The Oxford India Nehru (Oxford India Collection

by Jawaharlal Nehru

Divided into eight sections, The Oxford India Nehru covers Nehru's writings spanning six decades and includes over 230 letters, articles, extracts from books, notes penned in jail, political statements, and diary entries, as also some of his very early personal correspondences. Apart from new writings, the current volume draws material from the two-volume The Essential Writings of Jawaharlal Nehru edited by S. Gopal and Uma Iyengar, which included within its covers some of Jawaharlal Nehru's most representative writings. The extraordinary felicity and elegance of these writings ranging from wildlife to culture, from communalism to science and technology, reveal the many facets of Nehru's personality-a devoted son working incessantly to achieve political freedom for his motherland; a committed statesman striving for a secular, egalitarian, and democratic society in a newly-independent India; a visionary laying a strong foundation for science and technology, and launching the
atomic energy program; an aesthete delighting in the rains, natural beauty, and good books. Including this astonishing range of themes - be it metaphysics, brooms, horse breeding, governance, or the Hindu Code Bill - addressed by Nehru in thought and action is aimed at reaching out to a larger audience, including young readers.

808 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2007

About the author

First prime minister of independent India (1947 – 64), 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 president, presiding over the historic Lahore session that proclaimed complete independence (rather than dominion status) as India's political goal. He was imprisoned nine times between 1921 and 1945 for his political activity. When India was granted limited self-government in 1935, the Congress Party under Nehru refused to form coalition governments with the Muslim League in some provinces; the hardening of relations between Hindus and Muslims that followed ultimately led to the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan. Shortly before Gandhi's assassination in 1948, Nehru became the first prime minister of independent India. He attempted a foreign policy of nonalignment during the Cold War, drawing harsh criticism if he appeared to favour either camp. During his tenure, India clashed with Pakistan over the Kashmir region and with China over the Brahmaputra River valley. He wrested Goa from the Portuguese. Domestically, he promoted democracy, socialism, secularism, and unity, adapting modern values to Indian conditions. His daughter, Indira Gandhi, became prime minister two years after his death.