Savarkar: A Contested Legacy 1924-1966

Jul 17, 2026

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Savarkar: A Contested Legacy 1924-1966 is a concluding volume biography chronicling Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’s life from 1924 to 1966. Covering themes such as political activism, caste and communal dynamics, organizational years, tumultuous events, legal trials, and a disputed historical legacy, it reconstructs events through Savarkar’s perspectives alongside contemporary accounts. Includes supporting illustrations, notes, and bibliography.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages733

Reading Time30 h 47 min

AccessFree to download

VIKRAM SAMPATH Savarkar A Contested Legacy 1924-1966 PENGUIN BOOKS Contents Prologue 1. Rising from the Ashes 2. Caste in Stone 3. Communal Cauldron 4. Making the Deaf Hear 5. The Hindu Mahasabha Years 6. Tumultuous Times 7. Leaning on a Broken Reed 8. Hurtling towards Disasters 9. Murder, Mayhem, Madness 10. The Red Fort Trial 11. Twilight Tales 12. Contentious Legacy Illustrations Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Notes Bibliography Acknowledgements Follow Penguin Copyright Advance Praise for the Book ‘In the concluding volume of his path-breaking biography, Vikram Sampath shows us the world-shaping events culminating in the independence and partition of India through Savarkar ’s eyes. The perspective is both novel and sobering, and the picture he presents of Savarkar picking his way through the debris of history a vivid and compelling one’—Faisal Devji, professor of Indian history, University of Oxford ‘The mere mention of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar raises blood pressures, even today. To be better informed about the man, his times and his legacy, there is only one biographer one can think of. That happens to be Vikram Sampath. The quality of writing and research in the first volume made every reader wait expectantly for the second. As careful and meticulous as in the first, Vikram doesn’t disappoint with this concluding volume’—Bibek Debroy, eminent economist, scholar and translator ‘Vikram Sampath’s Savarkar is a major achievement. Rooted in wideranging research, but also very easy to read, it brings to life the world and the ideas of a revolutionary Hindu who did much to shape modern India’—Francis Robinson, professor of the history of South Asia, Royal Holloway, University of London ‘Vikram Sampath has now completed his monumental biography of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. His mastery over the sources, his painstaking effort to bring balance to the narrative and the extent of his coverage of the praise and the criticism of Savarkar by other people make this one of the best biographies of any of the political giants of the first generation of freedom fighters. Given that Savarkar has been excommunicated from India’s history for his alleged involvement in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, I particularly commend his chapter on the Gandhi assassination story. Of the many accounts I have read over the years, this is the most thorough. Whatever your political views, read this book as a fine piece of historical writing’—Meghnad Desai, eminent author and columnist, professor emeritus at the London School of Economics ‘Savarkar is an extremely controversial figure whose legacy is considered troubled by many but inspiring by many others. This makes him an appropriate subject for deeper study. Vikram Sampath has already written one highly readable book on him and this is his second volume. By examining Savarkar ’s own writings and actions as well as those of his contemporaries and by admirable archival rese

Jul 17, 2026

Upload by Ezra