The period spanning the latter half of the eighteenth century and the nineteenth century in India was marked by a reawakened national spirit to reinterpret Indian traditional values in modern light. This book, comprising deliberations presented at a national seminar, discusses some of the illustrious persons of that period who by their ideas and actions enriched the socio-cultural and spiritual life of the period. Researchers study the period of Sri Aurobindo, his contributions as well as those of his contemporaries including Raja Rammohan Roy, Mahatma Gandhi, Tagore, Gokhale and Satish Chandra. The aim is to situate Sri Aurobindo's thoughts in its socio-cultural background and study the contributions of his contemporaries to bring out the distinctiveness of Sri Aurobindo. The essays deal with Sri Aurobindo's philosophy of nationalism, his view of Indian renaissance and Ireland's national and cultural renaissance and his attitude towards national education. They take up interpretations of violence and non-violence by Sri Aurobindo and Mahatma Gandhi, Vivekananda's outlook about morality, caste system and dharma, and response of Aurobindo, Tilak and Gokhale to Western imperialism. An interesting effort is made to compare the thoughts of Sri Aurobindo and Tagore towards the revolutionary movement and reveal Aurobindo's perception of Tagore's poetry. The book will be useful to historians, political and social thinkers, besides the general readers.

Contributed articles on the thoughts and views of Aurobindo Ghose, 1872-1950, thinker from India, and his contemporaries, on the struggle for independence, nationalism, and intellectual renaissance in 19th century India.