Revenge and Reconciliation

Front Cover
Penguin Books India, 1999 - History - 463 pages
An Original, Provocative And Compelling Reading Of The Subcontinent S History

In This Remarkable Study, Well-Known Biographer Rajmohan Gandhi, Underscoring The Prominence In The Mahabharata Of The Revenge Impulse, Follows Its Trajectory In South Asian History. Side By Side, He Traces The Role Played By Reconcilers Up To Present Times, Beginning With The Buddha, Mahavira And Asoka.

Encompassing Myth And Historical Fact, The Author Moves From The Circumstances Of Drona S Death And Parasurama S Slaying Of The Kshatriyas To The Burst Of Islam In India And Akbar S Success In Gaining Acceptance For It, The Executions Of Guru Arjan Dev And Guru Tegh Bahadur, And Shivaji S Achievement Of Self-Rule. His Explanation Of The 1947 Division Of India Identifies The Role Of The 1857 Rebellion In Shaping Gandhi S Thinking And Strategy, And Reflects On The Wounds Of Partition. The Survey Of Post-Independence India, Pakistan, Bangladesh And Sri Lanka Also Touches Upon The Tragic Bereavements Of Six Of Their Women Leaders.

Incisive And Finely Argued, Revenge And Reconciliation Compels Us To Confront Historical And Contemporary Realities Of Intolerance, While Pointing To Possible Strategies Of Mutual Accommodation In India And The Rest Of South Asia At The Threshold Of The Twenty-First Century.
 

Contents

The Mahabharata Legacy and the Gitas Intent
1
A Dissenting Tradition or the Second Thread
36
Rage Reflection and Coexistence
68
Mughals Sikhs and Marathas
93
Humiliation Dazzlement and Trust
122
The Raj and the Sikhs
144
The 1857 Trauma and its Meaning
165
Freedom and Reconciliation? Gandhis Large Bid
202
Why Partition Occurred and the Wounds of 1947
262
India 194767
278
South Asia After Independence
305
Strategies for Reconciliation
392
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Bibliographic information