India for Indians

Das, Chitta Ranjan, 1870-1925Project Gutenberg · United StatesMar 2023

3.5

Word count: 269K words
Chapters: 27

Summary

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India for Indians by Chitta Ranjan Das

Author: Das, Chitta Ranjan, 1870-1925,Language: English, Class: DS: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Asia, Release Date: Mar 28, 2014

Editor's review

This book is a collection of political writings by the modern Indian statesman and thinker Chitta Ranjan Das on Indian self-rule and social reconstruction. Its title points directly to "India for Indians," and it presents his reflections on India's political path under colonial rule, national self-examination, and the responsibility of the people. As an important document of the early twentieth-century Indian national movement, it bears a distinct polemical character of its time and preserves traces of contemporary intellectual debates over the meaning of self-rule. Its value lies not in offering ready-made conclusions but in giving readers direct access to the intellectual scene of an era of change and an understanding of how national demands moved from elite discussion to mass mobilization. The prose carries the style of speeches and polemics, with clear positions, and is suitable as supplementary reading for the study of modern South Asian history, colonialism, and nationalism. It is advisable to read with an awareness of historical context and to distinguish the author's historical limitations from his insights.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers studying modern Indian history and the national movement
Students interested in the history of colonialism and self-rule thought
Researchers needing primary English sources on South Asian history
General readers interested in early twentieth-century Asian political thought

Not a good fit for

Beginners seeking a systematic general history or textbook-style overview
Readers unaccustomed to English political argument and oratory
Those expecting analysis of contemporary Indian society rather than a historical document

Reading tips

First understand the background of the early twentieth-century Indian self-rule movement, then proceed to the main text
Excerpt and annotate the author's arguments on self-rule, responsibility, and the people by theme
Read alongside related documents of the Indian national movement of the same period to identify differences in position
After each piece, summarize the argument in your own words to test comprehension

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book an English original or a Chinese translation?

According to the available information, this is an English e-book released by Project Gutenberg, in English, containing Chitta Ranjan Das's original text; it is not a Chinese translation. Readers need some ability to read English political prose before starting.

What historical background is needed to read this book?

It is advisable first to understand the early twentieth-century Indian self-rule movement under British colonial rule, the intellectual divisions within the Indian National Congress, and Das's own political activities. Without this background, the many polemical passages in the book can seem abstract and hard to connect to the real issues they addressed.

Is this book suitable as an introduction to Indian history?

Not really. It is a political document with a strong stance of its time, not a systematic general history, and it lacks a complete account of the sequence of events. Beginners should first read general histories to build a framework, then use this book as supplementary primary reading.

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About the author

Das, Chitta Ranjan, 1870-1925 Author · Indian · 1870–1925

Chitta Ranjan Das (1870–1925) was an Indian leader of the anti-British movement, known as "Deshbandhu," and was imprisoned several times. Two of his works are included here, with India for Indians and Freedom Through Disobedience as his representative titles, commonly classified under inspirational growth. These works center on Indian self-rule and the pursuit of freedom through non-obedience, carrying a clear tone of political mobilization. Their language is direct and forceful, aimed at arousing public participation. Public information is limited, making biographical details difficult to describe fully, yet the surviving works show that his writing was closely tied to his political practice and had a certain rallying and disseminating influence in the Indian national movement of his time.