciousness among his countrymen. His views were remakable modern for his times and the India of to – day bears bears the mark of his vision to a very great extent. 16. Bal Gangadhar Tilak 161 Bal Gangadhar Tilak was born on July 23, 1856 at Ratnagiri on the west coast of India. His father was a school master who rose to become an Inspector of Schools. Tilak imbibe the love of Sanskrit and Mathematics from his father. His father’s transfer to Poona, when Tilak was only ten, was good for him as it facilitated his schooling under some of the best teachers. Unluckily for Tilak, his father passed away when he was only sixteen years of age. A few months earlier Tilak had been married to a girl from a neighbouring village. In the year 1877, Tilak took his B.A. degree with first class in Mathematics. Two years later, he completed his study of law. Tilak’s first love was education. Even while he was a student, he joined a few friends in making a plan for a radical change the system of education introduced by the British. The aim was to base education on Indian tradition and to make it available to a larger number of people. The young men were no dreamers. They were quite serious about their project. When they left college, they took a vow of sacrifice and dedication to the cause of education. Recalling those days later, Tilak wrote: "We were men with our brains in a fever with the thoughts of the degrade condition of our country and, after long cognition, we had formed the opinion that the salvation of our motherland was to be found in education alone". With the effort of Tilak and his friends, a society was founded in 1880. Its purpose was to set up a chain of private schools on the model of Christian missionary institutions. This society gradually grew up into a major instrument for the spread of education in Maharashtra and adjoining areas. For the next ten years, Tilak was busy with the work of the society. He had also taken up the teaching of Mathematics at a college run by the society at Poona. Tilak’s restless mind found the field of education too narrow for its full expression. He had developed a serious concern for the social and political problems of his day. He also wielded a powerful pen. It was inevitable, therefore, for him to venture into journalism. He decided to devote his time, more and more, to editing the Kesari, a Marathi journal, which he and some of his 162 friends had started earlier. The Kasari soon came to be completely identified with Tilak. Through its pages, Tilak carried on a relentless crusade for the emancipation of the masses. This emancipation, in Tilak’s view, had to be both from international weaknesses and the "sense of inferiority" from which Indian society suffered and from the stranglehold of the British rule. Tilak was passionately devoted to strengthening and reforming the Indian society. For him, this was merely the same thing as social reform. He was crucial of those reformers who, in their zeal, cut at the very roots of the traditional social structure. Tilak, however, was not conservative in his ideas. On the problem of untouchability among Hindus, he declared: "I would not recognise even God if He said that untouchability was obtained by Him". Tilak’s impatient mind soon led him from problems of social reform to the central problem of his day, namely, the liberation of India from British rule. He began writing articles in the Kesari, asserting every Indian’s birthright to be free. This was a revolutionary doctrine to be preached in those days and it quickly brought Tilak into conflict with the Government. Kesari was widely read in Maharashtra and, as its editor Tilak was well known and respected in 1897 which brought him up from provincial to national leadership. This transition had actually begun eight years earlier. In 1889, Tilak attended the Bombay session of the Indian National Congress. Two other young men, who were later to emerge as national leaders, also appeared on the Congress platform for the first time the same year. They were Gopal Krishma Gokhale and Lala Lajpat Rai. From 1889 onward, Tilak attended almost every session of the Congress. In those days, membership of the Congress was confined mainly to a section of the educated class. Its activity consisted chiefly of meeting once a year and passing resolutions. To young impassioned patriots like Tilak, these seemed a poor way of conducting a nationalist movement. The Congress, he left, would remain ineffectual so long as it did not develop into an organization of the masses. As early as 1896, Tilak wrote. "There is no greater folly than the assumption of the educated classes that they are separate from the people. They must realize that they are 163 part and parcel of the whole –the Indian masses. Their own salvation depends on the salvation of people ". Tilak was a man of the masses. He was the first to arouse and mobilize public opinion for national ends. For this, he had to undergo numerous hardships and sacrifices. 1896, the Poona region was affected by a serious famine. Tilak plunged whole-heartedly into relief work. He had soon to devote his attention also to the havoc wrought in Poona by the outbreak of plague in 1897. On june 22, 1897, two British officers were found murdered in Poona. They were suspected of committing atrocities in the course of epidemic relief work. Tilak was arrested in Bombay on July, although there was apparently nothing to connect him with the incident. He was prosecuted on the charge of sedition. The case was based on a poem and an article on Shivaji which he had published in the Kesari. Political agitation was in its fancy in 1897 and prosecution made him a national figure overnight. It did something by removing the terror of the world ‘sedition’ from the people’s mind. It ended their meek subservience to foreign domination and helped create a new spirit of nationalism. While in prison, Tilak resumed his interest in the Hindu classics. He took up the study of his favourite subject—the antiquity of the Vedas and the Aryan civilization—which formed the basis of his book Arctic Home in the Vedas, published five years later. At the time when Tilak came out of prison the nationalist movement in India was, as it were, standing at the cross-roads. A great debate was raging in the raks of the Congress. One group of its leaders believed that freedom could come gradually and through a measure of co-operation with the British. The other group had very little faith in the promises of the British rulers and in the effectiveness of constitutional means. Tilak, by temperament as well as conviction, belonged to the lauter group. Among the prominent leaders of the freedom struggle in those days, Lala Laipat Rai was on the side of Tilak, while Gopal Krishna Gokhale represented the opposite side. The partition of Bengal in 1995 brought these differenced to the fore. Tilak and people of his way of thinking felt frustrated by the lactic of the foreign rulers. They 164 wanted to transform the Congress into a militant organisation."Political rights", he argued, "will have to be fought for. Some people think that these can be won by persuasion. We think that they can be got only by strong pressure". From then onwards, in the pages of the Kesari and at successive sessions of the Congress, Tilak began to expound his philosophy of passive resistance. Boycott of British goods and support for swade-shi procucts were the two main articles of this new philosophy. Tilak whole-heartedly welcomed the patriotic upsurge in Bengal and set ot to mobilize the nation for an all-India movement. He called the partition of Bengal a blessing in disguise, for if helped to create a new consciousness of national solidarity. Bengal’s cause soon became India’s cause and the movement was amplified into a fourfold programme of boycott, swade shi, national education and swaraj. In a leading article in the Kesari, (August 15, 1905) under the heading "The Crisis Arrives", Tilak wrote: It appears that many people have not yet grasped the full significance of the boycott movement. Such measures are absolutely necessary, especially when there is a struggle going on between a people and their alien rulers. The history of England itself contains a note-worthy instance of how an angry people proceeded to chastise their king for having refused their demands. We have neither the power nor the inclination to take up arms against the Government. But should we not try to stop the drain of millions of rupees from the country? Do we not see how the Chinese boycott of American goods has opened the eyes of the United States Government History abundantly proves that a subject people, however helpless, can by means of unity, courage and determination overcome their haughty rulers without resort to arms. In advocating a programme of passive resistance and swadeshi, Tilak had anticipated, almost item by item, the non- cooperation movement which Gandhiji launched fourteen years later. Lokmanya Tilak seemed to be speaking in the very accent of 165 Mahatma Gandhi, in his uncompromising stand that India would be satisfied with nothing short of poorna swaraj. Tilak’s own capacity for sacrifice and self-denial was immense. He was a tireless worker and campaigner and a prodigious writer. He thrived on controversies. A great part of his political life was spent in espousing causes that were unpopular at that time. He had very little concern for this personal safety, comfort and even for his grief. In January 1903, during the epidemic of Poona, Tilak’s eldest son, Vishwanath, died of plague. His typical response to condolences was: "when there is a general bonfire of whole town, everyone must contribute his quota of fuel". Next morning, while he was dictating the leading article of the Kerasi, he was informed that his younger son was running fever. Any other person in his place would have been completely unnerved, but Tilak remained absorbed in his work until he had revised the manuscript ans sent it to the press. Tilak’s last and most serious confrontation with the British Government came in 1908. Those were tumultuous days. The partition of gengal had given rise to a wave of terrorism. There were bomb incidents in many parts of the country and the Government let loose a terrible wave of repression. Tilak was not happy at the incidence of terrorism, but his sympathies were entirely with those had to resort to these extreme measures as a reaction to the policy of repression pursued by the rulers. He wrote a series of articles in the Kesari, giving expression to his sorrow and indignation. These articles were deliberately mis-constructed by the authorities as an incitement to violence. On June 24, 1908 a warrant of arrest was served on Tilak in Bombay. The historic trial of Tilak on charges of sedition began on July 13. Tilak defended his own case. He saw himself not merely as an individual seeking acquittal, but as a nation’s representative championing the cause of freedom. "Today I am in the dock", Tilak told his prosecutors", for opinions which I have formulated. It is not sedidtion to find fault with the Government or to advocate the 166 reform of administration. It is one’s inherent right to fight for the liberty of his people, for a change in the Government". But the British rulers were moved not by consideration of justice but by vindictiveness. Here was an opportunity of wreaking their revenge on an Indian who was described by the then Governor of Bombay as "one of the chief conspiration, perhaps the chief conspirator against the existence of the British Government in India". Tilak was convicted and deported to Mandalay in Burma where he was to spend the next six years of his life. On hearing the verdict, Tilak defiantly saicd: All I wish to say is that, in spite of the verdict of the jury, I maintain that I am innocent. There are higher powers that rule the destiny of thing and it may be the will of Providence that the cause which I represent may prosper more by my suffering than by my remaining free. At Mandalay, Tilak soon settled himself into a routine of writing and thinking. The man of action absorbed himself in reading, in learning new things and in contemplating on the true message of the Gita. A most fruitful result of this constant reading and reflection was the Gita Rahasya. In this, Tilak tried to show how the philosophy of the Gita helps to solve the moral issues involved in every-day life. On June 8, 1914, Tilak was informed that his exile was over. He was now 58, and his health was broken, but his spirit was unbowed. On his return to India, he resumed his political activities with his usual zeal and thoroughness. Those were the days of the First World War. Gandhiji had arrived on the Indian scene, but he had yet to make a mark. There was no other leader of Tilak’s stature and following. The various factions of the nationalist movement quickly united under his leadership. Tilak’s health, however, had started failing. The winter of 1918 and practically the whole of 1919, Tilak spent abroad mostly in England. The ostensible purpose of his visit was a libel case in which he was involved, but he had really gone there to win support for the cause of India’s independence. 