Jawaharlal Nehru was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a principal leader of the Indian nationalist movement in the 1930s and 1940s. Upon India's independence in 1947, he served as the country's first prime minister for 16 years. Nehru promoted parliamentary democracy, secularism, and science and technology during the 1950s, powerfully influencing India's arc as a modern nation. In international affairs, he steered India clear of the two blocs of the Cold War. A well-regarded author, the books he wrote in prison, such as Letters from a Father to His Daughter (1929), An Autobiography (1936) and The Discovery of India (1946), have been read around the world.
Glimpses of World History is a book published by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1934. The book is subtitled Being further letters to his daughter, written in prison, and containing a rambling account of history for young people.
Mulk Raj Anand was an Indian writer in English, recognised for his depiction of the lives of the poorer class in the traditional Indian society. One of the pioneers of Indo-Anglian fiction, he, together with R. K. Narayan, Ahmad Ali and Raja Rao, was one of the first India-based writers in English to gain an International readership. Anand is admired for his novels and short stories, which have acquired the status of classics of modern Indian English literature; they are noted for their perceptive insight into the lives of the oppressed and for their analysis of impoverishment, exploitation and misfortune. He became known for his protest novel Untouchable (1935), which was followed by other works on the Indian poor such as Coolie (1936) and Two Leaves and a Bud (1937). He is also noted for being among the first writers to incorporate Punjabi and Hindustani idioms into English, and was a recipient of the civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India.
The Discovery of India was written by the Indian freedom fighter Jawaharlal Nehru during his incarceration in 1942–1945 at Ahmednagar Fort in present-day Indian state of Maharashtra by British colonial authorities before the independence of India. The book was written in 1944 but published in 1946.
The non-cooperation movement was a political campaign launched on 4 September 1920 by Mahatma Gandhi to have Indians revoke their cooperation from the British government, with the aim of persuading them to grant self-governance.
Motilal Nehru was an Indian lawyer, activist, and politician affiliated with the Indian National Congress. He served as the Congress President twice, from 1919 to 1920 and from 1928 to 1929. He was a patriarch of the Nehru-Gandhi family and the father of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister.
Ram Chandra Kak was the prime minister of Jammu and Kashmir during 1945–1947. One of the very few Kashmiri Pandits to ever hold that post, Kak had the intractable job of navigating the troubled waters of the transfer of power from British Raj to the independent dominions of India and Pakistan.
Braj Kumar Nehru MBE, ICS was an Indian diplomat and Ambassador of India to the United States (1961–1968).
Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was an Indian politician who played a central role in the politics of Jammu and Kashmir. Abdullah was the founding leader of the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference and the 1st elected Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir after its accession to India. He agitated against the rule of the Maharaja Hari Singh and urged self-rule for Kashmir. He is also known as Sher-e-Kashmir.
Kamala Nehru was an Indian independence activist and the wife of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India. Their daughter Indira Gandhi would go on to become the first and to date, the only female Prime Minister of India.
Graham Greene (1904–1991) was an English novelist regarded by many as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a reputation early in his lifetime as a major writer, both of serious Catholic novels, and of thrillers. He was shortlisted, in 1966 and 1967, for the Nobel Prize for Literature. He produced 26 novels, as well as several plays, autobiographies, and short stories.
Letters from a Father to His Daughter is a collection of letters written by Jawaharlal Nehru to his daughter Indira Nehru, originally published in 1929 by Allahabad Law Journal Press at Nehru's request and consisting of only the 30 letters sent in the summer of 1928 when Indira was 10 years old. He arranged a second edition in 1931 and subsequently, further reprints and editions have been published.
The Nehru–Gandhi family is an Indian political family that has occupied a prominent place in the politics of India. The involvement of the family has traditionally revolved around the Indian National Congress, as various members have traditionally led the party. Three members of the family—Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi—have served as the prime minister of India, while several others have been members of parliament (MP).
Mukund Ramrao Jayakar was an Indian Lawyer, scholar and politician. He was the first Vice-Chancellor of the University of Poona. He was also a prominent freedom fighter.
Krishna Prasad Dar (1893-1977) was an Indian printer, publisher and writer, known for his book, Kashmiri Cooking, a book detailing Kashmiri cuisine. Born in Kolkata, in the Indian state of West Bengal on 30 January 1893 to Har Prasad Dar and Pranpati as one of their five children, he completed his college studies at the St. Xavier's College, Calcutta. Later, he set up a printing press, Allahabad Law Journal Press, which grew to become one of the leading printers and publishers of the region. It was at this press that some of the books of Jawaharlal Nehru such as Letters from a Father to His Daughter and Glimpses of World History were published.
Swarup Rani Nehru was an Indian independence activist. She was the wife of barrister and Indian National Congress leader Motilal Nehru and the mother of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
Before Freedom: Nehru's Letters to His Sister 1909–1947 is a collection of letters written by Jawaharlal Nehru between 1909 and 1947, to his sister Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, affectionately referred to as Nan. The collection was edited and compiled by his niece, Nayantara Sahgal, and was first published in 2000 by HarperCollins. A later edition with an additional letter by Nehru to his sister following the death of her husband Ranjit Sitaram Pandit, was published in 2004 by Roli Books.
Ranjit Sitaram Pandit was an Indian barrister, politician, author and scholar from Rajkot in the Kathiawar region of India. He is known for his role in the Indian non-cooperation movement, and for translating the Sanskrit texts Mudrarakshasa, Ṛtusaṃhāra and Kalhana's Rajatarangini into English.
Shobha Nehru, commonly known as Fori Nehru and Auntie Fori, was a Hungarian-born Indian social worker and the wife of the Indian civil servant Braj Kumar Nehru of the Nehru family.
Raj Kaul, according to the Nehru family tradition, was an Indian Sanskrit and Persian scholar from Kashmir, who had been recruited in 1716 by the then Mughul Emperor, Farrukhsiyar, to move to Old Delhi, where he settled near a canal and came to be known with a hyphenated Kaul-Nehru, with Nehru evolving from the word nehar, meaning canal. He was later noted as the earliest known member of the Nehru-Gandhi family. As a result, several Nehru member biographies generally begin with Kaul's story.
