Jawharlal Nehru’s Discovery of India: A Book of India’s Pride

Pages:121-122
Sharmila (Department of English, CMJ University, Meghalaya)

Shrishti se pehle sat nahin tha, Asat bhi nahin; Antariksh bhi nahin, Aakash bhi nahin thaa Chhipa thaa kya, kahaan kisne dhakaa thaa, Us pal to agam atal jal bhi kahaan thaa. Shrishti kaa kaun hai karta,Kartaa hai vaaha karta, Unche aakash mein rehta, Sadaa adhyaksh banaa rehta, Wohi sach much mein jaanta, Yaa nahin bhi jaanta, Hai kisi ko nahin pataa, nahin pataa Nahin hai pataa…. Nahin hai pataa….1 Discovery of India was written by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, when he was imprisoned for five months in the Ahmednagar fort during the Indian independence movement. He was jailed for his participation in the Quit India movement along with other Indian leaders, and he used this time to write down his thoughts and knowledge about India’s history. The book was first publication in 1946, a year before India gained independence and provides a broad view of Indian history, philosophy and culture, as viewed from the eyes of a liberal Indian fighting for the independence of his country. This book was dedicated to the Prisoners of Ahmednagar jail, and became the basis of the 53-episode Indian television series Bharat Ek Khoj, first broadcast in 1988. Many scholars who have published elaborate studies in the field of Indian History have called the book as a classic. This book has been a challenge for Nehru and Indira Gandhi as well who was a teen aged girl at that time and had to shoulder the burden of reading the typescript and editing it before getting it published and one must praise the efforts put by her as there minor or no flaws in her job.