167 By the time Tilak returned from his stay in England, he was convinced that the British were actually serious about some major constitutional reform. He was prepared to give a fair trial to the Montagu-Chelmsford formula. At the famous Amritsar session of the Congress, he carried the day for his policy of "responsive co- operation" with these reforms. His motto was "to accept whatever is given, but to continue to agitate for me". But certain aspects of the post-war policies of the British Government destroyed India’s faith in British intentions. The Indian Muslims were agitated on the issue of khilafat, and Gandhiji was giving the call for fresh battles in the struggle for freedom. Tilak and other leaders of his generation had prepared the nation for the trials and triumphs of the Gandhian era. On August 1, 1920, a day before Gandhiji launched his first non- cooperation movement, Tilak breathed his last. This ended an era in political history of India’s freedom struggle. 17. Sarojini Naidu One of the greatest of India’s women, Mrs. Sarojini Naidu had for almost thirty years been closely associated with the freedom movement and with the women’s campaign for social and legal reform. Before she spent her unbounded energy on these achievements, she was acclaimed as a great artist in lyrical poetry in the world of English letters. Sarojini was born in Hyderabad on February 13, 1879. She was the eldest child of Dr. Aghorenath Chatterjee who originally came from a village in East Bengal. His family belonged to an ancient line of great Sanskrit scholars. They taught the scriptures and were much respected in Bengal. He cared nothing for caste and convention and is said to have broke the sacred thread and thrown it into the Ganges at the age of 14. Aghorenath was a brilliant scientist as well as a poet in Urdu and Bengali and Sarojini’s love of colour, her joy for living and the instinct to create were as much inherited as a part of her own individuality. Sarojini’s mother, Varada Sundari, was a renowned 168 singer, and wrote beautiful lyrics in Bengali. In Hyderabad, the girl was brough up in an atmosphere which had the best of both Hindu and Muslim cultures. Hyderabad was a as that time regarded as the centre of Muslim learning. Besides English and Bengali, Sarojini acquired a wide knowledge of Urdu and Persian. Sarojini passed the Matriculation Examination in her twelfth year in the first class, standing first in the Madras Presidency. She did not pass any other examination, not even in London and Cambridge, where she studied. Early in life, Sarojini became a poet. She wrote afterwards that she inherited the poetic instinct from her parents. "One day", she writes, "when I was eleven, I was sighing over a sum in Algebra: it wouldn’t come right; but instead a whole poem came to me suddenly. At thirteen, t wrote a long poem, Lady of the Lake— 1,300 lines in six days. At thirteen, I wrote a drama of 2,000 lines, a full-fledge passionate thing that I began on the spur of the moment without forethought, just to spite must not touch a book". While in England, Sarohini came in contact with the famous English critic, Edmund Gosse, who found her verses "skilful in form, correct in grammar and blameless in sentiment but Western in feeling and imagery". He advised her to be "a genuine Indian poet and not a clever imitator of the English classics". Sarojini then began writing poems with exclusive Indian background. As advised by Edmund Gose, Sarojini stopped writing about things English and close Hyderabad and Secunderabad, with their Hindu-Islamic culture, as background for her poems. She had imbibed the Muslim culture of her hometown and gave expression to it in her poems. Her first book, the Golden Threshold, took the English world by storm. Published in 1905 in London, it became a best-seller. Other collections of poems, The feather of the Dawn, Bird of Time and The Broken Wing were applauded by readers. Some of the poems were translated into French. Despite her innate longing for the "rapture of song", Sarojini was being irrevocably drawn into the social and political life of the country. It was perhaps Gopal Krishna Gokhale who persuaded 169 her to step out of her ivory tower. She met Mahatma Gandhi in 1914 and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru at the Congress session of 1916. Both of them greatly impressed her. She developed friendship with Rabindranath Tagore and C.F. Andrews. Mrs. Naidu delivered some brilliant speeches at the 1916 Congress and some other conferences of women and students. Her life work now began in earnest, the most important being efforts to bring about Hindu-Muslim unity. Addressing the seventh All India Women’s Conference, she declared that no Indian could be loyal to the country and yet be narrow and sectarian in spirit. She said, "No matter whether it was temple or mosque, church or fire-shrine, let them transcend the barriers that divided man". Sarojini was deeply troubled at the many evidences of rift between the two communities. She admired Muslim culture and the Muslim way of life. From the earliest days, Mohamed Ali Jinnah, the Ali brothers and other Muslims were her devoted friends. She was present at the Lucknow session of the Muslim League which decided on co-operation with Hindus in national and social matters. Sarojini wrote that this marked a new era and inaugurated ne standards in the history of modem Indian affairs. Her manifold activities included a campaign foe women’s franchise. She became president of every kind of important political conference and of students’ conferences. She was also elected President of the Bombay Provincial Congress. In July 1919, Sarojini went to England as a member of the deputation of the All-India Home Rule League, where she pleaded for the rights of women. She appeared before the joint Committee on Indian Reforms. She supported franchise for women. During her stay in England, she addressed meeting and told the British public about the horror of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. She also joined in the Khilafat movement there. Under instructions from the Indian National Congress, Mrs. Naidu went to Africa in 1924 as a delegate to the Kenya Indian 170 Congress, which was fighting for the rights of Indian settler. She roused the Indians to action and inspirited them to carry on their fight non-violently. She also went to South Africa, where she received a resounding welcome. She presided over the East Africa Indian Congress in Mombasa. She returned to India by the middle of 1924 and was elected President of the Congress session held in Kanpur in December 1925. In her inspiring address, she made a fervent plea for unity. Her presidentship was an occasion for women to come forward and enter public life. During 1928-29, Sarojini was sent as Mahatma Gandhi’s representative to the United States of America and Canada. She was chosen to be the mouthpiece of the Congress and to counteract the effect of Miss Mayo’s book, "Mother India", which had drawn a lurid picture of Indians and their way of living. She was sent to East Africa a second time in November 1929. Sarojini took part in the Salt Satyagraha in 1930 and was sent to jail. In 1931, she accompanied Mahatma Gandhi to London to attend the second Round Table Conference. She represented Indian women there. Mrs. Naidu was arrested again in January 1932 for taking part in the Civil Disobedlence Movement. She was imprisoned a third time during the Quit India Movement on August 9, 1942 along with Mahatma Gandhi. They were put together in Agha Khan’s palace. Despite her illness, Sarojini’s presence enlivened the jail atmosphere. Mira Behn writes of Sarojini, "None of us, not even Bapu, had realized up to the time of incarceration together in the Agha Khan palace the full richness of Sarojini Devi’s nature. Of course we all knew her poetic genius, her amazing oratory and her sparkling wit, but it was only now through direct experience that we came to know of the bigness of her motherly heart and the strength of her character in moments of suffering and sorrow". Owing to serious illness, Sarojini was unconditionally released on March 21, 1943. She retired to Hyderabad for some months but had to take charge of the Quit India movement very soon as almost all the other leaders were in jail. 171 Mrs. Naidu was at the peak of her career when she presided over the Asian Relations Conference in New Delhi in March 1947. She was chosen leader for Asia, and not only India. Her speech at the conference was a stupendous feat of rhetoric and inspiration. When the nation attained independence, Sarojini Naidu became the Governor of Uttar Pradesh. She adorned that high office for less than two years. The Bharat left her earthen cage on March 2, 1949. A memorial has been raised on the Gomati in Lucknow where she was cremated. In a tribute, Jawaharlal Nehru remarked that "she lifted politics to a higher artistic sphere. Whatever she touched, she infuses with something of her fire….She represented in herself a rich culture into which flows various currents which have made Indian culture as great as it is". Other Famous Indians India has produced several famous personalities that have excelled in their field. These Indian heroes have battled against all odds and have reached the pinnacle of success by their courage, determination and perseverance. Their lives have inspired a whole generation of Indians and continue to inspire millions of Indians and others all around the world. Here are biographies of few such Indian heroes. These include people from all walks of life such as freedom fighters, leaders, scientists, litterateurs, writers, painters, musicians, social reformers and entrepreneurs. 172 Indian Entrepreneurs Dhirubhai Kumar Subroto Ambani Mangalam Roy JRD Tata Birla Sunil Jamsetji Lalit Suri Mittal Tata M.S. Tulsi Tanti Adi Godrej Oberoi Verghese Anil Mukesh Kurien Ambani Ambani Vijay Dr. K. Anji Nandan Mallya Reddy Nilekani Mallika Azim Narayana Srinivasan Premji Murthy Naina Lal Bhai Naresh Kidwai Mohan Goyal Shahnaz Singh Dr. Pratap Hussain B.M. Reddy Sulajja Munjal Rahul Firodia Ekta Bajaj Motwani Kapoor Ramalinga Shobhana Raju Bhartia Ghanshyam Ratan Tata Aditya Das Birla Raunaq Vikram Singh Birla Karsanbhai Shiv Nadar Gulshan Patel Subhash Kumar Kiran Chandra Vaman Mazumdar Chanda Srinivas Shaw Kudva Kochhar K.P. Singh Deepak S.L. Kirloskar Kasturbhai Parekh Lalbha Harish Lalit Modi A.M. Naik Manwani Ronnie Karan Screwvala Analjit Singh Bilimoria Shikha K.V. Sharma Anand Mahindra Kamath T.V Y.C Sundaram Biki Iyengar 173 Oberoi Deveshwar T.V. Captain Mohandas Gopinath Pai 174 Leaders Annie Besant Sarvepalli Mridula Aruna Asaf Ali Radhakrishn Sarabhai Aurobindo an Rani Ghose Subhas Gaidinliu Bal Chandra S. Srinivasa Gangadhar Bose Iyengar Tilak Veer Sir Shaheed Savarkar Surendranath Bhagat Singh Kasturba Banerjee Dr. B.R. Gandhi Deendayal Ambedkar Madam Upadhyaya Cama Dr Zakir Chandrashekh Rajkumari Hussain ar Azad Amrit Kaur Fakhruddin Dadabhai Sucheta Ali Ahmed Naoroji Kriplani Neelam Gopal Krishna Vijaya Sanjiva Reddy Gokhale Lakshmi Ram Jawaharlal Pandit Manohar Nehru Abdul Lohia Lala Lajpat Ghaffar Khan V. V. Giri Rai Ajmal Khan Chandra Lal Bahadur Pattabhi Shekhar Shastri Sitaramayya Chaudhary Maulana Abul Bipin Devi Lal Kalam Azad Chandra Pal Motilal Nehru K.R. Chempakara Dr. Rajendra Narayanan man Pillai Prasad Pramod Indrajit C.N. Mahajan Gupta Annadurai J.B. Jyoti Basu Chittaranjan Kripalani Rajiv Gandhi Das P.V. Sardar Patel Narasimha Sarojini Naidu Chakravarthi Rao Mohan Rajagopalach R. Kumaramangal ari Venkatarama am Gopinath n 175 R. K. Bordoloi Rajesh Pilot Shanmukham Vijayaraje Chetty Jayaprakash Scindia Rangarajan Narayan V.P. Singh Kumaramangal K Kamaraj Charan am Singh Acharya MangalPande Ram Prasad Narendra Dev y Bismil Bagha Jatin Siddhartha Rash Behari Bhulabhai Shankar Ray Bose Desai T.Sadasivam S. Bidhan Satyamurti T.T. Chandra Roy Krishnamach Shankar Chidambaram ari Dayal Sharma Subramaniam Hasrat Shyamji EMS Mohani Krishna Namboodiripad Kamala Varma EV Nehru Shyama Ramasamy Khudiram Prasad Ganesh Bose Mookerjee Shankar M. G VO Vidyarthi Ramachandr Chidambaram Giani Zail an Pillai Singh Madan V. K. Krishna Gulzarilal Mohan Menon Nanda Malaviya Vithalbhai Atal Bihari Madhavrao Patel Vajpayee Scindia YS Bhairon Singh Morarji Rajasekhara Shekhawat Desai Reddy Biju Patnaik N. T. Rama Purushottam E.M.S. Rao Das Tandon Namboodiripad Neelam Prakash Farooq Sanjiva Karat Abdullah Reddy Prakash George Rafi Ahmed Singh Badal Fernandes Kidwai Pranab H. D. Deve Lalu Prasad Mukherjee Gowda Yadav Pratibha 176 