Encyclopaedia of Eminent Thinkers: The Political Thought of Veer Savarkar

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This volume provides new insights into the life and times of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, better known as Veer Savarkar. Giving a critical analysis of his interpretation of Indian history, it discusses at length his ideology of Hindutva and Hindu Rashtra, his concept of revolution, and his principle of relative non-violence. His role in the Hindu Mahasabha and his contribution towards India's national movement have also been evaluated.

Dr. Jai Narain Sharma (b. 1951) is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Gandhian Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh. He is also Hon. Director of Gandhi Bhawan; member of Board of Studies, Nagpur University, Nagpur and Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith, Varanasi; member of Research Degree Committee of the Department of Political Science, H.P. University, Shimla: General Secretary of Indian Soviety of Gandhian Studies; and member on the Presidium of the Alliance for Sarvodaya. He regularly writes for leading newspapers, and has published more than hundred research papers in professional journals of repute. Dr. Sharma has many books to his credit including "Gandhi's View of Political Power", "Economics of Defence: A Study of SAARC Countries", "Economic Thought of Mahatma Gandhi", "Human Resource Management", "Alternative Economics: Economics of Mahatma Gandhi and Globalisation", "Power, Politics and Corruption: A Gandhian Solution" and "Research Methodology: The Discipline and its Dimensions".

Politics without history is rootless, and history without politics is fruitless. History supplies raw material to political developments. It provides us not only the record of genesis, of growth and decay of political institutions, but also their positive and negative aspects. It is the record of their cause and effect relationship too. To comprehend history properly, we must have an ontological concept strictly based on logic, and substantiated by the real world in which we live, act and experience. We may profit thus, in shaping the destiny of our times, both individually as well as collectively.

One really does not know whether providence has bestowed a special boon on this country. The innate vitality of our age-old society is extremely powerful. There is not a single period in its whole history when some exceptionally great personality, or the other, was not born to give everlasting credit to this nation. Great men have been born here, who not only freed the country from the evil forces but also dazzled the world at large with their extraordinary calibre in achieving the impossible in most adverse circumstances.

Modern Indian Political tradition is a fascinating, but complex field of study. Modern India has not produced a Manu or Kautilya, but many of Her contemporary leaders were creative individuals of a high order whose utterances gave expression to many important ideas. These were of great significance both in theoretical and practical politics. The student of modern Indian political thought is, therefore faced with fact that although there are no systematically worked-out theories of importance in his field of study, he cannot ignore the ideological implications of the views held by many statesmen, Savarkar is one of them.

**Contents and Sample Pages**