G.A. Natesan and National Awakening

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This book is about G.A. Natesan (1873-1949), an enterprising Madras publisher and an ardent patriot, who founded in 1897 a publishing firm, called G.A. Natesan & Co., from where issued in the first three decades of twentieth century a regular stream of informative and instructive. cheaply-priced books on a variety of subjects, aimed at promoting a national awakening in the country. In January 1900 Natesan also founded a monthly called the Indian Review, which he edited for nearly fifty years until his death in early 1949. Natesan was a liberal in politics and believed in constitutional methods of agitation. Natesan began supporting Gandhi when he was still in South Africa. He was the first to publish a book on Gandhi in India in 1909 written by H.S.L. Polak. In 1911 he published another book, titled M.K. Gandhi and the South African Indian Problem, written by Gandhi's lifelong friend Dr. P.J. Mehta.

What was the early life of Natesan? How and why did he found a press? What kind of books did he publish? What was the role of his monthly journal Indian Review in promoting political, social and cultural awareness in the country? What was his relationship with Gandhi? What part did he play in the Indian National Congress? Why did he leave the Indian National Congress in 1918 and join the National Liberal Federation of India? What was his contribution to the national awakening in the country? Answers to these and similar other questions have been attempted in this book.

Prabha Ravi Shankar, M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. (University of Mumbai), is an Associate Professor in the Department of History, S.N.D.T. Women's University, Mumbai. She has been the recipient of Pandit Sethu Madhavrao Pagdi Fellowship (2003), ICHR Senior Research Fellowship (2008), and the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, Associateship (2014). She has presented many research papers at national and international conferences and seminars, and published many articles in reputable journals of history. She is the author of The British Committee of the Indian National Congress, 1889-1921 (New Delhi, 2011) and a monograph jointly authored with Professor J.V. Naik, titled The Jervis Brothers: George Risto Jervis & Thomas Best Jervis (Mumbai, 2014). She is currently working on Gandhi and the Polaks.

This book on G.A Natesan, an enterprising Madras publisher and one of the pioneering Madan national awakening, is the result of five years of painstaking research. It was not easy to get access to materials on his early life, leave alone the hundreds of books published by his firm, Natesan & Company, as well as the back files of the Indian Review which he edited for nearly fifty years. Nevertheless, I persisted.

Natesan was not merely a pioneer publisher but was also an ardent nationalist belonging to the Moderate school of thought. In October 1897 he founded his own printing press called Natesan & Company with the support of his elder brother G.A. Vaidyaraman. A steady stream of pamphlets, books, biographies of eminent Indians, their speeches and writings and a series called 'Friends of India' were published. Along with it there was a great deal of Congress literature; including two bulky volumes on the origin of the Congress, presidential addresses, speeches and resolutions. Keen to create not only political but also socio-cultural awakening in India, Natesan published books on Indian classical literature, mythology and epics.

It is a privilege and pleasure to contribute a Foreword to the book entitled G.A. Natesan and National Awakening, which is a detailed study of the renowned Madras publisher-cum-editor, G.A. Natesan and his contribution to Indian national awakening. Dr Prabha Ravi Shankar, the author of the book, is a distinguished member of the History faculty of the S.N.D.T. Women's University, Mumbai.

The Indian National movement, properly speaking, begins with Raja Rammohan Roy, the herald of modern age in India and who is acclaimed as the father of modern India. It reaches its climax under the dynamic leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. The movement was of an evolutionary character, growing steadily, first raising its head warily, later cautiously, then confidently and finally defiantly. The popular perception is that the Madras presidency, as compared to Bengal and Bombay, was a bit late in making its entry into the Indian political scene, but it soon made up, as the author of the book in her incisive research shows through the instrumentality of such ardent patriots as G.A. Natesan who fully identified themselves with the two inter-related goals of the Indian National movement-one was to educate and activate the Indian people to attain self-government, and the other to establish a just and equitable social order on the basis of rationality and equality.

In his political outlook, Natesan was attracted to the Moderate school of political thought championed by stalwarts such as M.G. Ranade, G.K. Gokhale, Surendranath Banerjea and others who valued Indo-British connection. This school, as pointed out by the author, served as a role model for Natesan towards achieving this end and he used his press for the publication of the life- sketches and speeches and writings of all those who played significant roles in India's struggle for independence. For the purpose of disseminating knowledge and promoting liberal sentiments and national awakening he brought out a number of books, both secular and sacred. He also used his monthly, the Indian Review, for the same purpose, which he edited for nearly fifty years until his death in 1949.