The Discovery of India

The Discovery of India
The Discovery of India centenary edition cover.
Author(s)	Nehru, Jawaharlal
Country	India
Language	English
Subject(s)	Indian history, Indian culture, Politics of India, Religion in India, Indian philosophy
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Publication date	1946
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	584 pp (centenary edition)
ISBN	978-0195623598
LC Classification	DS436 .N42 1989

The Discovery of India (Hindi: भारत की खोज) was written by India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru during his imprisonment in 1942-1946 at Ahmednagar in the Ahmednagar Fort.

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 is widely regarded as a classic in India since its first publication in 1946, and provides a broad view of Indian history, philosophy and culture, as viewed from the eyes of a liberal Indian fighting for the independence of his country.^[1]

In The Discovery of India Nehru argued that India was an historic nation with a right to sovereignty. (Calhoun, Craig, Nations Matter: Culture, History and the Cosmopolitan Dream, Routledge, p. 63.)

In this book Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru tries to study the history of India starting from the Indus Valley Civilization, and then covers the country's history from the arrival of the Aryans to government under the British Empire. The effect of these various people on Indian culture and their incorporation into Indian society is examined. This book also analyses in depth the philosophy of Indian life.

This book was dedicated to the Prisoners of Ahmednagar jail.

The book became the basis of the 53-episode Indian television series Bharat Ek Khoj, first broadcast in 1988.

Editions

• The Discovery of India by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, ISBN 0-670-05801-7
• The Discovery of India by Jawaharlal Nehru (paper back, thirteenth edition), ISBN 019-562359-2

See also

• Glimpses of World History

References

1. ^ Das, Taraknath (June, 1947), "India--Past, Present and the Future", Political Science Quarterly 62 (2): 295–304, doi:10.2307/2144210, JSTOR 2144210 

External links

• Bharat Ek Khoj Online
• Bharat ek Khoj DD Serial (watch online)