I.K. Gujral Mamata Devisingh Jaswant Banerjee Patil Singh Mani Sharad Jayalalithaa Shankar Pawar Jayaram Aiyar Sheikh Kanshi Ram Manmohan Abdullah Lal Krishna Singh Sheila Advani Mayawati Dikshit M. Shivraj Singh Karunanidhi Chouhan Mohammad Somnath Hamid Chatterjee Ansari Sonia Mulayam Gandhi Singh Yadav Sushma Narendra Swaraj Modi Uma Bharti Naveen Yashwant Patnaik Sinha Nithish Kumar P. Chidambara m Musicians Miyan Kishore Tansen Kumar Ustad Ali Tyagaraja Kundan Lal Akbar Khan Allauddin Saigal Ustad Khan Mohammed Amjad Ali Annapurna Rafi Khan Devi Mukesh Hariprasad Bismillah Geeta Dutt Chaurasia Khan MS L. Classical Subbulaksh Subramaniam Dancers mi Muthuswami Mallika Ravi Sarabhai 177 Shankar Dikshitar Protima Bedi Shiv Kumar Shovana Sharma Indian Narayan Singers Zakir Sonal Hussain Alisha Mansingh Ananda Chinai Yamini Shankar Alka Yagnik Krishnamurt AR Rahman Asha Bhosle hy Beghum Lata Rukmini Akhtar Mangeshkar Devi Pandit Shubha Arundale Debu Mudgal Uday Chaudhuri Hemanta Shankar Sri Lalgudi Kumar Birju Jayarama Mukhopadhy Maharaj Iyer ay RD Burman Talat Swathi Mahmood Thirunal Others KalpanaNandalal Chawla Bose Tenzing Norgay Meghnad Bikash Amritanandama Desai Bhattacharjee yi Montek Binod Mirabai Singh Behari Sister Nivedita Ahluwalia Mukherjee B. C. Sanyal Begum Hazrat Raghuram Mahal Mukul Rajan Rani Lakshmi Rakesh Chandra Dey Satish Bai Sharma Gujral M G Ranade Ram Kamaladevi Jethmalan NRI Chattopadhyay i Entrepreneu Shakuntala Robin rs Devi 178 Admiral S M Sharma Amar Bose Nanda Romesh Profile General K.M Chunder Arun Sarin Cariappa Dutt Indra Nooyi Field Marhsal Lakshmi Painters Sam Mittal Manekshaw Amrita Sabeer Amartya Sen Shergill Bhatia Bachendri Pal Jamini Lord Swaraj Dipak .C. Jain Roy Paul E. Sreedharan Raja Ravi Vinod Dham J. N. Bhagwati Varma Vinod Abanindranath MF Khosla Tagore Hussain Dr. Arun Tyeb Netravali Mehta Gururaj Anjolie Deshpande Ela Menon Kanwal Francis Rekhi Newton Souza Rameshwa r Broota SH Raza Manjit Bawa 179 India Film Personalities Dimple Shabana Mohanlal Kapadia Azmi Jaya Sharmila Mammootty Bachchan Tagore Kajol Smita Patil Rajinikanth Sri Devi Shahrukh Madhubala Suraiya Khan Madhuri Sushmita Sivaji Dixit Sen Ganesan Nargis Dev Anand Raj Prithviraj Kamal Kapoor Kapoor Haasan Parveen Preity Mehmood Babi Zinta Satyajit Mithun Rani ChakrabortyRay Mukherjee Ismail Balraj Rekha Sahni Merchant Deepa Prem Nath M. N. Mehta Shyamalan Mira Nair Gurinder Chadha 180 Writers Kiran Desai Rohinton Mahadevi Mistry Bankim Varma Upamanyu Chandra Chatterjee Shashi Chatterjee Deshpande Premchand Shobha De Sumitranand an Pant Rabindranath Khushwant Suryakant Tagore Singh Nirad C. Tripathi Anita Desai 'Nirala' Arundhati Chaudhuri Subhadra Anand Roy Bakshi Jhumpa Kumari Chauhan Mehr Lal Lahiri Soni Zia Mulk Raj Subramanya Fatehabadi Anand Bharathi Rahul R.K. Narayan Mahasweta Sankrityayan Salman Devi Michael Rushdie Dilip Chitre Madhusudan Vikram Seth Sarat Dutt V.S. Naipaul Chandra Nirmal Jaishankar Chatterji Verma Prasad Dharamvir Raghuvir Sahir Bharati Sahay Ludhianvi Harivansh Tarashankar Kazi Nazrul Rai Bandopadhya Islam Bachchan y Bibhutibhush Hasrat Mahatma Jaipuri an Gandhi Bandopadhya Kaka Hathrasi Facts About y Dr. Makhanlal Mahatma Pandurang Chaturvedi Gandhi Vaman Kane Manik Mahatma Jiddu Bandopadhy Gandhi Quote ay Mahatma Krishnamurti Bharatendu Manohar Gandhi Harishchandr Shyam Joshi Pictures a Maithili 181 Devaki Sharan Gupt Nandan Khatri Majrooh Hazari Sultanpuri Indira Gandhi Prasad Ramdhari Dwivedi Singh Indira Amrita 'Dinkar' Gandhi Pritam Chetan Pictures Aravind Bhagat Indira Adiga Gandhi Ramachandr Quotes a Guha Mother Teresa Mother Teresa Pictures Mother Teresa Quote Scientists Raja Shahu Ramanna Chhatrapat C.V. Raman G. N. i Homi Ramachandra Balshastri Bhabha n Jambhekar Jagdish Prasanta Chandra Bose Chandra Sahajanan Meghnad Mahalanobis d Saraswati Saha M. Social Indian Visvesvaraya Reformers Vocalists Satyendra Anna Hazare Girija Devi Nath Bose Kumar Dayanand Gandharva Subrahmanya Saraswati n Raja Ram Vishwanat Chandrasekha Mohan Roy r Ramakrishna h Rao Vikram Paramhansa Ringe Pandit 182 Sarabhai Swami Jasraj Anil Vivekananda Kakodkar Vinoba Balamurali APJ Abdul Bhave Krishna Kalam Kiran Bedi Ustad Birbal Sahni Medha Bade Srinivasa Patkar Ghulam Ali Ramanujan Shanta Khan Ganapathi Sinha Bhimsen Thanikaimoni Baba Amte Joshi Harish- Ishwar C. R. Vyas Chandra Chandra Gangubai Dr. Shanti Vidyasagar Hangal Swarup Dhondo Hirabai Bhatnagar Keshav Karve Barodekar Kandukuri Saraswati Kotcherlakota Veeresalingam Abdul Rane Rangadhama Pandita Rao Doctors Ramabai Salim Ali Sahajanand Yellapragada Saraswati Balamurali Subbarao Vitthal Ramji Ambati Sam Pitroda Shinde Deepak Shriram Chopra Venkatarama Dr. Devi Sharma n Acharya Prasad Ramakrishna Shetty Jyotiba n Phule Dr. Har Gobind Naresh Khorana Trehan Dwarkanat h Kotnis 183 REFERENCES Adas, Michael. "Twentieth Century Approaches to the Indian Mutiny of 1857-58," Journal of Asian History [Wiesbaden], 5, No. 1, 1971, 1-19. Ahmad, Imtiaz. State and Foreign Policy: India's Role in South Asia. New Delhi: Vikas, 1993. Ali, M. Athar. "The Mughal Policy--A Critique of Revisionist Approaches," Modern Asian Studies [London], 27, Pt. 4, October 1993, 699-710. Ali, Tariq. An Indian Dynasty: The Story of the Nehru-Gandhi Family. New York: Putnam, 1985. Asher, Catherine Ella Blanshard. The New Cambridge History of India, I.4: Architecture in Mughal India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Ashton, S.R. British Policy Towards the Indian States, 1905- 1939. London Studies on South Asia, No. 2. London: Curzon, 1982. Austin, Granville. The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966. Baird, Robert. Religion in Modern India. New Delhi: Manohar, 1981. Baker, Christopher J. An Indian Rural Economy: The Tamiland Countryside. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984. Baker, Christopher J. The Politics of South India, 1920-1937. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976. Baker, David. "Colonial Beginnings and the Indian Response: The Revolt of 1857-58 in Madhya Pradesh," Modern Asian Studies [London], 25, Pt. 3, July 1991, 511-43. 184 Banerjee, Hiranmay. The House of the Tagores. 3d ed. Calcutta: Rabiondra Bharati University, 1968. Barraclough, Geoffrey, and Geoffrey Parker, eds. The Times Atlas of World History. 4th ed. Maplewood, New Jersey: Hammond, 1993. Barrier, N. Gerald. India and America: American Publishing on India, 1930-1985. New Delhi: American Institute of Indian Studies, 1986. Basham, A.L. The Origin and Development of Classical Hinduism. Ed. and completed by Kenneth G. Zysk. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Basham, A.L. The Wonder That Was India, 1: A Survey of the History and Culture of the Indian Sub-Continent Before the Coming of the Muslims. 3d ed., rev. London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1967. Basham, A.L., ed. A Cultural History of India. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975. Bayly, C.A. The New Cambridge History of India, II.1: Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987. Bayly, C.A. Rulers, Townsmen, and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British Expansion, 1770-1870. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983. Beach, Milo Cleveland. The New Cambridge History of India, I.3: Mughal and Rajput Painting. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Beaumont, Roger. Sword of the Raj: The British Army in India, 1747-1947. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1977. Bhattacharjee, Arun. Rajiv Gandhi: Life and Message. New Delhi: Ashish, 1992. 185 Blake, Stephen P. Shahjahanabad: The Sovereign City in Mughal India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Bondurant, Joan V. The Conquest of Violence: The Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1958. Bose, Subhas Chandra. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: Correspondence and Selected Documents, 1930-1942. Ed., Ravindra Kumar. New Delhi: Inter-India, 1992. Bose, Sugata. The New Cambridge History of India, III.2: Peasant Labour and Colonial Capital: Rural Bengal since 1770. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Brass, Paul R. The New Cambridge History of India, IV.1: The Politics of India since Independence. 2d ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Brecher, Michael. Nehru: A Political Biography. London: Oxford University Press, 1959. Brecher, Michael. The Politics of Succession in India. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood, 1976. Brown, Judith M. Gandhi and Civil Disobedience. London: Cambridge University Press, 1977. Brown, Judith M. Modern India: The Origins of an Asian Democracy. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1985. Carras, Mary C. Indira Gandhi in the Crucible of Leadership. Boston: Beacon Press, 1979. Chanchreek, K.L., and Saroj Prasad, eds. Crisis in India. Delhi: H.K. Publishers, 1993. Chandra, Bipan. Essays on Contemporary India. New Delhi: Har-Anand, 1993. Chandra, Bipan. Modern India. New Delhi: National Council of Educational Research and Training, 1971. 186 Chandra, Satish. Medieval India: A Textbook for Classes XI- XII. 2 vols. New Delhi: National Council of Educational Research and Training, 1978. Chattopadhyaya, B.D. "Origins of the Rajputs: The Political, Economic, and Social Progress in Early Medieval Rajasthan," Indian Historical Review [Delhi], 3, No. 1, March 1976, 59-82. Collins, Larry, and Dominique Lapierre. Freedom at Midnight. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1975. Crawford, S. Cromwell. Ram Mohan Roy. New York: Paragon, 1987. Cunningham, Joseph Davey. History of the Sikhs, From the Origins of the Nation to the Battles of the Sutlej. Delhi: Sultan Chand, 1955. Damodaran, A.K., and Bajpai, U.S., eds. Indian Foreign Policy: The Indira Gandhi Years. New Delhi: Radiant, 1990. Das, Arvind. India Invented. New Delhi: Manohar, 1992. Das, Kamal Kishore. Economic History of Moghul India: An Annotated Bibliography, 1526-1875. Calcutta: Santiniketan, 1991. Das, M.N. India under Morley and Minto: Politics Behind Revolution, Repression, and Reforms. London: Allen and Unwin, 1964. Das, Veena. Mirrors of Violence: Communities, Riots, and Survivors in South Asia. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1992. Dasgupta, A. "Indian Merchants and the Trade in the Indian Ocean." Pages 407-33 in Tapan Raychaudhuri and Irfan Habib, eds., The Cambridge Economic History of India, 1: c.1200-c.1750. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982. 187 Datta, V.N. Sati: Widow Burning in India. New Delhi: Manohar, 1990. Davies, C. Collin. An Historical Atlas of the Indian Peninsula. London: Oxford University Press, 1959. Derrett, J. Duncan. Religion, Law, and the State in India. London: Faber, 1968. Desai, Morarji. The Story of My Life. 3 vols. New Delhi: Pergamon, 1979. Dhanagare, D.N. Peasant Movements in India, 1920-1950. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1983. Dikshit, D.P. Political History of the Chalukyas of Badami. New Delhi: Abhinav, 1980. Dixit, Prabla. Communalism: A Struggle for Power. New Delhi: Orient Longman, 1981. Doniger, Wendy, trans. Laws of Manu. New York: Penguin, 1992. Doshi, Saryu, ed. India and Greece. New Delhi: Marg, 1985. Dutt, Ashok K., and Allen G. Noble. "The Culture of India in a Spatial Perspective: An Introduction." Pages 1-28 in Allen G. Noble and Ashok K. Dutt, eds., India: Cultural Patterns and Processes. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1982. Eaton, Richard M. The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204-1760. Comparative Studies on Muslim Societies, No. 17. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993. Eaton, Richard M. Sufis of Bijapur, 1300-1700: Social Roles of Sufis in Medieval India. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978. Eldridge, P.J. The Politics of Foreign Aid in India. New York: Schocken, 1970. 188 Ellinwood, DeWitt C., and S.P. Pradhan. India and World War I. New Delhi: Manohar, 1978. Embree, Ainslie T. 1857 in India: Mutiny or War of Independence. Lexington, Massachusetts: Heath, 1963. Embree, Ainslie T., ed. Encyclopedia of Asian History. 4 vols. The Asia Society. New York: Scribner's, 1988. Embree, Ainslie T., ed. Sources of Indian Tradition, 1: From the Beginning to 1800. 2d ed. Introduction to Oriental Civilization Series. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988. Erickson, Erik H. Gandhi's Truth: On the Origins of Militant Nonviolence. New York: Norton, 1970. Fairservis, Walter A. The Roots of Ancient India: The Archaeology of Early Indian Civilization. New York: Macmillan, 1971. Farmer, Edward L., Gavin R.G. Hambly, David Kopf, Byron K. Marshall, and Romeyn Taylor. Comparative History of Civilizations in Asia. 2 vols. