Nationalist movement

IN AN EARLIER ANALYSIS of the Indian political tradi-
tion published under the title The White Umbrella
-Indian Political Thought from Manu to Gandhi,
I dealt in large part with the carly periods and philo-
sophic roots of India. This sequel is concerned with
recent and contemporary events. But the two differ
in more than chronology, though there is some over-
lapping in the periods covered. More important, The
White Umbrella was an interpretation of Hindu
theory as it developed in Indian history, whereas The
Nationalist Movement is an account of how that
theory helped to meet the crises of modern India
crises that were precipitated by the inroads of Western
culture and by the struggle for independence.
While I have again chosen to build around a frame-
work of the life and thought of leading Indian per-
sonalities, there is this difference: Manu, Vyasa,
Vivekananda, Ghose were primarily theorists; Gok-
hale, Tilak, Lajpat Rai, Nehru are primarily states-
men or men of political action, although their writ-
ings are often profound. The decision to include
certain figures and to omit others is always a matter
for debate; this is especially true in choosing repre-
sentative men from the latter group. Nonetheless, I
am confident that the figures selected for treatment
in this book are indeed central to the Nationalist
movement in India and embody its chief aspects.