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Vikram SampathVikram Sampath
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Savarkar: Echoes from a Forgotten Past, 1883–1924 Kindle Edition
by Vikram Sampath (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.8 out of 5 stars 2,143
As the intellectual fountainhead of the ideology of Hindutva, which is in political ascendancy in India today, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar is undoubtedly one of the most contentious political thinkers and leaders of the twentieth century. Accounts of his eventful and stormy life have oscillated from eulogizing hagiographies to disparaging demonization. The truth, as always, lies somewhere in between and has unfortunately never been brought to light. Savarkar and his ideology stood as one of the strongest and most virulent opponents of Gandhi, his pacifist philosophy and the Indian National Congress.
An alleged atheist and a staunch rationalist who opposed orthodox Hindu beliefs, encouraged inter-caste marriage and dining, and dismissed cow worship as mere superstition, Savarkar was, arguably, the most vocal political voice for the Hindu community through the entire course of India's freedom struggle. From the heady days of revolution and generating international support for the cause of India's freedom as a law student in London, Savarkar found himself arrested, unfairly tried for sedition, transported and incarcerated at the Cellular Jail, in the Andamans, for over a decade, where he underwent unimaginable torture.
From being an optimistic advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity in his treatise on the 1857 War of Independence, what was it that transformed him in the Cellular Jail to a proponent of 'Hindutva', which viewed Muslims with suspicion?
Drawing from a vast range of original archival documents across India and abroad, this biography in two parts-the first focusing on the years leading up to his incarceration and eventual release from the Kalapani-puts Savarkar, his life and philosophy in a new perspective and looks at the man with all his achievements and failings.
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Print length 632 pages
16 August 2019
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About the Author
Vikram Sampath, a Bangalore-based historian, is the author of three acclaimed books-Splendours of Royal Mysore: The Untold Story of the Wodeyars, My Name Is Gauhar Jaan: The Life and Times of a Musician and Voice of the Veena, S. Balachander: A Biography. Vikram was awarded the Sahitya Akademi's first Yuva Puraskar in English literature and the ARSC International Award for Excellence in Historical Research in New York for his book on Gauhar Jaan. The book has also been adapted as a play, Gauhar, by Lillete Dubey and is being adapted into a Hindi movie by Ashutosh Gowariker.
Vikram has a doctorate in history and music from the University of Queensland, Australia, and is currently a senior fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. An engineer/mathematician from BITS Pilani and an MBA in finance from S.P. Jain Institute of Management, Mumbai, he is also a trained Carnatic vocalist. He has established the Archive of Indian Music, India's first digital sound archive for vintage recordings, and is the founder-director of the Bangalore Literature Festival, Indic Thoughts Festival and the ZEE Group's ARTH: A Culture Fest.
Product details
ASIN : B07W4CQB8S
Publisher : Viking (16 August 2019)
Language : English
File size : 16072 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
Print length : 632 pagesBest Sellers Rank: 585,949 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)361 in Political Freedom (Kindle Store)
573 in Political Freedom (Books)
621 in Colonialism & Post-Colonialism (Books)Customer Reviews:
4.8 out of 5 stars 2,143
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Vikram Sampath
Aristotle's words - "The artistic representation of history is a more scientific and serious pursuit than the exact writing of history. For the art of letters goes to the heart of things, whereas the factual report merely collocates details" - form the guiding light for Vikram Sampath. Vikram's books belong to the narrative non-fiction category and deal with historical themes. But they have as their credo the above mentioned philosophy in documenting and presenting history. It is by going into "the heart of things" that one experiences history as something which happened to people like ourselves, and that, in turn, reveals the relevance of that history for us today.
The city of Bangalore where he was born is definitely the first love of Vikram Sampath! Vikram completed his schooling in Bangalore at the Sri Aurobindo Memorial School and Bishop Cotton Boys' School. He thereafter moved to the fascinating town of Pilani to obtain a Bachelors in Engineering in Electronics and a Masters in Mathematics from one of India's most reputed schools - BITS-Pilani. He then went on to obtain an MBA in Finance from S P Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai. Vikram has worked in many leading multinational firms like GE Money and Citibank and currently works as a Team Leader in a leading software company in Bangalore.
Vikram's first book, 'Splendours of Royal Mysore: the Untold Story of the Wodeyars' has been widely acclaimed across India. The book traces the 600 year long history of Mysore, its royal family and culture. It has been termed as one of the most definitive accounts on the Mysore royal family in recent times. The book was nominated for the Crossword Vodafone Award among the best non-fiction titles of 2008. Vikram was also awarded the prestigious 'Global 30 under 30 Award' by the BITS Alumni Association and BITS-Pilani for excellence in the field of literature.
Vikram is a man of varied interests. He publishes regularly in leading dailies and magazines including The Hindu, Deccan Herald and Bangalore Mirror. While at BITS-Pilani his paper on "Developing an efficient feedback mechanism for an effective instructional process" was selected as the only student paper for presentation at the First Symposium on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
Vikram has been awarded the prestigious visiting Fellowship for the year 2010-11 at the Institute for Advanced Study (Wissenschaftskolleg) in Berlin, Germany.
Vikram's other interests include music and he is a serious student of Carnatic classical music and has been training under various eminent practitioners of the art form. In his student days, he was actively involved in the activities of SPIC MACAY. Subjects related to history, art, music and culture are close to his heart.
Details about Vikram and his books are available on his website www.vikramsampath.com
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Top reviews from Australia
Ajay
5.0 out of 5 stars It's a privilege to read about the great manReviewed in Australia on 16 August 2023
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Thank you Vikram Sampath for writing this book.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars A life dedicated to the countryReviewed in Australia on 20 June 2022
This is what we can draw from the book
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Anurag
5.0 out of 5 stars Thank You Vikram Sampath!Reviewed in the United States on 24 March 2023
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Great book! Well written and researched! Thank you for opening eyes of sleeping Indians about our own history and real heroes of long and torturous independence movement! And also uncovering real colonial British stooges! We have attributing india’s independence to wrong person all this time!!!
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Dhruv patel
5.0 out of 5 stars Nice workReviewed in India on 28 March 2024
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Deep work. Deep research. Thank you to given history about VEER SAVARKAR.
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Jay
5.0 out of 5 stars Forgotten HistoryReviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 September 2022
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Detailed information, some of it difficult to relate it to as it’s from a bygone era. But still gives a different understanding to not so popular history…
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guido broich
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent historical factsReviewed in Italy on 30 October 2021
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Very interesting and full of documents and details.
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Neil
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book to learn about “one of the best” patriot of Indian Freedom StruggleReviewed in the United States on 20 February 2022
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Now we know:
1. Why British empire was not that adversary to Gandhi & his way of submissive appeal for freedom, but hell bent on suppressing Savarkar’s way of assertive freedom movement.
2. Why Gandhi mostly enjoyed all prison times but Savarkar’s times was full of pain & torture.
3. Why there is a strong colonial side effect in current India, after obtaining the civilization’s freedom as gift.
Book also clearly depicted Savarkar’s understanding of Hindu philosophy & concept of Hindutva as geographical identity.
History beautifully written in simple English in a flow that engages with reader & makes them eager to learn on what happened next.
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