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Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Gentle Setting of the Empire's Sun: Prisons, Prisoners & Forgotten Stories of India's Freedom Struggle

Gentle Setting of the Empire's Sun: Prisons, Prisoners & Forgotten Stories of India's Freedom Struggle

Hardcover

General Political Science

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 9374518627
ISBN13: 9789374518625
Publisher: Manohar Books
Pages: 159
Language: English
The story of India's struggle for freedom is one of several shades and forms. By design perhaps, just one, the Gandhian non-violent' and stayagrahi version came to be ingrained in the nation's memory and become common historical discourse. As the struggle progressed, the British had come to believe that the more serious threat to their empire was from the other movement which had resulted from a heady mix of patriotism, cultural and spiritual pride. This was represented by the revolutionaries, the secret societies and others like them.

This monograph discusses how the British based on threat perceptions had categorized freedom fighters as dangerous' and less dangerous'. Threat perceptions determined prison conditions and punishments. The Cellular jail (Andaman) and the Lahore Fort Prison that housed leaders like Jayaprakash Narayan, Dr. Rammanohar Lohia and V.D. Savarkar were for example a different world when compared with the Naini jail, the Ahmednagar Fort prison, the Yerwada jail and the Agha Khan Palace where senior Congress leaders were usually detained.

The monograph also explains how the British managed an exit that was smooth, friendly and free of embarrassment. Lord Mountbatten had attended over 200 farewell events in his about 15 months of stay as Viceroy and Governor General of India in 1947-48. The friendly, informal and personal relations between important British functionaries and senior Congress party leaders in a way diluted the emotion ridden anti British foundational narrative of the freedom movement. Many of India's problems it is suggested can also be traced to the informal decision making that is a defining feature of the times.

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General Political Science