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The Discovery of India

3.95 of 5 stars 3.95 · rating details · 1,287 ratings · 74 reviews

In conjunction with the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund in New Delhi, Oxford proudly announces the reissue of Glimpses of World History and The Discovery of India, two famous works by Jawaharlal Nehru. One of modern day's most articulate statesmen, Jawaharlal Nehru wrote a on a wide variety of subjects. Describing himself as "a dabbler in many things," he committed his life

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Paperback, 656 pages

Published November 1st 2004 by Penguin Books (first published 1960)

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Feb 13, 2012 Riku Sayuj rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, reviews

Still the best history book I have read in my life. Ah, the wonders we loose when geniuses go into politics.

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Dec 23, 2007 Adam rated it 5 of 5 stars

A number of reviewers have noted that Discovery of India and Glimpses of World History were written during the years Nehru languished in British custody for sedition and civil disobedience. What none of them, nor the publisher, have pointed out is that these books were culled from hundreds of letters that Nehru wrote to his daughter, Indira (Gandhi), then in her teens and early twenties. As a forcibly absentee father, Nehru wanted both to explain his absences and play a role in her life and upbr...more

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Jan 01, 2013 Apoorva rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: did-not-complete

If I had to name the most beautifully written book that I've ever read, I would choose this book in a second. When a man gifted with such intelligence and a writing style so eloquent and romantic that it enchants both the young and the old writes a book on a topic that is extensively over analyzed but barely understood, you have The Discovery of India. Unburdened with facts and figures, it offers a perspective of the history, culture and philosophy of India that, even after half a century, is re...more

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May 01, 2013 Riku Sayuj rated it 5 of 5 stars

It is but folly for me to attempt to review a book so close to my heart. But, on my third reading of this book, it is time to finally go beyond the beauty of the prose and the elegance of Nehru’s presentation. It is time to see if the book achieves the objectives it sets out to achieve and judge it thus. I will let my earlier one-line review stand. Here goes…

The following passage reflects the objective of the book.

To know and understand India one has to travel far in time and space, to forget
...more

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Oct 01, 2012 Samadrita rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: timeless-classics, cherished, masterpieces, india, gen-non-fiction-essays-critique, historical, asian-literature, re-readable, politics, philosophical, 1001-and-more, autobiographical-biography-memoir

Undoubtedly one of the finest pieces of non-fiction I've ever read. If not for the author's vivid knowledge of India's heritage, culture, social life, history and a first-hand account of events constituting our freedom movement, this must be read for the literary richness of Nehru's writing style.

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Jul 01, 2009 Palahalli Rajesh rated it 5 of 5 stars

India’s past; her glory, her victory, her shock, her reminiscence, her philosophy, her geography, her fate, and her everything… This is a compelling read from the man who lead India in her darkest hour; the man who was chosen by destiny to enlighten the Indians, proves himself to be an enlighten soul when it comes to know her. The history is nothing like a research material as it was intended to, primarily; ignite curiosity in a nine year old girl to know about her motherland. If you find the bo...more India’s past; her glory, her victory, her shock, her reminiscence, her philosophy, her geography, her fate, and her everything… This is a compelling read from the man who lead India in her darkest hour; the man who was chosen by destiny to enlighten the Indians, proves himself to be an enlighten soul when it comes to know her. The history is nothing like a research material as it was intended to, primarily; ignite curiosity in a nine year old girl to know about her motherland. If you find the book bit exaggerated, forgive as it was written to make reader passionate about India.

Pt. Nehru was one of the most prominent freedom fighter, whom Mahatma Gandhi referred as his soul. The British rule always see to that he was in prison; desalinating him from people including his daughter Indira. This book was written while he was in jail; where in there was no reference books were available, even limited papers were given to him every day. Pt. Nehru, arguably man who could be held responsible for today’s India, was a man of immense personality. It’s very easy to point out technical mistakes in this book as it has been done with his vision of modern India, however one should clock back to see themselves in his shoes acting differently.
His failures are glorified today, from Kashmir blunder to loosing out to China, but one should also thank him for his Mixed economy, industrialization, IIMs and IITs, socialistic India, and most importantly, Secular & Democratic India.
The book is full of his philosophies, ideals; socialism, secularism, and democracy, which he preached while practicing (unlike hypocrites) the same till his last breath.

Read this book as his autobiography where in he teaching his otherwise not so knowledgeable daughter, Indira Priyadarhini, (later Ms. Indira Gandhi - no blood relative to Mahatma Gandhi) the history of India’s past. They were letters which he might have known, while writing the mails, to reach wider audience than to his adorable child.

