Makers of Modern India by Ramachandra Guha (PDF)

Description

Makers of Modern India is a rich and comprehensive repository of India’s political traditions. Ramachandra Guha, author of the internationally acclaimed India After Gandhi, profiles nineteen Indians whose ideas had a defining impact on the formation and evolution of our Republic, and presents rare and compelling excerpts from their writings and speeches.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐LONG READ! I learned to only note the frequently mentioned names…I swear there are more than one billion referenced in this book. I did finish because the history is AMAZING! I was ashamed that I hold a Masters in History and knew so little of India’s past. I will travel shortly for a month to witness their culture in person.

⭐Author’s own critical judgement base needed to suggest an integrating look was missing from here. All he had was a collection of some essays. Sorry. This was not the Ramachandra Guha I was anticipating.

⭐Guha is a great writer. This books flows very well. Really like the way he writes and provides primary sources. Definitely recommend it.

⭐I love it. Just what I wanted at a great price.

⭐This is the author’s next contribution to modern Indian history after his brilliant work titled ‘India after Gandhi’. Here, Dr.Guha presents a selection of the contributions of nineteen eminent Indians who have shaped and made a defining impact on our country’s outlook through their ideas, vision and expositions on the diverse subjects of caste, class, religion, nationalism, colonialism, democracy and secularism. The approach is somewhat different in this book because Dr. Guha simply introduces each of them through a short biographical sketch with a few of his own remarks about their role in shaping India and then lets them speak in their own words. It is wonderful to read Dr.Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi, Syed Ahmed Khan, C.R etc in their own words and see how civilized and erudite their discourses have been.One of the striking things for me in this book has been the realization that how lopsided the teaching of history has been to us in India in our schools and colleges. I considered myself a reasonably well-read person in contemporary Indian history till I read this book. The seminal contributions of persons like Tarabhai Shinde, Hamid Dalwai and Syed Ahmed Khan were largely unknown to me till I read this book. I would have included Verrier Elwin to this list as well but for the fact that I chanced to read about him in great detail in Dr.Guha’s book on the man titled ‘Savaging the Civilized’. I think the book is an essential read for most Indians to learn about their own contemporary history. It will help middle-class Indians overcome their sustained negativity about our nation as well as get a more balanced perspective on our achievements and shortcomings and faults.The book shows the democratic spirit of Gandhi in encouraging the Congress party to include Dr.Ambedkar in the cabinet even though Ambedkar was a strong critic of Gandhi’s politics of Untouchability and a proponent of the idea that the Congress can not and does not represent Harijans. It was a revelation to me to read about Hamid Dalwai and how he strove to emancipate Indian Muslims from the tyranny of religious faith and the clergy. In this respect, he was just like Nehru was for the Hindus. It is a pity that Hamid Dalwai is hardly taught in our schools just as Tarabhai Shinde on her ideas of equality of Indian women and men.Dr.Guha takes issue with Dr.Amartya Sen on his propositions on Indian democratic spirit being rooted in distant history of the Buddhist councils of the Mauryans or Indian secularism on the syncretism of Emperor Akbar. Dr.Guha believes that there was little in the history and politics of the sixth or sixteenth century that could have aided Indians in interpreting and confronting the profound changes that came in the wake of colonial rule. Rather than this distant tradition, Guha gives greater importance to the proximate tradition as reported in this book to have influenced Indian democracy and secularism. He quotes approvingly the sociologist Imtiaz Ahmed as follows:”….the evidence of history does not support the view that secularism as embodied in the Indian Constitution is derived from ancient Indian traditions, or that there is a pre-existing place for secularism in the Indian system of values…..under Hindu kings, the system of justice in ancient India was founded on the principle of inequality…..the religious policies of the Muslim rulers were characterised by bigotry and fanaticism….Akbar no doubt gave official encouragement to the spirit of religious tolerance , but the institutional separation of religion and state was probably as foreign to his political theory as it was to those of the ancient Hindu kings. In essence, therefore, the ideal of secularism embodied in the Indian Constitution….constitutesa a radical break with India’s past traditions”.This book is a an important contribution not only to Indian history but also to the world today in understanding multi-culturalism, non-violence, diverse faiths and the struggle of the marginalized people for their legitimate rights.

