The twenty stimulating and original essays in this volume provide a comprehensive analysis of the main strands of modern Indian political thought.

The thinkers dicussed are Rammohun Roy, Dayananda Saraswati, Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay, Ranade, Phule, Tilak, B R Ambedkar, Tagore, Sri Aurobindo, M N Roy, Jawaharlal Nehru and Gandhi. Separate essays are devoted to the Hindu and Muslim traditions in Indian political thought, Hindu nationalism, and the ideologies of the Communist and Sarvodaya movements. A significant feature of these essays is that they study each thinker or movement in the relevant socio-historical context as also examine the consequences and impact of modern Indian political theories, These are analysed from a world-hostorical and, to some extent, a political economy perspective.

The essays in this collection highlight two major streams in modern Indian political thought—one which favoured the adoption or adaptation of western political traditions and the other which sought to evolve indigenous or alternative formulations. The overall conclusion that emerges from this volume is that in order to formulate an adequate political philosophy for the modern age, both the western and Indian traditions have to be taken into account. In this context, some of the essays highlight the contemporary global relevance of Gandhi’s socio-political ideas.

This book is a major contribution to modern political philosophy. It will be of great value to students and teacher of political science.

Introduction: For the Study of Modern Indian Political Thought Bhikhu Parekh Some Reflections on the Hindu Tradition of Political Thought Thomas Pantham The Socio-Religious and Political Thought of Rammohun Roy B R Purohit The Social and Political Ideas of Swami Dayananda Saraswati Partha Chatterjee Culture and Power in the Thought of Bankimchandra Rajendra Vora Two Strands of Indian Liberalism: The Ideas of Ranade and Phule N R Inamdar The Political Ideas of Lokmanya Tilak Prabha Dixit The Ideology of Hindu Nationalism Moin Shakir Dynamics of Muslim Political Thought Eleanor Zelliot The Social and Political Thought of B R Ambedkar Radharaman Chakrabarti Tagore: Politics and Beyond Kenneth L Deutsch Sri Aurobindo and the Search for Political and Spiritual Perfection Sudipta Kaviraj The Heteronomous Radicalism of M N Roy Manoranjan Mohanty Ideology and Strategy of the Communist Movement in India R C Pillai The Political Thought of Jawaharlal Nehru Dennis Dalton The Ideology of Sarvodaya: Concepts of Politics and Power in Indian Political Thought Indira Rothermund Gandhi's Satyagraha and Hindu Thought Ronald J Terchek Gandhi and Democratic Theory Thomas Pantham Beyond Liberal Democracy: Thinking with Mahatma Gandhi Ashis Nandy Oppression and Human Liberation: Towards a Post-Gandhian Utopia