Rajmohan Gandhi – författare

This book was written by a Hindu, the grandson of Mohandas K. Gandhi. His intent, in writing on eight Muslims and their influence on India in the twentieth century, is to reduce the gulf between Hindu and Muslims. Focusing on figures viewed as heroes by sub-continent Muslims, he shows that they can be admired by Hindus as well-that they need not be frozen in Hindu minds as foes.Here is a fascinating account of twentieth-century India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh told through biographical sketches of eight men: Sayyid Ahmed Khan (1817-1898), Fazlul Huq (1873-1962), Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948), Muhammad Iqbal (1876-1938), Muhammad Ali (1878-1931), Abul Kalam Azad (1888-1958), Liaqat Ali Khan (1895-1951), and Zakir Husain (1897-1969).

For centuries, the fertile land of five rivers in the north of the Indian subcontinent was coveted by numerous empires and invaders. In this, the first major account of undivided Punjab, award-winning historian, biographer and scholar, Rajmohan Gandhi, gives us its history during its most tumultuous phase from the death of Aurangzeb, in the early eighteenth century, to its brutal partition in 1947, coinciding with the departure of the British.Relying on fresh sources as well as previous accounts provided from opposing perspectives, the author fashions a compelling narrative about the great events of the time in the region-the battles and tragedies that routinely disrupted the lives of ordinary Punjabis, the sacking of iconic cities like Lahore, Amritsar, Multan and Jalandhar by a succession of conquerors, the ravages wrought by invaders like Nadir Shah, the rise of the Sikhs culminating in the storied reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Britain's successful wars against the Sikh kingdom

Close to 150 years after he was born, how relevant is Mahatma Gandhi? In our country, he is revered as the Father of the Nation; his face still adorns currency notes, postage stamps and government offices; streets and welfare schemes continue to be named after him but has he been reduced to a mere symbol? Do his values, message and sacrifice have any meaning for us in the twenty-first century?In Why Gandhi Still Matters, the Mahatma's grandson and award-winning writer and scholar Rajmohan Gandhi, appraises Gandhi and hisegacy by examining some of his most famous (and often most controversial) ideas, beliefs, actions, successes and failures. He analyses Gandhi's commitment to democracy, secularism, pluralism, equality and non-violence, his gift to the world of satyagraha, the key strategies in his fight for India's freedom, his opposition to caste discrimination and his equations with Churchill, Jinnah and Ambedkar, as also his failings as a human being and family man. Taken together, the author's insights present an unsentimental view of aspects of Gandhi'segacy that have endured and those that have been cast aside by power-hungry politicians, hate groups, casteist organizations, venal industrialists, terrorists and other enemies of India's promise.

The sounds and flavours of theand south of the Vindhyas”temple bells, coffee and jasmine, coconut and tamarind, delicious dosais and appams”are familiar to many, but its history is relatively unknown. In this monumental study, the first in over fifty years, historian and biographer Rajmohan Gandhi brings us the South Indian story in modern times. At heart, the story he tells is one of four powerful cultures”Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu, as well as the cultures”Kodava, Konkani, Marathi, Oriya, Tulu and indigenous”that have influenced them.When the narrative begins at the end of the sixteenth century, the Deccan sultanates of Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Golconda and Bidar have combined to defeat the kingdom of Vijayanagara, one of theast great medieval empires of the South. After the fall of Vijayanagara,ess powerful nayakas or sultans ruled the region. Competition raged between these rulers and the many European trading companies. By the seventeenth century, only the French and British remained to fight it out, in association with Indian rulers and princely states.The eighteenth century saw the growth of the kingdom of Mysore, first under Haidar Ali, a militaryeader who had briefly served the Nawab of Arcot, and then under his son Tipu Sultan, who annexed parts of present-day Tamil Nadu and Kerala. By now the European presence was growing strong and assertive. And with the fall of Tipu in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War at the end of the eighteenth century, the British East India Company (now the sole European power in South India) consolidated its holdings in the South.In the nineteenth century, power changed hands from the private East India Company to the British monarchy”Queen Victoria became the "Empress of India'”and Britain continued consolidating its territory. Despite the tumultuous environment, this century also saw a creative outpouring.The twentieth century saw a change in the relationship between the foreign ruler and the Indian citizenry. Noonger content with isolated military campaignsed by rajas or nawabs, Indians expressed their urge for freedom through democratic outlets. National parties such as the Indian National Congress and the Muslimeague and regional onesike the Justice Party, Andhra Mahajana Sabha, Dravida Kazhagam and others emerged. Prominent South Indianeaders such as Annie Besant, C. Rajagopalachari, E. V. Ramasami Naicker, Varadarajulu Naidu, K. Kamaraj, Annadurai, Kamaladevi, E. M. S. Namboodiripad, Potti Sriramulu and others took the fight to the British while, at the same time, carrying on campaigns to ensure the dignity of all citizens.After Independence, new states were carved out from the former presidencies and princely states alonginguisticines”Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra. The book ends in the present, with aook at the new generation of politicaleaders who have taken over from dominant personalitiesike M. Karunanidhi, N. T. Rama Rao, M. G. Ramachandran, J. Jayalalithaa, K. Karunakaran and Ramakrishna Hegde. It also covers some of the most significant figures from other fields such as Narayana Guru, M. S. Subbulakshmi, U. R. Ananthamurthy, Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy and others.A masterpiece in every sense of the word, Modern South India is a rich, authoritative and magnificent work of history about the South that will be read, debated and reflected upon for years to come.

This book was written by a Hindu, the grandson of Mohandas K. Gandhi. His intent, in writing on eight Muslims and their influence on India in the twentieth century, is to reduce the gulf between Hindu and Muslims. Focusing on figures viewed as heroes by sub-continent Muslims, he shows that they can be admired by Hindus as well-that they need not be frozen in Hindu minds as foes.Here is a fascinating account of twentieth-century India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh told through biographical sketches of eight men: Sayyid Ahmed Khan (1817-1898), Fazlul Huq (1873-1962), Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948), Muhammad Iqbal (1876-1938), Muhammad Ali (1878-1931), Abul Kalam Azad (1888-1958), Liaqat Ali Khan (1895-1951), and Zakir Husain (1897-1969).

This monumental and authoritative biography of one of the most intriguing and complexfigures of the 20th century, written by his grandson, gives a complete and balanced accountof Gandhi's remarkable life, the development of his beliefs, his political campaigns,and his complex relationships with his family. Gandhi's life was one of contrasts andcontradictions: the westernised Middle Temple lawyer who wore the clothes of India's poorest and spun cotton by hand; the apostle of non-violence who led an Indian ambulance corps in the Boer War and urged Indians to enlist in the First World War; the champion of Indian independence who never hated the British.Written with unprecedented insight and access to family archives, this definitive biography of Gandhi sheds new light on the life of a man who was far more complicated and conflicted than his received public image suggests. For the first time, this book gives us the true Gandhi, the man as well as the legend.