Freedom Movement 1857-1947

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This book seeks to reflect the desire of a teacher to emphasize the significance of the study of our Freedom Movement. Being invested with some rare attributes it remains a unique phenomenon in human history. The author has sought to highlight the fact that as a struggle for liberation it has been a model for others to follow. Its potential as a character building and faith-raising subject is beyond human doubt. The author has outlined the main landmarks in freedom movement in a style which is at once simple and absorbing. It is a comprehensive survey of the movement compressed in a readable length of this book. Though the book is meant for the students of those faculties, which do not provide for instruction on history of our freedom. But this information is equally relevant to others. The author's contention is that it is as basic a subject as the elementary knowledge of health and hygiene and as such this cannot be excluded from the syllabus of any discipline. This knowledge should be shared by all those who are in some way connected with the preparation of the new generation. This book should reach every young man and women of our country.

An alumnus of London School of Economics and Political Science, Dr. S.R. Sharma has been engaged, for some time past, in completing a set of few volumes on Indian Foreign Policy in a series which, despite all constraints, he had the courage of conviction to start single handedly with no assistance whatsoever from any quarter. He also has to his credit the background of long and sustained study of the Indian Freedom Movement, which he shared over two decades with his students at various University centres in his home town in M.P.

This book is primarily meant for the students of those faculties, such as commerce, engineering, medical and science, which do not provide for regular instruction in a subject which includes the study of freedom move- ment. It is being gradually realised that the study of this subject is essential for all our youths irrespective of any consideration of the subjects they have to study to obtain their professional degrees. It is as basic a disci- pline as the elementary knowledge of health and hygiene and as such it can not be excluded from the syllabus of any subject. The significance of the subject transcends all other considerations as it is vitally concerned with our very survival as an independent nation. We have to live in the atmosphere of freedom first, before consi- dering to practise as a doctor, engineer or a scientist.

The study of this subject is usually associated with two styles-narrative and normative - but both are inter- twined and, therefore, inseparable. Just as story-telling is an art of imparting moral instruction in a delightful way, the study of history should also not be bereft of some ethical motives. Mere narration of the events of the movement in one sequence is meaningless as the object of the study of the movement is essentially to draw morals from what happened during the course of freedom struggle. It was not only a freedom struggle in the political sense but also a regeneration of an ancient civilisation which had survived the misfortunes of a millen- nium. The loss of freedom by India was not a mere tragic incident of history but the culmination of a long process of our moral decline. To state precisely, we lost out character first and, as its inevitable corollary, freedom later. And to revive those dormant values of life which had given us the distinction of being regarded as one of the most advanced nations of the world, the movement was launched as a multi-class upsurge in which the aspira- tions of the entire people were integrated for the demand of national freedom. It was an article of faith with our leaders to say that achievement of freedom was to be the first step before we could think in terms of rejuvena- ting our national stature.

**Contents and Sample Pages**