Today with all the luxuries of life, we struggle to be a good caring father to our children, and somehow manage to meet, but for Pt. Nehru it was as way of life. He was one of the best fathers a child can ever dreamt of. Read this book with a child’s heart and mind!

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Aug 25, 2011 Malavika rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The only history book about India I recommend to anyone who asks for one. For one, it's beautifully written, and, though Nehru comes from his own perspective about India, it's a perspective well-worth noting. Nehru, who was India's first Prime Minister, wrote most of it while imprisoned by the British between 1942 and 1945, so the book's history is tied intimately to the subject matter. If you know nothing about India or even if you think you know everything, this is a history book that deserves...more

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Feb 20, 2011 Siby rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction-history-india, non-fiction, non-fiction-history

"Unlike other books on history, Discovery of India provides an interpretation of India's historical events and their impact, of course, from Nehru's perspective. But what is most interesting is the peek that this book gives into the mind of the person who shaped India's course post independence. It gives an insight into the various considerations, opinions, views and events which shaped India policy, economic, social as well as international.
Would recommend that one reads a comprehensive histor...more

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Mar 26, 2012 Dipa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: indian

I cannot think of anyone more romantic than Nehru. The way he writes about India, you'd think he was having his biggest love affair of all with her. I loved this book. For anyone who'd like to have a historical tour of India by an Indian man who loves India, this book is it. He doesn't make apologies for aspects of India's history that are less than palatable, nor does he try to deny them. Nehru's book gives us an insight into the ideologies that were prevalent in pre-independence India. I highl...more

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Oct 30, 2009 Kusal Perera rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An unbelievable book to have been written while in prison. It covers the historical growth and establishment of the nation which is truly a Maha Bharath.
The book written between August 09th 1942 and March 28th 1945, is dedicated to all of Nehru's colleagues and co-prisoners who were in the Ahmadnagar Fort prison with him, during that period.
The first edition had been published in March 1946 by Dilip Kumar Gupta of Signet Press. An immediate reprint was done again in the same month that year.
That...more

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Mar 01, 2012 Rishabh Mehta rated it 4 of 5 stars

Good book especially from the history point of view!

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Oct 19, 2012 Mattias rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jawaharlal Nehru's analysis on India. The story of Discovery of India begins from prehistory to the last years of British colonial rule; some of the greatest heroes of India are mentioned. Analyzing texts from the Vedas to the Upanishads, and epics such as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, and personalities like the Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi, Mr. Nehru brings to life an ancient culture and land that has been the base and headquarters of some of the world’s great traditions of philosophy, science...more

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Jan 20, 2012 Dhara Mehta rated it 3 of 5 stars

Jawaharlal Nehru’s Discovery of India is his perspective of Indian history from primitive times. The time course of the novel is from the Indus valley civilization to the brink of Independence. India ancient wealth is extolled, yet he describes modern India with a bit more trepidation. Overall is an amazing work, written mostly when he was in prison without the luxury of a research library. It almost seems that the forefathers of the Indian nation were apt to be history professors than president...more Jawaharlal Nehru’s Discovery of India is his perspective of Indian history from primitive times. The time course of the novel is from the Indus valley civilization to the brink of Independence. India ancient wealth is extolled, yet he describes modern India with a bit more trepidation. Overall is an amazing work, written mostly when he was in prison without the luxury of a research library. It almost seems that the forefathers of the Indian nation were apt to be history professors than presidents. Nehru criticizes the British for breaking India’s self-confidence by enslaving it. However, he does not to denounce other conquerors of India: the Muslims. This to me was surprising. The fruits and scars of Mughal rule in India evidence yet the only fruits of British rule. While British colonization of India was ‘unpleasant’ and ‘cruel’, other colonizers were far worst. He proclaims that New Zealand, Australia, and the United States are unburdened because they did not have the scars of the past. But this is most untrue, there was life in these countries before the European but their ‘past’ was decimated. Britain may have enslaved the Indian spirit but did not annihilate the county. My grandfather was a part of the quit India movement. The scars of the British occupation of India are still on his back, yet he is the staunchest supporter of the British. He was beaten by them but also was fed by them. Most of my knowledge of Indian history comes for stories of grandparents and parents not from skewed history lessons from the lens of a warrior in battle.
The most difficult part of reading this book was the seemingly never ending philosophy. The principles were very abstract and unfortunately repetitious. There were two salient points that he captures. Indians has a whole should be more scientific in their approach to religion but I think this ‘questioning’ should be expanded to culture and tradition. He also castigated Indians for being too group oriented. The group needs always take precedence over the individual’s needs.
Nehru was a great admirer of Russia and China. But history the ideologies of both were opposite of his own. This was his greatest miscalculation. I wonder what he would think about modern day India and world. Would be proud of its world standing or horrified but vast disparity between the rich and poor? But the greatest question of them all: Are we more compassionate in 2012 than 1942. Maybe to women we are better. The conditions of female tea pickers in 2008 are only slightly better than in 1920s’.