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley, 1977. Featherstone, Donald F. Victorian Colonial Warfare, India: From the Conquest of Sind to the Indian Mutiny. London: Cassell, 1992. Fischer, Louis. The Life of Mahatma Gandhi. New York: Harper, 1950. Fisher, Michael. A Clash of Cultures: Awadh, the British, and the Mughals. New Delhi: Manohar, 1987. Fisher, Michael. Indirect Rule in India: Residents and the Residency System, 1764-1857. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1991. 189 Frykenberg, Robert E. Guntur District 1788-1848: A History of Local Influence and Central Authority in South India. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1965. Gandhi, Mahatma. An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth. Trans., Mahadev Desai. Boston: Beacon Press, 1957. Reprint. Boston: Beacon Press, 1993. Gandhi, Mahatma. Essential Writings of Mahatma Gandhi. Ed., Raghavan Iyer. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1991. Gandhi, Mahatma. The Gandhi Reader: A Sourcebook of His Life and Writings. Ed., Homer A. Jack. Grove Press Eastern Philosophy and Literature Studies. New York: Grove Press, 1961. Gandhi, Mahatma. Non-Violent Resistance. Comp. and ed., Bharatan Kumanappa. New York: Schocken, 1951. Ganguly, D.K. Ancient India: History and Archaeology. New Delhi: Abhinav, 1994. Gascoigne, Bamber. The Great Moghuls. London: Cape, 1971. Ghose, S.K. Politics of Violence: Dawn of a Dangerous Era. Springfield, Virginia: Nataraj, 1992. Glazer, Sulochana Raghavan, and Nathan Glazer, eds. Conflicting Images: India and the United States. Glenn Dale, Maryland: Riverdale, 1990. Goalen, Paul. India: From Mughal Empire to British Raj. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Gokkhale, B.C. "Buddhism in the Gupta Age." Pages 129-56 in Bardwell L. Smith, ed., Essays on Gupta Culture. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1983. Gopal, Sarvepalli. Jawaharlal Nehru: An Anthology. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1980. 190 Gopal, Sarvepalli. Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography. 3 vols. London: Cape, 1975-84. Gopal, Sarvepalli. Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography. Abridged ed. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1993. Gopal, Sarvepalli, ed. Anatomy of a Confrontation: The Babri Masjid-Ramjanmabhumi Issue. New Delhi: Viking, 1991. Goradia, Nayana. Lord Curzon: The Last of the British Moghuls. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1993. Gordon, Stewart. The New Cambridge History of India, II.4: The Marathas, 1600-1818. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Goyal, Shankar. Aspects of Ancient Indian History and Historiography. New Delhi: Harnam, 1993. Guha, Ranajit, and Gayatri Chakravorty, eds. Subaltern Studies: Writings on South Asian History and Society. 5 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982-87. Gupte, Pranay. Mother India: A Political Biography of Indira Gandhi. New York: Scribner's, 1992. Gupte, Pranay. Vengeance: India after the Assassination of Indira Gandhi. New York: Norton, 1985. Habib, Irfan. The Agrarian System of Mughal India, 1556- 1707. New York: Asia, 1963. Habib, Irfan. An Atlas of the Mughal Empire. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1982. Habib, Irfan, ed. Medieval India, 1: Researchers in the History of India, 1200-1750. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1992. Halbfass, Wilhelm. India and Europe: An Essay in Understanding. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988. 191 Hamilton, J.R. Alexander the Great. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965. Hardgrave, Robert L., Jr., and Stanley A. Kochanek. India: Government and Politics in a Developing Nation. 5th ed. Fort Worth, Texas: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1993. Hart, Henry C., ed. Indira Gandhi's India: A Political System Reappraised. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1976. Haynes, Douglas E. Rhetoric and Ritual in Colonial India: The Shaping of a Public Culture in Surat City, 1852-1928. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. Heinsath, Charles. Indian Nationalism and Hindu Social Reform. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1964. Hill, John L., ed. The Congress and Indian Nationalism: Historical Perspectives. Westwood, Massachusetts: Riverdale, 1991. Hindustan Year Book and Who's Who, 1992. 60th ed. Ed., S. Sarkar. Calcutta: M.C. Sarkar, 1992. Hindustan Year Book and Who's Who, 1994. 62d ed. Ed., S. Sarkar. Calcutta: M.C. Sarkar, 1994. Hiro, Dilip. Inside India Today. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1976. Hirschman, Edwin. White Mutiny: The Ilbert Bill Crisis in India and the Genesis of the Indian National Congress. New Delhi: Heritage, 1980. Humbers, Philippe. The Rajiv Gandhi Years: Sunshine and Shadows. New Delhi: Vimot, 1992. Hutchins, Francis. The Illusion of Permanence: British Imperialism in India. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1967. 192 Hutchins, Francis. Spontaneous Revolution: The Quit India Movement. New Delhi: Manohar, 1971. Inden, Ronald. Imagining India. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990. Inder Singh, Anita. "Decolonization in India: The Statement of February 20, 1947," International History Review [Toronto], 6, No. 2, May 1984, 191-209. Inder Singh, Anita. "Imperial Defence and the Transfer of Power in India, 1946-1947," International History Review [Toronto], 4, No. 4, November 1982, 568-88. India Handbook, 1996. 5th ed. Ed., Robert W. Bradnock. Bath, United Kingdom: Trade and Travel, 1995. Irschich, Eugene F. Politics and Social Conflict in South India: The Non-Brahman Movement and Tamil Separatism. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969. Irschich, Eugene F. Tamil Revivalism in the 1930s. New Delhi: Manohar, 1986. Jain, C.K., ed. Rajiv Gandhi and Parliament. New Delhi: CBS, 1992. Jain, M.P. Outlines of Indian Legal History. 2d ed. Bombay: Tripathi, 1966. Jalal, Ayesha. The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League, and the Demand for Pakistan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985. Jayakar, Pupul. Indira Gandhi: A Biography. New Delhi: Penguin, 1992. Jeffrey, Robin, ed. People, Princes, and Paramount Power: Society and Politics in Indian Princely States. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1978. 193 Jones, Kenneth W. Arya Dharm: Hindu Consciousness in 19th Century Punjab. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976. Jones, Kenneth W. The New Cambridge History of India, III.1: Socio-Religious Reform Movements in British India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. Kandaswamy, S.N. Buddhism as Expounded in Manimekalai (The Jewelled Belt). Annamalainagar: Annamalai University, 1978. Kapur, Rajiv. Sikh Separatism: The Politics of Faith. New Delhi: Vikas, 1987. Karashima, Noboru. Towards a New Formation: South Indian Society under Vijayanagar Rule. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1992. Kashvap, Subhash. The Politics of Defection. Delhi: National, 1969. Keay, John. Democracy and Discontent: India's Growing Crisis of Governability. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Keay, John. The Honourable Company: A History of the English East India Company. London: Harper Collins, 1991. Kopf, David. The Brahmo Samaj and the Shaping of the Modern Indian Mind. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979. Kopf, David. British Orientalism and the Bengal Renaissance: The Dynamics of Indian Modernization, 1773-1835. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969. Kosambi, D.D. Myth and Reality: Studies in the Formation of Indian Culture. Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1962. Kothari, Rajni. Politics in India. Boston: Little, Brown, 1970. 194 Kreisberg, Paul H. "Gandhi at Midterm," Foreign Affairs, 65, No. 5, Summer 1987, 1055-76. Krishna Murari. The Calukyas of Kalyani, from circa 973 A.D. to 1200 A.D. Delhi: Concept, 1977. Kulke, Hermann, ed. The State in India, 1000-1700. Oxford in India Readings, Themes in Indian History. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1995. Kulke, Hermann, and Dietmar Rothermund. A History of India. Rev., updated ed. London: Routledge, 1990. Kumar, Deepak, ed. Science and Empire: Essays in Indian Context, 1700-1947. Delhi: Anamika Prakashan, 1991. Kumar, Dharma, and Meghnad Desai, eds. The Cambridge Economic History of India, 2: c.1757-c.1970. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983. Kumar, Ravinder. The Social History of Modern India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1983. Lelyveld, David. Aligarh's First Generation. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977. Lewis, Martin D. The British in India: Imperialism or Trusteeship. Lexington, Massachusetts: Heath, 1962. Lingat, R. The Classical Law of India. Trans., J.D.M. Derrett. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973. Ludden, David. Peasant History in South India. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985. McLane, John R. Indian Nationalism and the Early Congress. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977. Mahajan, Jagmohan. The Raj Landscape: British Views of Indian Cities. New Delhi: Spantech, 1988. 195 Mahalingam, T.V. Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar. 2 vols. Madras: University of Madras, 1969-75. Mahalingam, T.V. Readings in South Indian History. Delhi: B.R. Publishing, 1977. Mahalingam, T.V. South Indian Polity. 2d ed., rev. Madras: University of Madras, 1967. Malik, Hafeez. Sir Sayyid Ahamd Khan and Muslim Modernization in India and Pakistan. New York: Columbia University Press, 1980. Mansingh, Surjit. Historical Dictionary of India. Asian Historical Dictionaries, No. 20. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow, 1996. Marshall, John Hubert. Taxila: An Illustrated Account of the Archaeological Excavations Carried Out at Taxila under the Orders of the Government of India Between the Years, 1913 and 1934. 3 vols. Varanasi: Bhartiya, 1975. Marshall, P.J. The New Cambridge History of India, II.2: Bengal: The British Bridgehead: Eastern India, 1740-1828. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987. Marshall, P.J. Problems of Empire: Britain and India, 1757- 1813. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1968. Masani, Zaheer. Indira Gandhi: A Biography. Farmington, New York: Brown, 1976. Mayer, Adrian C. "Rulership and Divinity: The Case of the Modern Hindu Princes and Beyond," Modern Asian Studies [London], 25, Pt. 4, October 1991, 765-90. Mehra, Parshotam. A Dictionary of Modern Indian History, 1707-1947. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1985. Mehta, Ved. Portrait of India. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993. 196 Menon, Vapal Pangunni. The Story of the Integration of the Indian States. Madras: Orient Longman, 1956. Reprint. Madras: Orient Longman, 1985. Menon, Vapal Pangunni. The Transfer of Power in India. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957. Metcalf, Thomas R. The Aftermath of the Revolt: India, 1857- 1870. Princeton: Princeton University, 1964. Metcalf, Thomas R. An Imperial Vision: Indian Architecture and Britain's Raj. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989. Metcalf, Thomas R. Modern India: An Interpretive Anthology. London: Macmillan, 1971. Metcalf, Thomas R. The New Cambridge History of India, IV.3: Ideologies of the Raj. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Michell, George. The New Cambridge History of India, VI.1: Architecture and Art of Southern India: Vijayanagara and the Successor States, 1350-1750. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Miller, Barbara Stoler. "Presidential Address: Contending Narratives--The Political Life of the Indian Epics," Journal of Asian Studies, 50, No. 4, November 1991, 783-92. Minakshi, C. Administration and Social Life under the Pallavas. Madras: University of Madras, 1977. Minault, Gail. The Khilafat Movement: Religious Symbolism and Political Mobilization in India. Studies in Oriental Culture, No. 16. New York: Columbia University Press, 1982. Mishra, Jayashri. Social and Economic Conditions under the Imperial Rashtrakutas. New Delhi: Commonwealth, 1992. 197 Misra, Satya Swarup. The Aryan Problem: A Linguistic Approach. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1992. Moon, Penderel. The British Conquest and Dominion of India. London: Duckworth, 1989. Moon, Penderel. Divide and Quit. London: Chatto and Windus, 1961. Moore, R.J. Crisis of Indian Unity, 1917-1940. London: Oxford University Press, 1974. Moraes, Dom. Indira Gandhi. Boston: Little, Brown, 1980. Moreland, W.H. India at the Death of Akbar, 1: An Economic Study. N.p.: 1920. Reprint. Delhi: Atma Ram, 1962. Morris-Jones, W.H. The Government and Politics of India. London: Hutchinson, 1971. Mukhia, Harbans. Perspectives on Medieval History. New Delhi: Vikas, 1993. Nanda, B.R. The Indo-Greeks. