Essays On Indian Nationalism

With the steady growth of interest in the history of India under the British, interpretations have emerged, and they may sharply alter much of our thinking about Indian nationalism and British Imperialism. Some of these historical revisions, and the conclusions which may flow from them, are illustrated by the essays in this book. All of them grapple with questions of Indian political organization in different parts of the British Raj. They enquire how these organizations worked at different level; in the towns and in the countryside, in the provinces and in the subcontinent itself. They examine how these kinds of politics came to be bonded together into what were called 'nationalist' movements. They suggest that the interplay between these movements and British Imperialism was very much more ambiguous than has been commonly supposed. All these essays are preliminary announcements of findings which will later appear in longer versions.

Most writings on the theme of the nation confine themselves to discussions of ideology and thoughts on nationalism, leaving out the question of the form of the nation. This selection of writings by Ranabir Samaddar fills in that void and presents a whole range of dimensions, perspectives, and controversies of the last two decades on the question of the nation in India. It looks at the form of the Indian nation in terms of contests, contradictions, classes, and nationalist strategies of inclusion and exclusion, thereby addressing two significant issues in view of the nation form--its relation with democracy and the problem of governing the nation.This selection not only comprises essays that stand on their own merit, but also, in totality, presents a historical summary of the nation's experience through decades--before and after Independence.

Contents: Introduction, The Nationalist Ideas Behind the Revolt of 1857, Nationalism Takes Root: The Moderates, The Indian Struggle for Independence 1885 to 1909, Politics of Indian Revolutionaries 1905-1910, Armed Struggle for the South-East, The Indian Self-Government as Advocated by Annie Besant, Quit India Movement, Tribals and Freedom Struggle, Muslim Nationalism and Freedom Struggle, Subhash Chandra Bose his Role in India s Freedom Struggle, The Last Phase of the Freedom Struggle the R.I.N. Mutiny.

Contents: Introduction, Hindu Renaissance in Middle Ages, India s Religious Renaissance, Influence of Renaissance and Reformation, The Renaissance in British India and its Effect, Swami Dayanand Saraswati and Indian Renaissance, The Bengal Renaissance and Rabindranath Tagore, The Roots of Indian Nationalism, Delhi in the Nineteenth Century, The English Positives and India, Social and Cultural Reconstruction, British Paramountcy and Indian Renaissance, Renaissance of Tamil Culture, Premchand: And Indian Resurgence.

Description: Nationalism in India has a distinctive character an understanding of which is necessary for all students of Asian history. Indian nationalism has absorbed freely from western experience but essentially it remains rooted in indigenous culture and tradition. The present work seeks to analyse this complex phenomenon and also focuses attention on some of the other vital problems that confront modern India. The topics range from cultural intercourse between India and other civilisations to Indian policy in South-East Asia.