Tag: history
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The Foresighted Ambedkar: An Excerpt
Jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader, ‘Babasaheb’ Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was born in a small town in Madhya Pradesh on 14th April 1891. He was of Mahar caste – a dalit – who were at that time treated as untouchables and subjected to social and economic discrimination. However, the family moved to Bombay when…
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Book Review: Journeys Across India
Born in 1854 in the district of Nadia, in West Bengal, Durgacharan Rakshit was a scholar and a business owner who, in the late-1800s and early-1900s, set out to travel across India. This, he did on foot and by boat, train and horse-drawn carriage – practically whatever means of transport was available at any given…
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Asia after Europe: An Excerpt
Sugata Bose is Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs at Harvard University, and has earlier authored a very well-received selection of books, including His Majesty’s Opponent: Subhas Chandra Bose and India’s Struggle against Empire, The Nation as Mother: and Other Visions of Nationhood and A Hundred Horizons: The Indian Ocean in the Age of…
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Being Hindu, Being Indian: An Excerpt
‘In popular imagination, Lala Lajpat Rai is frequently associated with Bhagat Singh, who, by assassinating JP Saunders, avenged Rai’s death, caused by a police lathi charge, and was hanged for it. Lajpat Rai is also remembered for his fervent opposition to British rule. In recent decades, however, historians have converged with the Hindu Right in…
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A Long Season of Ashes: An Excerpt
‘A meditation on the nature of memory, A Long Season of Ashes is a book about a boy’s journey of self-discovery. In March 1990, sixteen-year-old Siddhartha Gigoo is forced to flee his home in Safa Kadal, Srinagar, Kashmir. The preceding days have been full of fear and horror for the Gigoos, having seen friends and…
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Swapna Liddle and the 14 Historic Walks of Delhi
Delhi is a veritable treasure trove of history – few other cities in India can boast of having such a grand collection of iconic historical monuments from different eras. Over the centuries, rulers came and went, empires were made and destroyed, dynasties witnessed glory and were then reduced to dust. Today, the kings and emperors…
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Empire Building: In Conversation with Dr Rosie Llewellyn-Jones
Based in the UK, Dr Rosie Llewellyn-Jones is a renowned historian of colonial India and has authored a number of books, including, among others, The Last King in India: Wajid Ali Shah, A Very Ingenious Man: Claude Martin in Early Colonial India, The Great Uprising in India, 1857–58: Untold Stories, Engaging Scoundrels: True Tales of…
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Book Review: Shunting the Nation
Aniruddha Bose, whose book Shunting the Nation has been published by Speaking Tiger and is being released this week, is an Associate Professor of History at Saint Francis University in Pennsylvania, in the US. Bose hails from Calcutta, has family links in the Indian railways and believes in writing histories of ordinary people who can…
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India and Faraway Lands: In Conversation with Ashutosh Mehndiratta
Currently based in Canada, Ashutosh Mehndiratta has an MBA in systems consulting and strategic management from the University of Alabama and has worked in various parts of the world, including the US, New Zealand and Eastern Europe, with leading IT companies. He has a deep interest in Indian and global history, and he has authored…