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957. Nanda, B.R. "The Kushana State: A Preliminary Study." Pages 251-74 in Henri J. Claessen and Peter Skalnik, eds., The Study of the State. The Hague: Mouton, 1981. Nanda, B.R. Mahatma Gandhi. Boston: Beacon Press, 1958. Nanda, B.R. "Religious Policy and Toleration in Ancient India." Pages 17-52 in Bardwell L. Smith, ed., Essays on Gupta Culture. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1983. Narain, Harsh. The Ayodhya Temple Mosque Dispute. New Delhi: Penman, 1993. Narashimhan, C.R. Rajagopalachar: A Biography. New Delhi: Radiant, 1993. 198 Nayar, Kuldip, and Kushwant Singh. Tragedy of Punjab: Operation Bluestar and After. New Delhi: Vision Books, 1984. Nehru, Jawaharlal. Jawaharlal Nehru's Speeches. 5 vols. New Delhi: Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, 1958-68. Nehru, Jawaharlal. Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru. 2d Series. 16 vols. New Delhi: Jawaharlal Memorial Fund, 1988- 92. Nehru, Jawaharlal. Towards Freedom: An Autobiography. New York: Day, 1941. Nelson, David N. Bibliography of South Asia. Scarecrow Area Bibliographies, No. 4. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow, 1994. Nilakanta Sastri, Killidaikurchi Aiyah Aiyar. The Colas. 2d ed., rev. University of Madras Historical Series, No. 9. Madras: University of Madras, 1975. Nilakanta Sastri, Kallidaikurchi Aiyah Aiyar. History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar. 4th ed. Madras: Oxford University Press, 1976. Noble, Allen G., and Ashok K. Dutt, eds. India: Cultural Patterns and Processes. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1982. Nugent, Nicholas. Rajiv Gandhi: Son of a Dynasty. New Delhi: UBS, 1991. Page, David. Prelude to Partition: The Indian Muslims and the Imperial System of Control, 1920-1932. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1982. Pandey, B.N. The Break Up of British India. London: Macmillan, 1969. 199 Panikkar, K.M. Asia and Western Dominance. 2d ed. New York: Collier, 1969. Park, Richard L., and Bruce Bueno de Mesquita. India's Political System. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1979. Patnaik, Naveen. A Second Paradise: Indian Courtly Life, 1590-1947. Garden City, New Jersey: Doubleday, 1985. Patterson, Maureen L.P., in collaboration with William J. Alspaugh. South Asian Civilizations: A Bibliographic Synthesis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981. Paul, John J. The Legal Profession in Colonial South India. Bombay: Oxford University Press, 1991. Pearson, M.N. Before Colonialism: Theories of Asian-European Relations, 1500-1750. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1988. Pearson, M.N. The New Cambridge History of India, I.1: The Portuguese in India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987. Piggott, Stuart. Prehistoric India to 1000 B.C. London: Penguin, 1952. Possehl, Gregory L., ed. The Harappan Civilization. London: Aris and Phillips, 1982. Possehl, Gregory L., ed. South Asian Archaeology Studies. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1992. Powell, Avril Ann. Muslims and Missionaries in Pre-Mutiny India. London: Curzon, 1993. Prasad, Rajeshwar. Days with Lal Bahadur Shastri. New Delhi: Allied, 1991. Qureshi, I.H. The Muslim Community of the Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent, 1610-1947. The Hague: Mouton, 1962. 200 Ramusack, Barbara N. The Princes of India in the Twilight of Empire: Dissolution of a Patron-Client System, 1914-1939. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1978. Rangarajan, L.N., trans. and ed. Kautilya: The Arthasastra. New York: Penguin, 1992. Raychaudhuri, Tapan, and Irfan Habib, eds. The Cambridge Economic History of India, 1: c.1200-c.1750. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982. Richards, J.F. "The Islamic Frontier in the East: Expansion into South Asia," South Asia [Nedlands, Australia], No. 4, October 1974, 91-109. Richards, John F. The New Cambridge History of India, II.5: The Mughal Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Rizvi, S.A.A. The Wonder That Was India, 2: A Survey of the History and Culture of the Indian Sub-Continent from the Coming of the Muslims to the British Conquest, 1200-1700. London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1987. Robb, Peter G. The Evolution of British Policy Towards Indian Politics, 1880-1920. Westwood, Massachusetts: Riverdale, 1992. Robinson, Francis. Separatism among Indian Muslims: The Politics of the United Provinces' Muslims, 1860-1932. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974. Robinson, Francis, ed. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. Roy, Asim. "The Politics of India's Partition: The Revisionist Perspective," Modern Asian Studies [London], 24, Pt. 2, April 1990, 385-415. 201 Rudner, David W. Caste and Colonialism in Colonial India: The Nattukkottai Chettiars. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994. Rustomji, Nari. Imperilled Frontiers: India's North-Eastern Borderlands. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1983. Sahasrabuddhe, P.G., and Manik Chandra Vajpayee. The People Versus Emergency: A Saga of Struggle. Trans., Sudhakar Raje. New Delhi: Suruchi Prakashan, 1991. Saksena, N.S. India: Towards Anarchy, 1967-1992. New Delhi: Abhinav, 1993. Sangwan, Satpal. "Science Education in India under Colonial Constraints, 1792-1857," Oxford Review of Education [Oxford], 16, No. 1, 1990, 81-95. Sangwan, Satpal. Science, Technology, and Colonisation: An Indian Experience, 1757-1857. New Delhi: Anmika Prakashan, 1991. Sankaia, H.D. Aspects of Indian History and Archeology. Delhi: B.R. Publishing, 1977. SarDesai, D.R., and Anand Mohan, eds. The Legacy of Nehru: A Centennial Assessment. New Delhi: Promilla, 1992. Sarkar, Jadhunath. Fall of the Mughal Empire. 4 vols. Bombay: Orient Longman, 1964-72. Sarkar, Sumit. Modern India, 1885-1947. Delhi: Macmillan, 1983. Schuhmacher, Stephan, and Gert Woerner, eds. The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion. Boston: Shambhala, 1989. Schwartzberg, Joseph E., ed. A Historical Atlas of South Asia. 2d impression. Reference Series of Association for Asian Studies, No. 2. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. 202 Seal, Anil. The Emergence of Indian Nationalism: Competition and Collaboration in the Late Nineteenth Century. London: Cambridge University Press, 1968. Sen Gupta, Bhabani. Communism in Indian Politics. New York: Columbia University Press, 1972. Sen, S.P., ed. Dictionary of National Biography. 4 vols. Calcutta: Institute of Historical Studies, 1975. Sen, S.P., ed. Sources of the History of India. Calcutta: Institute of Historical Studies, 1978. Seshan, N.K. With Three Prime Ministers: Nehru, Indira, and Rajiv. New Delhi: Wiley-Eastern, 1993. Sewell, Robert. A Forgotten Empire: Vijayanagar. London: Sonnenschein, 1900. Sharma, Kususm. Ambedkar and Indian Constitution. New Delhi: Ashish, 1992. Sharma, Ram Sharman. Ancient India. New Delhi: National Council of Educational Research and Training, 1977. Sharma, Ram Sharman. Aspects of Political Ideas and Institutions in Ancient India. 2d ed. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1968. Sharma, Ram Sharman. Indian Feudalism: c. 300-1200. Calcutta: University of Calcutta Press, 1965. Sharma, Ram Sharman. Light on Early Indian Society and Economy. Bombay: Manaktalas, 1966. Sharma, Ram Sharman, ed. Land Revenue in Ancient India: Historical Studies. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1971. Sharma, Ramesh Chandra, Atul Kumar Singh, Sugam Anand, Gyaneshwar Chaturvedi, and Jayati Chaturvedi. Historiography and Historians in India since Independence. Agra: M.G. Publishers, 1991. 203 Shourie, Arun. Indian Controversies: Essays on Religion in Politics. New Delhi: Manohar, 1993. Shourie, Arun. Symptoms of Fascism. New Delhi: Vikas, 1978. Singh, Birendra Kumar. Early Chalukyas of Vatapi, circa A.D. 500 to 757. Delhi: Eastern Book Linkers, 1991. Singh, Gopal. A History of the Sikh People, 1469-1978. New Delhi: World Sikh University Press, 1979. Singh, Harbans. The Heritage of the Sikhs. Columbia, Missouri: South Asia Books, 1983. Singh, Mahendra Prasad, ed. Lok Sabha Elections 1989: Indian Politics in 1990's. New Delhi: Kalinga, 1992. Singh, Patwant, and Harji Malik, eds. Punjab: The Fatal Miscalculation. New Delhi: Patwant Singh, 1985. Singh, Surinder Nihal. Rocky Road of Indian Democracy: Nehru to Narasimha Rao. New Delhi: Sterling, 1993. Sisson, Richard, and Stanley Wolpert, eds. Congress and Indian Nationalism: The Pre-Independence Phase. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988. Sitaramayya, B. Pattabhi. History of the Indian National Congress. 2 vols. Bombay: Padma, 1947. Smith, Bardwell L., ed. Essays on Gupta Culture. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1983. Smith, Donald E. India as a Secular State. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963. Smith, Vincent, ed. The Oxford History of India. 4th ed. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1981. 204 South Asian Handbook: India and the Indian Sub-Continent, 1993. 2d ed. Ed., Robert W. Bradnock. Bath, United Kingdom: Trade and Travel, 1992. Spate, O.H.K., A.T.A. Learmonth, A.M. Learmonth, and B.H. Farmer. India and Pakistan: A General and Regional Geography with a Chapter on Ceylon. 3d ed., rev. London: Methuen, 1967. Spear, Thomas George Percival. A History of India, 2. Baltimore: Penguin, 1965. Spear, Thomas George Percival, ed. The Oxford History of Modern India, 1740-1975. 2d ed. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1978. Spencer, George W. "The Politics of Plunder: The Cholas in Eleventh Century Ceylon," Journal of Asian Studies, 35, No. 3, August 1976, 405-19. Srivastava, Ramesh Chandra. Judicial System in India. Lucknow: Print House (India), 1992. Stein, Burton. The New Cambridge History of India, I. 2: Vijayanagara. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. Stein, Burton, ed. Essays on South India. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, 1975. Stein, Burton, ed. Peasant, State, and Society in Medieval South India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1980. Stein, Burton, ed. Thomas Munro: The Origins of the Colonial State and His Vision of Empire. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1989. Stern, Robert W. Changing India: Bourgeois Revolution on the Subcontinent. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993. 205 Subrahmanyam, Sanjay. The Political Economy of Commerce: Southern India, 1500-1650. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Subramaniam, Chitra. Bofors: The Story Behind the News. New Delhi: Viking, 1993. Tahseen, Rana. Education and Modernisation of Muslims in India. New Delhi: Deep and Deep, 1993. Talwar, S.N. Under the Banyan Tree: The Communist Movement in India, 1920-1964. New Delhi: Allied, 1985. Tambiah, Stanley J. "Presidential Address: Reflections on Communal Violence in South Asia," Journal of Asian Studies, 49, No. 4, November 1990, 741-60. Tandon, Prakash. Punjabi Century, 1857-1947. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968. Tarn, W.W. The Greeks in Bactria and India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1951. Taylor, Jay. The Dragon and the Wild Goose: China and India, with New Epilogue. New York: Praeger, 1991. Taylor, P.J.O. Chronicles of the Mutiny and Other Historical Sketches. New Delhi: Indus, 1992. Thapar, Romesh. These Troubled Times. Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1986. Thapar, Romila. Ashoka and the Decline of the Mauryas. London: Oxford University Press, 1961. Thapar, Romila. From Lineage to State: Social Formations in the Mid-First Millennium B.C. in the Ganga Valley. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1984. Thapar, Romila. A History of India, 1. Baltimore: Penguin, 1965. 206 Thapar, Romila. Indian Tales. New Delhi: Puffin Books, 1991. Thapar, Romila. Interpreting Early India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1992. Thapar, Romila. "The State as Empire." Pages 409-28 in Henry J. Claessen and Peter Skalnik, eds., The Study of the State. The Hague: Mouton, 1981. Thompson, Edward. The Making of the Indian Princes. London: Oxford University Press, 1943. Reprint. Columbia, Missouri: South Asia Books, 1980. Thurston, Edgar. Caste and Tribes of Southern India. 7 vols. Madras: Government Press, 1909. Tolkappiyar. Tolkappiam. Trans., E.S. Varadaraja Iyer. 2d ed. Annamalainagar: Annamalai University, 1987. Tomlinson, B.R. The New Cambridge History of India, III.3: The Economy of Modern India, 1860-1970. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Trautmann, Thomas R. Dravidian Kinship. Cambridge Studies in Social Anthropology. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981. Trautmann, Thomas R. Kautilya and the Arthasastra: A Statistical Study. Leiden: Brill, 1971. Trevelyan, Raleigh. The Golden Oriole: A 200-year History of an English Family in India. A Touchstone Book. