Amrit Mahotsav

Top 10 books you must read on India Independence

We are now living in a free India, but it has not been easy to achieve. These are the top 10  books you must read on India independence. Many freedom fighters gave their lives to free the country from the tyrannical and brutal British government. We reflect back on our courageous liberation fighters for their struggle and sacrifices via various books on the occasion of our 75th anniversary of independence, “Amrit Mahotsav.” Books on historical events have a remarkable way of capturing the essence of events that occurred at the same time. Here is a collection of books about India’s war for independence.

Top 10 books you must read on india Independence

1.Why I am an Atheist by Bhagat Singh

Why I am an Atheist is an essay written in Lahore Central jail by Bhagat Singh October 5-6, 1930, published 27 September 1931, in Lahore newspaper. The essay was responded to a prison inmate who tried to convince him of the existence of God and upon failing, berated him “you are giddy with frame and have developed an ego that is standing like a black curtain between you and God.” In this essay, he explains his belief and how he reached the conclusion that there exists no good written around 87 years ago his thought and idea still present a remarkable example of revolutionary thinking. Bhagat Singh was an independent thinker. He rejected the idea of God at a time when our country was riddled with superstitions and vocalizing anything against God was considered an utmost sin.

2.Discovery of India by Jawaharlal Nehru

‘The Discovery of India’ was written by India’s first Prime Minister ‘Jawaharlal Nehru‘ during his imprisonment between 1942 to 1945 at Ahmednagar Fort. It was published in 1946. Discovery of India is written, and the unwritten history of India is given, it begins from ancient history leading up to the last year of the British Raj. The Indus valley civilization the coming of areas Hinduism, caste system of the great Indian culture. These books are also given information about the epic the Mahabharata, the Bhagwat Gita, Buddha Asoka, and through all people. It can be understood and appreciated as an introduction to the cultural history of India through the changes in socio scenario every foreign invader brought to the present-day condition. Nehru Ji is a philosopher of history, and he aims to make construction suggestions based on basic historical knowledge. In 1988, the book became the Indian television series ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’ directed by Shyam Benegal posted on India’s on the Doordarshan channel. 

3.India’s wins freedom: The complete version by Abdul Kalam Azad

India’s wins freedom was originally written in Urdu by Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, political activity during 1935-1947 from an insider’s point of view by himself. At Azad’s request, an initial version of the book was published in 1958. The complete version was kept in the National Library of Calcutta and the National Archives, New Delhi for thirty (30) years and then published in 1988 with the court order. It later sold over 30 million copies all over the world realized to the public. It includes his personal experience of when India became independent and his idea on freedom and library. Not only have all the words and phases of the original been reproduced, but the original tone and temper have also been fully restored. His description of the Khalifat movement and the Satyagraha movement of which he was a participant, vivid, and memorizing. This is a worth reading book for knowledge of history as well as politics of pre- Independent India.

4.The Indian war of Independence 1857 by Veer Savarkar

In 1857, an Indian nationalist history by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was written’ The India War of Independence, published in 1909. He is also known as Veer Savarkar because of his bravery and unconquerable straight against the oppression by the British. Veer Savarkar was the first man who called the mutiny of 1857 ‘A War of Independence. The book, initially written in Marathi and Marathi edition was banned in India at that time so this book was smuggled into India and England after it was published in Holland. This book is a step-by-step account of the uprising of the Indian masses against the ruthless British empire. Savarkar attempted to look at the incidents of 1857 from the Indian point of view. A leading revolution himself, he was attracted and inspired by burning zeal, the heroism, bravery, suffering, and tragic fate of the leaders of 1857, and he decided to re-interpret the story and to relate it in full of the help of all the material available to him at the time.

5. India After Gandhi by Ramachandra Guha

India After Gandhi was the history of the world’s largest democracy, first published in August 2007 by Ramachandran Guha explores the reality of India’s optimistic independence from on British 15, 1947. Ramachandra Guha spent over 10 years working on the book and retells the story of the Indian nation after it gained independence from British Empire. This book also won the Sahitya Academy Award for English in 2011. This book also provides India’s freedom struggle, pain, humiliation, and glories of the world’s largest and least likely democracy.

6.Freedom at Midnight by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins

Freedom at midnight’ was written in 1975. This book provides an account of the last year of the Indian independent Movement British rule dwells upon the impact of the British decision to quit India on the princely states, so politics and bloodshed around partition from 1947 to 1948. It begins with the appointment of Lord Mountbatten as the last victory of British India to the death and funeral of Mahatma Gandhi. The book brings stories of many interesting stories. The authors present a detached and unbiased account.

7. India’s struggle for Independence by Bipin Chandra, Mridula Mukherjee, Aditya Mukherjee, Sucheta Mahajan, K.N. Panikkar

This book is given information on India’s struggle for independence for an in-depth and detailed overview of the Indian independence movement against the British in 1857 through the time which eventually lead to Indian independence in 1947 seen from an Indian point of view. This book provides a narration on the impact this movement had on people. This book provides independence movement and fights, irrespective of their size and impact. It also Indian the personalities and influence of leaders of the time and implicates a new and coherent view of India’s history of the period.

8.Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh

Train to Pakistan was written by Khushwant Singh. This book was published in 1956, recounts the partitions of India in August 1947 through the perspective of the fictive town of Mano Majra on the India-Pakistan border. It captured the essential human trauma and suffering in the face of such a terror and crisis. Singh provides how partition affected a small village where people from all religions. This book talks about an isolated village that is plunged into the abyss of religious hate. Train to Pakistan is also a story of a Sikh boy and Muslim girl whose love endured and transcends and revenge of war, which brings to the event a sense of reality, horror, and believability.

9.Remnants of a Separation by Anchal Malhotra

Anchal Malhotra was born into a family affected by the partition, published in 2017. It tells the stories from both sides of the border through stories and objects carried the cross border by migrants. This book brings a fresh dimension to the “history from beneath” approach to the partition and its legacy. Anchal has breathed new life into the history of partition with her unique storytelling format. It narrates their owner and their past as they emerge as testaments to the struggle, sacrifice, pain, and belonging at an unparalleled moment in history.

10.Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie was written a Midnight’s children novel and published it in 1981. This book was awarded the Booker McConnell Prize for fiction in 1981. In 1993 this was also chosen as the best Booker prize novel in 25 years. This book is a historical chronicle of modern India centering on the inextricably linked fates of two children who were born within the first hour of independence from Great Britain. The novel is divided into three books. The first book story begins with a Sinai family, leading up to India’s independence and partition. In this story, all children born in India between 12 am to 1 pm at midnight 15 August 1947 on that date are imbued with special telepathic power.

You must read this:

Leave a Comment