''The Discovery of India'' was written by the Indian freedom fighter

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

(later India's first

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

) during his incarceration in 1942–1945 at

Ahmednagar Fort The Ahmednagar Fort (''Ahmadnagar Qila'') is located close to the Bhingar Nala near Ahmednagar in Maharashtra state western India. It was the headquarters of the Ahmednagar Sultanate. In 1803, it was taken by the British during the Second Ang ...

in present-day Indian state of

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

by British colonial authorities before the independence of India. The book was written in 1944 but published in 1946.The book was published in India.

Synopsis

The journey in ''The Discovery of India'' begins from ancient history, leading up to the last years of the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

. Nehru uses his knowledge of the

Upanishads The Upanishads (; , , ) are late Vedic and post-Vedic Sanskrit texts that "document the transition from the archaic ritualism of the Veda into new religious ideas and institutions" and the emergence of the central religious concepts of Hind ...

Vedas FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of relig ...

, and textbooks on ancient history to introduce to the reader the development of India from the

Indus Valley civilization The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation, was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form from 2600 BCE ...

, through the changes in socio-political scenario every foreign invader brought, to the present day conditions. Nehru was jailed for his participation in the Quit India Movement along with other Indian leaders, and he used this time to write down his thoughts and knowledge about India's history. The book provides a broad view of Indian

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

, philosophy, and

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

as viewed from the eyes of an Indian fighting for the independence of his country. He wrote the book during his imprisonment.

Other contributors

Nehru attributes some of the content of the book to his fellow prisoners at Ahmednagar jail. He gives special mention to four of them namely

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Abul Kalam Ghulam Muhiyuddin (11 November 188822 February 1958), better known as Maulana Azad and sometimes referred as Abul Kalam Azad, was an Indian politician, writer and activist of the Indian independence movement. A senior leader of t ...

Govind Ballabh Pant Govind Ballabh Pant (10 September 1887 – 7 March 1961) was an Indian freedom fighter and the first chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Alongside Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabh Bhai Patel, Pant was a key figure in the movement for ...

Narendra Deva Acharya Narendra Deva (; also Dev; 30 October 1889 – 19 February 1956) was one of the leading theorists of the Congress Socialist Party in India. His democratic socialism renounced violent means as a matter of principle and embraced the ''saty ...

and

Asaf Ali Asaf Ali (11 May 1888 – 2 April 1953) was an Indian independence activist and noted lawyer. He was the first Indian Ambassador to the United States. He also served as the Governor of Odisha. Asaf Ali was born on 11 May 1888 AD in Seohara ...

. All his fellow prisoners (eleven of them) were political prisoners from various parts of the country, having deep knowledge about the various aspects of India which the book discusses. They also participated in proofreading Nehru's work and providing him with creative suggestions.

Edition

The book was first published from

Signet Press Signet Press is a publishing house in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, founded in 1943 by Dilip Kumar Gupta (known as D.K.) and his mother-in-law, Neelima Guha Thakurtha. History Signet Press has published several books by many authors, includ ...

at Calcutta (now Kolkata), India on March 1946. The book is presently published by the 'Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund' and the copyright for the book is held by his grand daughter-in-law

Sonia Gandhi Sonia Gandhi (, ; ; born 9 December 1946) is an Indian politician. She is the longest-serving president of the Indian National Congress, a big-tent liberal political party, which has governed India for most of its post-independence history. ...

. * ''The Discovery of India'' by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, * ''The Discovery of India'' by Jawaharlal Nehru (paperback, thirteenth edition),

Adaptations

The book became the basis of the 53-episode Indian television series ''

Bharat Ek Khoj ''Bharat Ek Khoj'' () is a 53-episode Indian historical drama based on the book '' The Discovery of India'' (1946) by Jawaharlal Nehru that covers a 5,000-year history of the Indian subcontinent from its beginnings to independence from the Brit ...

'' (1988), directed by

Shyam Benegal Shyam Benegal (14 December 1934 – 23 December 2024) was an Indian film director, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker. Often regarded as the pioneer of parallel cinema, he is widely considered as one of the greatest filmmakers post 1970s. H ...

, first broadcast in 1988 on state-run

Doordarshan Doordarshan (), abbreviated as DD, is India's State-owned enterprise, state-owned public broadcasting, public television broadcaster. Established by the Government of India on 15 September 1959, it is owned by the Ministry of Information and B ...

channel. A modified version of this book is taught as a Hindi supplement in 8th grade.

References

External links