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988. Tully, Mark. India: Forty Years of Independence. New York: Braziller, 1988. Tully, Mark, and Satish Jacob. Amritsar: Mrs. Gandhi's Last Battle. London: Cape, 1985. 207 United Nations. Legal Department. Statement of Treaties and International Agreements Registered or Filed and Recorded with the Secretariat, 548. New York: 1965. United Nations. Legal Department. Statement of Treaties and International Agreements Registered or Filed and Recorded with the Secretariat, 560. New York: 1966. Venkataramanayya, N. The Eastern Calukyas of Vengi. Madras: Vedam Venkataray Sastry, 1950. Vincent, Rose, ed. The French in India: From Diamond Traders to Sanskrit Scholars. Trans., Latika Padgaonkar. Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1990. Washbrook, David A. The Emergence of Provincial Politics: The Madras Presidency, 1870-1920. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976. Washbrook, David A. "South Asia, The World System, and World Capitalism," Journal of Asian Studies, 49, No. 3, August 1990, 479-508. Wheeler, Robert Eric Mortimer. Civilization of the Indus Valley and Beyond. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966. Wheeler, Robert Eric Mortimer. Early India and Pakistan: To Ashoka. Rev. ed. Ancient Peoples and Places, No. 12. New York: Praeger, 1968. Who Are the Guilty? Report of a Joint Inquiry into the Causes and Impact of the Riots in Delhi from 31 October to 10 November, 1984. 2d ed. New Delhi: People's Union for Democratic Rights and People's Union for Civil Liberties, 1984. Wink, Andr. Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World, 1: Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam, 7th-11th Centuries. 2d. ed., rev. Leiden: Brill, 1991. 208 Wolpert, Stanley. India. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. Wolpert, Stanley. Jinnah of Pakistan. New York: Oxford University Press, 1984. Wolpert, Stanley. Nehru: A Tryst with Destiny. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Wolpert, Stanley. A New History of India. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. Wolpert, Stanley. Tilak and Gokhale: Revolution and Reform in the Making of Modern India. Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1962. Reprint. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1989. Woodruff, Philip (pseud.). The Men Who Ruled India, 2: The Founders. London: Cape, 1963. Web Sites 1. India - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India India officially the Republic of India (Hindi: भारत गणरा य, Bhārat Gaṇarājya), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical ... History of India - Demographics of India - Languages of India - Religion in India 2. Incredible India www.incredibleindia.org/ Ministry of Tourism, Government of India advises use of only authorized and approved tour guides and tour operators for a pleasurable and trouble free holiday ... 209 3. India Map, Map of India www.mapsofindia.com Maps of India is the largest resource of maps on India. This site provides all types of India map-Outline maps, Physical maps, Political maps, Reference maps ... 4. India Travel Information and Travel Guide - Lonely Planet www.lonelyplanet.com/india 12 Jan 2012 – India tourism and travel information including facts, maps, history, culture, transport and weather in India. Find popular places to visit in India ... 5. Welcome to India - for Tourism, Travel, Visit and to Explore www.tourindia.com Welcome to India - A land for all seasons ! India Travel and Tourism; Explore India in the new Millennium. maps.google.co.th 6. Home: National Portal of India india.gov.in National Portal of India is a single window access to information and services being provided by the various Indian Government entities. 7. India www.state.gov › ... › Background Notes Facts about the land, people, history, government, political conditions, economy, foreign relations of India. 210 8. India.Com - Proud To be India | Get Free Email, Latest India News ... www.india.com Get free email account, news on India, cricket live updates, latest political and ... Start using India's most amazing new email experience: India.com Mail. 9. India - CIA https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world.../in.html 21 Feb 2012 – Features a map and brief descriptions of geography, economy, government, and people. 10. History of India - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_India The history of India begins with evidence of human activity of Homo sapiens as long as 75000 years ago, or with earlier hominids including Homo erectus from ... Timeline of Indian history - Mahajanapadas - Vedic period - Republic 11. The Story of India - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_India The Story of India is a BBC TV documentary series, written and presented by historian Michael Wood, about the 10000-year history of the Indian subcontinent in ... 12. HISTORY OF INDIA - Indianchild.com www.indianchild.com/history_of_india.htm History of India . An overview : The people of India have had a continuous civilization since 2500 B.C., when the inhabitants of the Indus River valley developed ... 211 Ancient India - Independance of india - India pakistan war - Medieval India 13. History of India - Tripod adaniel.tripod.com/history.htm History of India. India is ancient society. India had many kings and rulers like Gupta, Maurya, Maratha, Moghal, Akbar, Shivaji, British, Portuguese, Chola, Rajput. 14. History of India, India History, History of Ancient India www.mapsofindia.com/history/ 16 Sep 2011 – Get the history of India on your fingertips in this section. The entire history of India from the prehistoric times, rise of civilizations, emergence of ... 15. The Story of India | PBS www.pbs.org/thestoryofindia/ In The Story of India, a landmark six-part series airing in January 2009 on PBS, Michael Wood will embark on a dazzling and exciting journey through today's ... 16. Indian History, India History, History of India www.indhistory.com/ Information about varous aspects of indian history and ancient india. It includes history from ancient India to modern India. 17. History of India www.historyofindia.com/ History of India ! A subcontinent with a 5000-year old history. A civilization united by its diversity.Experience the richness of culture, the glory of the past, the ... 18. Geographia Asia - A Concise History of India www.geographia.com/india/india02.htm 212 India History India's extraordinary history is intimately tied to its geography. A meeting ground between the East and the West, it has always been an invader's ... 19. Indian History www.webindia123.com/history/index.html India is home to one of the richest and the most ancient civilizations in the world, which existed over 5000 years ago. This civilization originated in the Indus ... 20. Bibliographies Of Indian Library Science: A Literature Review www.worlib.org/vol04no2/satija_v04n2.shtml The famous Bibliography of Bibliographies in India, by D.R. Kalia and M.K. Jain (Delhi: Concept Publishing, 1975) records only eight entries (Nos. 720–727; pp. 21. India Bibliography - history, economy, government, geography ... www.photius.com/religion/india_bibliography.html India Bibliography - history, economy, government, geography, , Buddhism, Hiduism, Jainism, Sikhism, Islam, Zoroastrianism. 22. [PDF] 1 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF INDIA HISTORY UP TO 1750 (Compiled by ... www.histosem.uni-kiel.de/.../Bibliographie_30_06_05_... PDF/Adobe Acrobat 15. 1.1.1 Bibliographies. 15. 1.1.2. General Reference Books. 16. 1.1.3 Introductions to Indian Studies, Regional Geography. 17. 1.2 Complementary Subjects ... 213 23. A bibliography of bibliographies on India - D. R. Kalia, M. K. Jain ... books.google.com › History › Asia › India & South Asia A bibliography of bibliographies on India. Front Cover. D. R. Kalia, M. K. ... Documentation and bibliographic control of the humanities in India · L. S. Ramaiah,M. 24. South Asia Bibliographies: India www.lib.berkeley.edu/SSEAL/SouthAsia/india.html 18 Sep 1996 – S64 G8 1994 v.1-9 (1994) UCB S-S/EAsia DS335.A12 G8 1994 REF v.1-9 (1994) Kochukoshy, K. K. A bibliography of Indian bibliographies, ... 25. [PDF] 1 50 years of Indian National Bibliography (1958-2008): A critical ... www.ifla.org/files/hq/papers/ifla75/77-ghosh-en.pdf PDF/Adobe Acrobat 7 Feb 2009 – Indian National Bibliography is affected with the disease of sluggishness in ... publication of a national bibliography; for a vast country like India ... 26. Oxford Bibliographies - Indian Philosophy oxfordbibliographiesonline.com/.../obo-97801953... 26 Aug 2011 – The most extensive bibliographical record of such philosophical schools and sources is organized in Karl H. Potter's Bibliography of Indian ... 27. INDOLOGY: online South Asian bibliographies indology.info/links/biblio/ 25 Feb 2012 – An earlier version of this bibliography was published in his book A history of Indian medical literature. At present the bibliography contains ... 214 28. [PDF] National bibliographical services in India - Documents - UNESCO unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/.../147516eb.pdf PDF/Adobe Acrobat A consideration of India's national bibliographical services takes one back to ... that or more will be the Indian National Bibliography to India. Pending, however ... 29. Coin Books: India: Bibliography, Reviews, Sale (SEMANS) coincoin.com/bkII.htm This is perhaps the largest for-sale offering of numismtic titles for India. Listings are bibliographic by time period and category, and include useful titles not ... 215 APPENDICES 1) Indian Flag 2) Indian Maps 216 217 218 219 220 Religions Mumbai (Bombay) area map 3. India Government http://www.greekorthodoxchurch.org/wfb2002/india/india_gover nment.html SOURCE: 2002 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK a) Country name conventional long form: Republic of India conventional short form: India 221 b) Government type federal republic c) Capital New Delhi Administrative divisions 28 states and 7 union territories*; Andaman and Nicobar Islands*, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh*, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli*, Daman and Diu*, Delhi*, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep*, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Pondicherry*, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal d) Independence 15 August 1947 (from UK) e) National holiday Republic Day, 26 January (1950) f) Constitution 26 January 1950 Legal system based on English common law; limited judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations g) Suffrage 18 years of age; universal h) Executive branch Chief of State: President Abdul KALAM (since 26 July 2002); Vice President (vacant) elections: president elected by an electoral college consisting of elected members of both houses of Parliament and the legislatures of the states for a five-year term; election last held NA July 2002 (next to be held NA July 2007); Vice President elected by both houses of Parliament for a five-year term; election last held 16 August 1997 (next to be held NA August 2002); Prime Minister elected by parliamentary members of the majority party following legislative elections; election last held NA October 1999 (next to be held NA October 2004) Head of Government: Prime Minister Atal Bihari VAJPAYEE (since 19 March 1998) Cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Prime Minister 222 election results: Kocheril Raman NARAYANAN elected president; percent of electoral college vote - NA%; Krishnan KANT elected vice president; percent of Parliament vote - NA%; Atal Bihari VAJPAYEE elected prime minister; percent of vote - NA% Legislative branch bicameral Parliament or Sansad consists of the Council of States or Rajya Sabha (a body consisting of not more than 250 members, up to 12 of which are appointed by the president, the remainder are chosen by the elected members of the state and territorial assemblies; members serve six-year terms) and the People's Assembly or Lok Sabha (545 seats; 543 elected by popular vote, 2 appointed by the president; members serve five- year terms) elections: People's Assembly - last held 5 September through 3 October 1999 (next to be held NA 2004) election results: People's Assembly - percent of vote by party - BJP alliance 40.8%, Congress (I) alliance 33.8%, other 25.4%; seats by party - BJP alliance 304, Congress (I) alliance 134, other 107 Judicial branch Supreme Court (judges are appointed by the president and remain in office until they reach the age of 65) Political parties and leaders All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or AIADMK [C. Jayalalitha JAYARAM]; All India Forward Bloc or AIFB, [D. BISWAS (general secretary)]; Asom Gana Parishad [Brindaban GOSWAMI]; Bahujan Samaj Party or BSP [MAYAWATI]; Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP [Jana KRISNAMURTHY]; Biju Janata Dal or BJD [Naveen PATNAIK]; Communist Party of India or CPI [Ardhendu Bhushan BARDHAN]; Communist Party of India/Marxist-Leninist or CPI/ML [Dipankar BHATTACHARYA]; Congress (I) Party [Sonia GANDHI]; Dravida Munnetra Kazagham or DMK (a regional party in Tamil Nadu) [M. KARUNANIDHI]; Indian National League [Suliaman SAITH]; Janata Dal (Secular) [H. D. Deve GOWDA]; Janata Dal (United) or JDU [Sharad YADAV]; Kerala Congress (Mani faction) [K. M. MANI]; Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or MDMK [VAIKO]; Muslim League [G. M. BANATWALA]; Nationalist Congress Party or NCP [Sharad PAWAR]; Rashtriya Janata Dal or RJD [Laloo Prasad YADAV]; Revolutionary Socialist Party or RSP [Abani ROY]; Samajwadi Party or SP [Mulayam Singh YADAV]; Shiromani Akali Dal [G. S. TOHRA]; Shiv Sena [Bal THACKERAY]; Tamil Maanila 223 Congress [G. K. VASAN]; Telugu Desam Party or TDP [Chandrababu NAIDU]; Trinamool Congress [Mamata BANERJEE] Political pressure groups and leaders numerous religious or militant/chauvinistic organizations, including Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal, and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh; various separatist groups seeking greater communal and/or regional autonomy, including the All Parties Hurriyat Conference International organization participation AfDB, ARF (dialogue partner), AsDB, ASEAN (dialogue partner), BIS, C, CCC, CP, ESCAP, FAO, G- 6, G-15, G-19, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA (observer), IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, MIPONUH, MONUC, NAM, OAS (observer), OPCW, PCA, SAARC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNIKOM, UNMEE, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNMOVIC, UNU, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO i) Diplomatic representation in the US chief of mission: Ambassador Lalit MANSINGH consulate(s) general: Chicago, Houston, New York, and San Francisco FAX: [1] (202) 483-3972 telephone: [1] (202) 939-7000 chancery: 2107 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008; note - Embassy located at 2536 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 j) Diplomatic representation from the US chief of mission: Ambassador Robert D. BLACKWILL (nominated March 2001) embassy: Shantipath, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi 110021 mailing address: use embassy street address telephone: [91] (11) 419-8000 FAX: [91] (11) 419-0017 consulate(s) general: Chennai (Madras), Kolkata (Calcutta), Mumbai (Bombay) k) Flag description three equal horizontal bands of orange (top), white, and green with a blue chakra (24-spoked wheel) centered in the white band; similar to the flag of Niger, which has a small orange disk centered in the white band 224 4) India Chiefs of State - 2002 http://www.greekorthodoxchurch.org/wfb2002/india/india_chi efs.html SOURCE: 2002 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK President Kalam, Abdul Vice President Vajpayee, Atal Prime Minister Bihari Dep. Prime Min. Advani, Lal Krishna Principal Sec. Mishra, Brajesh Min. of Agriculture Singh, Ajit Mini. of Agro & Rural Industries Munda, Kariya Dhindsa, Sukhdev Min. of Chemicals & Fertilizers Singh Hussain, Syed Min. of Civil Aviation Shahnawaz Min. of Coal & Mines Paswan, Ram Vilas Min. of Commerce & Industry Maran, Murasoli Min. of Communications Mahajan, Pramod Min. of Consumer Affairs, Food, & Kumar, Shanta Public Distribution Min. of Defense Fernandes, George Min. of Disinvestment-Dept. of Dev. of Shourie, Arun North Eastern Regions Min. of Environment & Forests Baalu, T. R. Min. of External Affairs Sinha, Yashwant Min. of Finance Singh, Jaswant Min. of Health & Family Welfare Thakur, C.P. Min. of Heavy Industries & Public Joshi, Manohar Enterprises Gajanan Min. of Home Affairs Advani, Lal Krishna 225 Min. of Human Resource Development, Joshi, Murli Science &Technology, With Additional Manohar, Dr. Charge of Ocean Development Min. of Information & Broadcasting Swaraj, Sushma Min. of Information & Technology Mahajan, Pramod Min. of Labor Yadav, Sharad Min. of Law, Justice, & Company Jaitely, Arun Affairs Min. of Mines Patwa, Sunder Lal Min. of Parliamentary Affairs, Mahajan, Pramod Information & Technology Min. of Petroleum & Natural Gas Naik, Ram Min. of Power Geete, Anant Min. of Railways Kumar, Nitish Min. of Rural Development Naidu, Venkaiah Min. of Shipping Goyal, Ved Prakash Jatiya, Min. of Social Justice & Empowerment Satyanarayan Min. of Textiles Rana, Kanshi Ram Min. of Tourism-Program Jagmohan, Implementation, & Statistics Min. of Tribal Affairs Oram, Jual Min. of Urban Development & Poverty Anath, Kumar Alleviation Min. of Water Resources Sethi, Arjun Charan Min. of Youth Affairs & Sports Verma, Vikram Min. of State for Agriculture Naik, Shripad Yasso Mukherjee, Min. of State for Chemicals & Fertilizers Satyabrata Min. of State for Coal & Mines Bharti, Uma Min. of State for Commerce & Industry Rudy, Rajiv Pratap Min. of State for Commerce & Industry Raman, Dr. Min. of State for Communications Sikdar, Tapan 226 Min. of State for Consumer Affairs, Pradhan, Ashok Food, & Public Distribution Kumar Min. of State for Consumer Affairs, Prasad, V. Food, & Public Distribution Sreenivasa Min. of State for Culture-Animal Care Gandhi, Maneka with Independent Charge Min. of State for Defense Pathak, Harin Min. of State for Department of Science, Rawat, Bachi Singh & Technology Min. of State for External Affairs Abdullah, Omar Min. of State for Food Processing with Gupta, Chaman Lal Independent Charge Min. of State for Finance Adsul, Anand Rao Ramachandran, Min. of State for Finance Ginjee N. Min. of State for Health & Family Raja, A. Welfare Min. of State for Heavy Industries & Kathiria, Public Enterprises Vallabhbhai Rao, Chennamaneni Min. of State for Home Vidyasagar Min. of State for Home Swami, I. D. Min. of State for Human Resource Mahajan, Sumitra Development Min. of State for Human Resource Verma, Rita Development Min. of State for Information & Bais, Ramesh Broadcasting Min. of State for Labor & Employment Muni, Lall Min. of State for Nonconventional Energy Sources With Independent Kannappan, M. Charge Min. of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajagopal, & Railways Olenchery 227 Min. of State for Petroleum & Natural Gangwar, Santosh Gas, With Additional Charge of Kumar Parliamentary Affairs Min. of State for Power Mehta, Jayawanti Min. of State for Prime Minister's Office Goel, Vijay & Planning Min. of State for Railways Singh, Digvijay Khandhuri, Bhuwan Min. of State for Road Transport & Chandra, Maj. Gen. Highways With Independent Charge (Ret.) Min. of State for Rural Development Maharia, Subhash Min. of State for Rural Development Pati, Annasahel Yadav, Hukemdeo Min. of State for Shipping Narayan Min. of State for Small Scale Industries- Personnel, Training, Pensions, Admin. Reforms & Public Grievances, Dept. of Vasundhara, Raje Atomic Energy & Dept. of Space with Independent Charge Min. of State for Social Justice & Empowerment with Independent Gandhi, Maneka Charge Min. of State for Steel With Tripath, B.K. Independent Charge Dhananjaya, Min. of State for Textiles Kumar, Venur Kuleste, Faggan Min. of State for Tribal Affairs Singh Min. of State for Urban Development & Dattatreya, Poverty Alleviation Bandaru Min. of State for Water Resources Chakravarty, Bijoya Radhakrishnan, Min. of State for Youth Affairs & Sports Pon Governor, Reserve Bank Jalan, Bimal Nayan Ambassador to the US Mansingh, Lalit 228 Permanent Representative to the UN, Nambiar, Vijay New York 5) India Geography - 2002 http://www.greekorthodoxchurch.org/wfb2002/india/india_geo graphy.html SOURCE: 2002 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK Location Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan Geographic coordinates 20 00 N, 77 00 E Map references Asia Area total: 3,287,590 sq km land: 2,973,190 sq km water: 314,400 sq km Area - comparative slightly more than one-third the size of the US Land boundaries total: 14,103 km border countries: Bangladesh 4,053 km, Bhutan 605 km, Burma 1,463 km, China 3,380 km, Nepal 1,690 km, Pakistan 2,912 km Coastline 7,000 km Maritime claims contiguous zone: 24 NM territorial sea: 12 NM continental shelf: 200 NM or to the edge of the continental margin exclusive economic zone: 200 NM Climate varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north 229 Terrain upland plain (Deccan Plateau) in south, flat to rolling plain along the Ganges, deserts in west, Himalayas in north Elevation extremes lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m highest point: Kanchenjunga 8,598 m Natural resources coal (fourth-largest reserves in the world), iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas, diamonds, petroleum, limestone, arable land Land use arable land: 54% permanent crops: 3% other: 43% (1998 est.) Irrigated land 590,000 sq km (1998 est.) Natural hazards droughts; flash floods, as well as widespread and destructive flooding from monsoonal rains; severe thunderstorms; earthquakes Environment - current issues deforestation; soil erosion; overgrazing; desertification; air pollution from industrial effluents and vehicle emissions; water pollution from raw sewage and runoff of agricultural pesticides; tap water is not potable throughout the country; huge and growing population is overstraining natural resources Environment - international agreements party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements Geography - note dominates South Asian subcontinent; near important Indian Ocean trade routes 230 6) India Economy - 2002 http://www.greekorthodoxchurch.org/wfb2002/india/india_eco nomy.html SOURCE: 2002 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK Economy - overview India's economy encompasses traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude of support services. About a quarter of the population is too poor to be able to afford an adequate diet. India's international payments position remained strong in 2001 with adequate foreign exchange reserves, and moderately depreciating nominal exchange rates. Growth in manufacturing output has slowed, and electricity shortages continue in many regions. India has large numbers of well-educated people skilled in English language; India is a major exporter of software services and software workers. GDP purchasing power parity - $2.5 trillion (2001 est.) GDP - real growth rate 5% (2001 est.) GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $2,500 (2001 est.) GDP - composition by sector agriculture: 25% industry: 26% services: 49% (2001) Population below poverty line 25% (2001 est.) Household income or consumption by percentage share lowest 10%: 3.5% highest 10%: 33.5% (1997) Distribution of family income - Gini index 37.8 (1997) Inflation rate (consumer prices) 3.5% (2000 est.) 231 Labor force 406 million (1999) Labor force - by occupation agriculture 60%, services 23%, industry 17% (1999) Unemployment rate 4.4% (1999) Budget revenues: $48.3 billion expenditures: $78.2 billion, including capital expenditures of $13.5 billion (FY01/02 est.) Industries textiles, chemicals, food processing, steel, transportation equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, software Industrial production growth rate 4.3% (2001 est.) Electricity - production 547.12 billion kWh (FY 2000-01, utilities only) (2000) Electricity - production by source fossil fuel: 83.4% hydro: 13.85% other: 0.18% (2000) nuclear: 2.57% Electricity - consumption 509.89 billion kWh (2000) Electricity - exports 321 million kWh (2000) Electricity - imports 1.385 billion kWh (2000) Agriculture - products rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, potatoes; cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goats, poultry; fish Exports $44.5 billion (f.o.b., 2001) Exports - commodities textile goods, gems and jewelry, engineering goods, chemicals, leather manufactures 232 Exports - partners US 22.8%, Hong Kong 5.8%, Japan 5.3%, UK 5.3%, Germany 4.6% (2000) Imports $53.8 billion (f.o.b., 2001) Imports - commodities crude oil, machinery, gems, fertilizer, chemicals Imports - partners Benelux 8.5%, US 8%, UK 6.2%, Japan 5.7%, Saudi Arabia 4.6% (2000) Debt - external $100.3 billion (end-March 2001) Economic aid - recipient $2.9 billion (FY98/99) Currency Indian rupee (INR) Currency code INR Exchange rates Indian rupees per US dollar - 48.336 (January 2002), 47.186 (2001), 44.942 (2000), 43.055 (1999), 41.259 (1998), 36.313 (1997) Fiscal year 1 April - 31 March 7) India People - 2002 http://www.greekorthodoxchurch.org/wfb2002/india/india_pe ople.html SOURCE: 2002 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK Population 1,045,845,226 (July 2002 est.) Age structure 0-14 years: 32.7% (male 175,858,386; female 165,724,901) 15-64 years: 62.6% (male 338,957,463; female 316,063,497) 