⭐The diversity, originality, and volume of content written by our founding fathers is really heartening. The subject they wrote on were the teething concerns of their days, and touched upon all facets such as freedom, social justice, caste, gender, and India’s standing /role in the world. Seems like a whole lot of original and revolutionary thinker-politicians came together in those days, and we have stopped producing the breed of original thinker-politicians.Just the 4 great men- Jawaharlal Nehru, M.K. Gandhi, B.R. Ambedkar and Rabindranath Tagore have wrote close to 50, 000 volumes on diverse topics.If only the petty contemporary politicians who claim to be followers of these great men & women had read the writings/speeches of these great people. When Guha introduces, he writes, “The tradition that this book has showcased is dead. No politician now alive can think or write in an original way or even interesting fashion about the direction Indian society and politics is or should be taking.”In this book, Ramachandra Guha has introduced and edited writing (and speeches) of 19 men and women, who he thinks were the makers of modern India. There are a few surprising additions, and a few omissions. Without delving into why there were a few added or deleted from this list, we can look at the heterogeneity of the their thoughts and their views on causes close to them.The book shows the diversity and originality of thought, the “argumentative” or debating nature of these men/women, and a compendium of ideas on wide variety of subjects.Guha has tried to tie the book together with his introduction and editions, but still this is a collection rather than one cohesive, flowing tome.The book starts with Rammohun Roy- a modernist way ahead of his time, who wrote about freedom, social justice, and educational reforms and goes on to Syed Ahmed Khan- the founder of Aligarh Muslim university. Jotirao Phule talks about rural poverty and caste inequalities while Hamid Dalwai writes about the extremism in both Hindus and Muslims .There are the radicals, the rightists, the leftists, the early capitalists, and the feminists.It off course, covers the social and reforming ideas of Gandhi. Some speeches and writings by Ambedkar and Gandhi has been put across in a debating fashion making for a great read.

⭐1)This book is basically a biography (or biographies) of some great historical personalities of their times,some of whom we know through our history books and some are very unknown names which makes the book more interesting.2)The book included these famous persons-*Rammohan roy*Syed ahmad khan*Jotirao Phule*Gopal Krishna Gokhale*Bal Gangadhar Tilak*Tarabai shinde*M.K gandhi*Rabindranath Tagore*B.R ambedkar*muhammad ali Jinnah*E.V ramaswami*Kamala Devi chattopadhyay*J.L Nehru*M.S golwalkar*Rammanohar Lohia*Jayaprakash Narayan*C.rajagopalachari*Vernier Elwin*Hamid dalwai3)The language of the book is not that hard .4)The author had done a tremendous job by remaining unbiased and sticking to facts.5)One thing which is missing in this wonderful book is the absence of photographs of these personalities.6)This book should be read and digest by every indian.My ratings : ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)I hope u like the review,thanks for reading.”Jai hind.

⭐Very important for achieving the kind of maturity upsc expects from someone and for quoting the real life egs in the papers

⭐This book allows reader to have a peek into the ideas which has shaped indias post indepencence history and our present. We get take of “makers of modern india” on issues we at present are trying to address and solve like that of secularism, communal allienation and intregation, libertarian economy, caste, fedralism etc. Book also shows glipmse of aspirations that different thinkers had for india.

⭐Mr. Guha is a great writer of left ideology. A very through written book, I just wish he could have been fair in including all great heros of modern india, including Sardar Patel, Swami Vivekanand, Savarkar, Bose and others.

⭐Good 1..very helpful for knowing the different perspectives of several freedom fighters.can be followed by history or polity or upsc related students.

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