Favorite Quotes
1 A curious combination of conservatism in practice and explosive though (xxii)
2 India had no more to being considered a county than did the equator (xxi)
3 We live as August Comete said ‘dead man’s lives, encases in our past, but this is true in prison (7)
4 There is a stillness and everlasting about the past, it changes not and has a touch of eternity, like a painted picture or a statue in bronze or marble. Unaffected by the storms and upheavals of the present, it maintains its dignity and repose tempts the troubled mind to seek shelter in catacomb. We become prisoners of the past (p 7)
5 The highest truths of a civilization disowned them with impunity whenever questions of national self-interests was involves (p 351)
6 Become an occident in your spirit of equality, freedom. Work, and energy at the same time a true Hindu to the backbone in religious culture and instinct (p 369)
7 Division by creed and classes means the creation of a political camps organized against one another, teaches men to think as partitions not citizens
8 I decline to be a slave to precedent it practice I cannot understand or defend on a moral basis.
9 A society if it is to be stable yet progress, must have a certain more fixed foundation of principle as well as dynamic outlook (p 563)
10 Freedom is dear to all, but most of all who have been deprived of it (523)
11 If the government gets a hold of you they will flog you to death (or tax you to death), if the Buddhists get a hold of you they will starve you to death
12 The same methods of investigations which we apply to the sciences and to exterior knowledge should be applied to religion. If a religion is destroyed by such investigations which we apply to the sciences then the same knowledge should be applied to religion. Uf a religion is destroyed by such investigation, it was nothing but a worthless supersition
13 By writing of the past I have tried to rid myself of the burden of the past ( p 533)
14 The Muslim areas will be hard-hot, will be ecomonically backward, will not exist without foreign dependence (589)
15 There is some envy for those virgin minds which have not been violated by thoughts assaults.
16 India is 4 million separate individual men and women, each differing from one another each living in a private universe of though and feeling. India is a geographically entity….(627)
17 Blind adherence of old customs and a slavish imitation of foreign ways (629)
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Jul 24, 2010 Srinivas marked it as partially-read

I came across this piece of old news that gives a lot of insight into Nehru's stand on corruption in high offices.

source: http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/09/stori...

dated January 9, 1960: Enquiry into charges

Prime Minister Nehru categorically ruled out any proposal for appointing a high power tribunal to enquire into and investigate charges of corruption against Ministers or persons in high authority, for the main reason that, in India, or for that matter any other country where there was a democra...more

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Jul 11, 2007 Radhika rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Indophiles

I loved reading this book when I was a teenager. I am hoping to re-read it again to experience it again. Nehru has a very engaging style and he was a very intelligent man who felt quite passionately about India. He was a freedom-fighter before India gained its independence from the British empire. He eventually became the first Prime Minister of independent India. This tome was written when he was in prison for fighting the British Raj before India was independent.

His presentation of India's pa...more

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Mar 15, 2011 Jishnu rated it 4 of 5 stars

Indian history, culture and philosophy right from Indus valley till 1946.A peek into the strategy of Indian National Congress during the freedom struggle.

If you haven't already read 'India After Gandhi' by R.Guha, this book is a perfect background setting for it. Nehru's understanding of India and her problems is just amazing.

The book kinda makes you wonder how things went so terribly wrong in the first 40 years of independent India despite such detailed and flawless vision, which still kinda...more

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May 12, 2012 Veerabhadram rated it 4 of 5 stars

Though Romila thapar does not regard highly of the historian in Nehru,this book shows the deep understanding a man has cultivated towards his country, which he is going lead in the future,during the the most important and remarkable course in its eternal journey.That he had to write this book,when he was locked in the Ahmednagar fort jail,without the aid of any library or even the adequate supply of paper only shows how much internalized the idea of India in his being.