65 years and over: 4.7% (male 24,975,465; female 24,265,514) (2002 est.) Population growth rate 1.51% (2002 est.) Birth rate 23.79 births/1,000 population (2002 est.) 233 Death rate 8.62 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.) Net migration rate -0.07 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.) Sex ratio at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.07 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 1.03 male(s)/female total population: 1.07 male(s)/female (2002 est.) Infant mortality rate 61.47 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.) Life expectancy at birth total population: 63.23 years female: 63.93 years (2002 est.) male: 62.55 years Total fertility rate 2.98 children born/woman (2002 est.) HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate 0.7% (1999 est.) HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS 3.7 million (1999 est.) HIV/AIDS - deaths 310,000 (1999 est.) Nationality noun: Indian(s) adjective: Indian Ethnic groups Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid and other 3% (2000) Religions Hindu 81.3%, Muslim 12%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other groups including Buddhist, Jain, Parsi 2.5% (2000) Languages English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial 234 communication; Hindu is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people; there are 14 other official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language Literacy definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 52% male: 65.5% female: 37.7% (1995 est.) 8) India Communications 2001 http://www.photius.com/wfb2001/india/india_communication s.html SOURCE: 2001 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK Telephones - main lines in use: 27.7 million (October 2000) Telephones - mobile cellular: 2.93 million (November 2000) Telephone system: general assessment: mediocre service; local and long distance service provided throughout all regions of the country, with services primarily concentrated in the urban areas; major objective is to continue to expand and modernize long- distance network in order to keep pace with rapidly growing number of local subscriber lines; steady improvement is taking place with the recent admission of private and private- public investors, but, with telephone density at about two for each 100 persons and a waiting list of over 2 million, demand for main line telephone service will not be satisfied for a very long time domestic: local service is provided by microwave radio relay and coaxial cable, with open wire and obsolete electromechanical and manual switchboard systems still in use in rural areas; starting in the 1980s, a substantial amount of digital switch gear has been introduced for local and long-distance service; long-distance traffic is carried 235 mostly by coaxial cable and low-capacity microwave radio relay; since 1985 significant trunk capacity has been added in the form of fiber-optic cable and a domestic satellite system with 254 earth stations; mobile cellular service is provided in four metropolitan cities international: satellite earth stations - 8 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and 1 Inmarsat (Indian Ocean region); nine gateway exchanges operating from Mumbai (Bombay), New Delhi, Kolkata (Calcutta), Chennai (Madras), Jalandhar, Kanpur, Gaidhinagar, Hyderabad, and Ernakulam; 4 submarine cables - LOCOM linking Chennai (Madras) to Penang; Indo- UAE-Gulf cable linking Mumbai (Bombay) to Al Fujayrah, UAE; India-SEA-ME-WE-3, SEA-ME-WE-2 with landing sites at Cochin and Mumbai (Bombay); Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG) with landing site at Mumbai (Bombay) (2000) Radio broadcast stations: AM 153, FM 91, shortwave 68 (1998) Radios: 116 million (1997) Television broadcast stations: 562 (of which 82 stations have 1 kW or greater power and 480 stations have less than 1 kW of power) (1997) Televisions: 63 million (1997) Internet country code: .in Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 43 (2000) Internet users: 4.5 million (2000) 9) India Transportation 2001 http://www.photius.com/wfb2001/india/india_transportation. html SOURCE: 2001 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK Railways: total: 62,915 km (12,307 km electrified; 12,617 km double 236 track) broad gauge: 40,620 km 1.676-m gauge narrow gauge: 18,501 km 1.000-m gauge; 3,794 km 0.762-m and 0.610-m gauge (1998 est.) Highways: total: 3,319,644 km paved: 1,517,077 km unpaved: 1,802,567 km (1996) Waterways: 16,180 km note: 3,631 km navigable by large vessels Pipelines: crude oil 3,005 km; petroleum products 2,687 km; natural gas 1,700 km (1995) Ports and harbors: Chennai (Madras), Cochin, Jawaharal Nehru, Kandla, Kolkata (Calcutta), Mumbai (Bombay), Vishakhapatnam Merchant marine: total: 315 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 6,433,831 GRT/10,691,973 DWT ships by type: bulk 117, cargo 70, chemical tanker 15, combination bulk 1, combination ore/oil 3, container 15, liquefied gas 9, passenger/cargo 5, petroleum tanker 76, short-sea passenger 2, specialized tanker 2 (2000 est.) Airports: 337 (2000 est.) Airports - with paved runways: total: 235 over 3,047 m: 13 2,438 to 3,047 m: 48 1,524 to 2,437 m: 81 914 to 1,523 m: 77 under 914 m: 16 (2000 est.) Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 102 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 237 1,524 to 2,437 m: 6 914 to 1,523 m: 40 under 914 m: 55 (2000 est.) Heliports: 16 (2000 est.) 10) India Military 2001 http://www.photius.com/wfb2001/india/india_military.html SOURCE: 2001 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK Military branches: Army, Navy (including naval air arm), Air Force, various security or paramilitary forces (includes Border Security Force, Assam Rifles, Rashtriya Rifles, and National Security Guards) Military manpower - military age: 17 years of age Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 280,204,502 (2001 est.) Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 164,410,461 (2001 est.) Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 10,879,384 (2001 est.) Military expenditures - dollar figure: $13.02 billion (FY01) Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 2.5% (FY00) 11) India Transnational Issues 2001 http://www.photius.com/wfb2001/india/india_issues.html SOURCE: 2001 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK Disputes - international: boundary with China in dispute; status of Kashmir with Pakistan; water-sharing problems with Pakistan over the Indus River (Wular Barrage); a portion of the boundary with Bangladesh is indefinite; exchange of 151 enclaves along border with Bangladesh subject to ratification by Indian parliament; dispute with Bangladesh over New Moore/South Talpatty Island 238 Illicit drugs: world's largest producer of licit opium for the pharmaceutical trade, but an undetermined quantity of opium is diverted to illicit international drug markets; transit country for illicit narcotics produced in neighboring countries; illicit producer of hashish and methaqualone 12. Languages of India Languages of India Assamese A language of Assam that's spoken by nearly 60 percent of the State's population. Bengali An official language of West Bengal, now spoken by nearly 200 million people in West Bengal and in Bangladesh. Bodo It is the language spoken by the Bodo people of Assam and comes under the Assam- Burmese group of languages Dogri Mainly spoken by the people of Jammu region Gujarati It is the official language of Gujarat. 70 percent of the State's population speak Gujrathi but it the most spread language not only in India but also abroad. Hindi The official language of India, accent and dialect differs with different regions but almost every Indian has a working knowledge of Hindi. It is written in a Devanagiri script. Kannada A language of Karnataka and is spoken by 65 percent of the state's population. It belongs to the Dravidian family. Kashmiri Though the language is mistaken as a state language of Kashmir only 55 per cent of the state's population speak Kashmiri. Konkani Spoken in the Konkan region stretched across Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka. 239 Maithili Mostly spoken in the parts of Bihar and the eastern Terai region of Nepal Malayalam The state language of Kerala. It is the youngest of all developed languages in the Dravidian family. Manipuri/Meitei official language of state of Manipur. Marathi An official language of Maharashtra. It has a fully developed literature of the modern type. Nepali The official language of Nepal, it is also spoken in some north eastern parts of India Oriya A branch of the Indo-Aryan family, is the official language of the State of Orissa. Punjabi The official language of the State of Punjab. It is written in Gurmukhi script, created by the Sikh Guru, Angad. Sanskrit The classical language of India that has lost it's value in the modern world. It is also one of the oldest languages in the world- perhaps the oldest to be recorded. All the ancient scripts are found to be written in the same language. Santhali Santhal tribals of the Chota Nagpur Plateau (comprising the states of Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa) Sindhi Is spoken by a great number of people in the Northwest frontier of the Indian sub- continent comprising parts of India and Pakistan. Tamil The State language of Tamil Nadu. Tamil literature goes back to Centuries before the Christian era and is spoken by more than 73 million people. It belongs to the Dravidian language family. Telugu A language of Andhra Pradesh. It is numerically the biggest linguistic unit in 240 India. Urdu The state language of Jammu and Kashmir and is spoken by more than 28 million people in India. Urdu and Hindi have proceeded from the same source. Urdu is written in the Persio - Arabic script and contains many words from the Persian language. 241 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dhirawit Pinyonatthagarn graduated with B.A. (Education) from Mahachula Buddhist University (Bangkok, in 1979, M.A.(Linguistics), M.Phil.(Linguistics), and Ph.D. (Linguistics) from The University of Delhi, India, in 1981, 1983, and 1990, respectively, with the scholarship for Ph.D. from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, the Government of India. In the past, he worked at several places in different positions, for examples: The US Library of Congress (Cataloger), The Nation(Rewriter), Thammasat University(Instructor), 242 Chulalongkorn University(IUP Coordinator), Prince of Songkhla University(Instructor). Dhirawit Pinyonatthagarn has attended a number of national and international conferences, seminars, and workshops, as both participant and presenter. In 1995, he was invited as Visiting Fellow at Thai Studies Center, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. In 1999, he visited Goldsmiths College, University of London, and in the same year, he presented a paper and chaired a session in the UNESCO-UNISPAR International Conference on University-Industry Cooperation, held in Lodz, Poland. He is also a member of the Editorial Board for Senzor Journal, University of Kosic, Slovak Republic, and Humanities Journal in Pune, India. In 2002, he was invited as a Visiting Professor at Northern Illinois University. While in USA, he visited MIT, Harvard University, and Wat Thai Dhammaram in Chicago. In 2005, he contested in the senatorial election in Thailand just before military revolution on 19 September 2005. In 2011, he participated as panelist in the International Conference on Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, Baramati, Pune, India. Dhirawit Pinyonatthagarn has published 4 English books available at www.amazon.com, www.createspace.com, Chula Bookstore, and ASIA BOOKS; and 25 e-books, both in English and Thai, on English, Linguistics, Language, Politics and Buddhism available at www.ebooks.in.th. Check out under his English name and Thai name (ธีรวิทย ภิญโญณัฐกานต) Dhirawit Pinyonatthagarn is currently a Senior Lecturer, School of English, and Head of Translation and Interpretation Unit, 243 Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. His online social media include Twitter (www.twitter.com/LiveDhirawit) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/DhirawitNatthagarn). He can be contacted via e-mail at

or

ชื่อแฟม: THE GREAT INDIA-FINAL55B.doc ไดเรกทอรี: G: แมแบบ: C:\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates\Normal.dot ชื่อเรื่อง: GAUTAMA, THE BUDDHA เรื่อง: ผูเขียน: Corporate Edition คําสําคัญ: ขอคิดเห็น: วันที่สราง: 06/03/55 ๐๖/๐๓/๕๕ ๑๘:๐๙ น. จํานวนการเปลี่ยนแปลง: 2 บันทึกลาสุดเมื่อ: 06/03/55 ๐๖/๐๓/๕๕ ๑๘:๐๙ น. บันทึกลาสุดโดย: User เวลาในการแกไขทั้งหมด: 3 นาที พิมพครั้งสุดทายเมื่อ: 06/03/55 ๐๖/๐๓/๕๕ ๑๘:๒๔ น. เปนงานพิมพที่เสร็จสิ้นชิ้นสุดทาย จํานวนหนา: 244 จํานวนคํา: 88,271 (ประมาณ) จํานวนอักขระ: 503,146 (ประมาณ)