 | |
| Author | Nirad C. Chaudhuri |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | comparative - historical, cultural and sociological analysis of India and Britain |
| Genre | autobiographical, non fiction |
Publication date | 1987 |
| Publication place | England, India |
Published in English | 1987 |
| Media type | book |
| Preceded by | Hinduism: A Religion to Live by (1979) |
| Followed by | Three Horsemen of the New Apocalypse (1997) |
Thy Hand, Great Anarch! is a 1987 autobiographical sequel to Indian essayist Nirad C. Chaudhuri's The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian . Its title was inspired from the concluding couplet of Alexander Pope's The Dunciad which runs thus: [1]
Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall;
And universal Darkness buries All.
Written when Chaudhuri was in his 80s, this book provides a perspective to the Indian political scene from the 1920s to India's independence. The book covers the writer's working life in India, first as a clerk in the Military Accounts Department, then as an editor, writer and publicist. While as a clerk, he came across Arnold's Scholar Gypsy which inspired him to leave his secure government job and become a writer, which he thought was his calling. Although always a severe critic of Mahatma Gandhi, Chaudhuri shows a remarkable respect for the Mahatma when the latter led the masses in the Civil Disobedience Movement.[ citation needed ]