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Apr 21, 2011 Jamie VW rated it 3 of 5 stars

Reading this book, Nehru's strong commanding and highly intellectual voice constantly comes through even as he is at his most historian-like. Too expansive to be a comprehensive academic source on the history of India, yet too in-depth and wandering to be consistently engaging, Nehru is at his best when he talks about himself and his own experiences. Yet ultimately, the book seems like an incredibly well-read highly referential form of loosely confederated free association. There are some parts...more

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Sep 06, 2012 M rated it 5 of 5 stars

I had read it a long time ago when I was a school going adoloscent gal..Its a treasure trove on India's ancient history...but even at that tender age...i felt his views on many things were colored...particularly it seemed he was seeing India from a foreigner's eyes...tho ofcourse I m no authority to comment on it...and one must read it to come to their own views ...

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Aug 13, 2012 Abhishek Ganguly rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: the-absolute-best

The history of India from the dawn of civilization to the Indian Freedom Movement, this is passoinate writing of a highly educated patriot. The narrative has underlines of emotional attachment but never sways from the critical analysis of the history, culture and socio-political developments of India.

This is a must read if you ever want to know where your roots are.

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May 23, 2008 Ishan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: worththetime

A good review of where India came from and the history that shapes the psyche of our parents. Towards the end, it got a bit long because all you read about his how the British set back India 100s of years. Does make you angry; however you also realize the importance of being united and self sacrifice for the common good. Because one person's gain can cause a 100 losses. If you read, there were many selfish Indians in our past that significantly contributed to the down fall of the working class,...more

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Jan 28, 2013 Vaishali Sati rated it 4 of 5 stars

Slightly scattered, jumping from one to another, but as the title suggests its glimpses. Fleeting look into the rich and vast past of the subcontinent India, Nehru achieves an impossible feat by compiling a sample of India's diverse roots. A book worth a read for culture and history enthusiasts.

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Jul 14, 2009 Sumit Bardhan rated it 5 of 5 stars

It is very strange to realise that a person who has hardly spent his formative years in India can go to such depths. The manner in which the book unfolds the untold story of India is really overwhelming. Must read for any body who wants to know why India is like the way it is now.

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Jul 17, 2011 Makarand Hazarika rated it 4 of 5 stars

It's a good history book although I am not sure of the factual accuracy. Jawaharlal Nehru was a power hungry person with dastardly acts and meretricious character, but that doesn't mean he couldn't write good books.

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Feb 23, 2013 Sandeep Srikanti rated it 4 of 5 stars

It made me fall in love with India all over again...Cant believe that this book was written when Nehru was in the jail...This should be included in the school curriculum...Though a bit disjointed in the end, It's the best book on history that i have ever read...

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Mar 05, 2011 Bhadra added it

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

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Dec 28, 2011 Ajitabh Pandey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history, classics, non-fiction, literature, indian-literature, indian-history, asian-history

An excellent book which gives an overview and understanding of the glorious intellectual and spiritual tradition of India and how the British forced the economic, moral and intellectual decline of India by vicious exploitation of the Indian people.

The content of this book shows the depth of knowledge Mr Nehru possess. He has referred numerous texts and books in this work, all of these references was not possible to be arranged inside the prison. He wrote this book entirely in a prison and wrote...more

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Dec 15, 2008 Chidambar Rao Bhukya rated it 5 of 5 stars

One of the greatest books I read. This book gives the importance and beauty of India. The Author has very lucid style of describing the facts of India and Her Culture & Tradition.

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Jul 16, 2012 Ajinkya Kelkar rated it 3 of 5 stars

Extremely big book- written while in prison. Best to read in a train journey across India. One can immediately observe the 'Indianness' mentioned in the book.

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Oct 27, 2012 Kavya Rangan rated it 3 of 5 stars

you can really discover ur modern day India in this book and get to know how all this chaos now happening were once then settled.

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About Jawaharlal Nehru

First prime minister of independent India (1947 – 64). Son of the independence advocate Motilal Nehru (1861 – 1931), Nehru was educated at home and in Britain and became a lawyer in 1912. More interested in politics than law, he was impressed by Mohandas K. Gandhi's approach to Indian independence. His close association with the Indian National Congress began in 1919; in 1929 he became its preside...more

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Quotes from The Discovery of India

“India has known the innocence and insouciance of childhood, the passion
and abandon of youth, and the ripe wisdom of maturity that comes from long experience of pain and pleasure; and over and over a gain she has renewed her childhood and youth and age” — 8 people liked it

“A language is something infinitely greater than grammar and philology. It is the poetic testament of the genius of a race and a culture, and the living embodiment of the thoughts and fancies
that have moulded them” — 6 people liked it

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