Jawaharlal Nehru was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, author and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was second only to Mahatma Gandhi in leading the Indian nationalist movement in the 1930s and 1940s. Upon India's independence from Britain in 1947, he served as the country's first prime minister for 16 years. Nehru championed parliamentary democracy, secularism, science and technology during the 1950s, influencing India's arc as a modern nation. In international affairs, he is well-known as one of the Founders of the Non-aligned Movement and, concomitantly, for steering India clear of the two blocs of the Cold War. A coveted 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 and deliberated upon around the world.
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party or simply the Congress, is a political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Empire in Asia and Africa. From the late 19th century, and especially after 1920, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, the Congress became the principal leader of the Indian independence movement. The Congress led India to independence from the United Kingdom, and significantly influenced other anti-colonial nationalist movements in the British Empire.
Feroze Jehangir Gandhi was an Indian freedom fighter, politician and journalist. He served as a member of the provincial parliament between 1950 and 1952, and later a member of the Lok Sabha, the Lower house of Indian parliament. He published The National Herald and The Navjivan newspapers. His wife, Indira Gandhi, and their elder son Rajiv Gandhi were both prime ministers of India. He was a member of Indian National Congress.
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.
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.
Krishna Nehru Hutheesing was an Indian writer, the youngest sister of Jawaharlal Nehru and Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, and part of the Nehru-Gandhi family.
Nayantara Sahgal is an Indian writer who writes in English. She is a member of the Nehru–Gandhi family, the second of the three daughters born to Jawaharlal Nehru's sister, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit.
Rameshwari Nehru was a social worker of India. She worked for the upliftment of the poorer classes and of women. In 1902, she married Brijlal Nehru, a nephew of Motilal Nehru and cousin of the first prime minister of independent India, Jawaharlal Nehru. Her son Braj Kumar Nehru was an Indian civil servant who served as governor of several states.
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.
Swaraj Bhavan is a large mansion located in Prayagraj, India, best known for once being owned by the Indian political leader Motilal Nehru and being home to the Nehru family until 1930.
An Autobiography, also known as Toward Freedom (1936), is an autobiographical book written by Jawaharlal Nehru while he was in prison between June 1934 and February 1935, and before he became the first Prime Minister of India.
Padmaja Naidu was an Indian freedom fighter and politician who was the 4th Governor of West Bengal from 3 November 1956 to 1 June 1967. She was the daughter of Sarojini Naidu.
Pupul Jayakar was an Indian cultural activist and writer, best known for her work on the revival of traditional and village arts, handlooms, and handicrafts in post-independence India. According to The New York Times, she was known as "India's 'czarina of culture'", and founded arts festivals that promoted Indian arts in France, Japan, and the United States. She was a friend and biographer to both the Nehru-Gandhi family and J Krishnamurti. Jayakar had a close relationship with three prime ministers: Jawaharlal Nehru, his daughter Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi, and she was a close friend of Indira Gandhi. She served as cultural adviser to the latter two, confirming her preeminence in cultural matters.
India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy is a non-fiction book by Indian historian Ramachandra Guha. First published by HarperCollins in August 2007.
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).
Vijay Singh Pathik, popularly known as Rashtriya Pathik, was an Indian revolutionary. He was among the first Indian revolutionaries who lit the torch of freedom movement against British rule. Much before Mohandas K. Gandhi initiated the Satyagrah movement, Pathik experimented during the Bijolia’s Kisan agitation. After being implicated in the Lahore conspiracy case in 1915, he changed his name to Vijay Singh Pathik. His grandfather's sacrifice in the struggle of 1857 in Bulandshahr district, affected him deeply to be freedom fighter.
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 British 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.
