The Making of India

A broad survey of India's search for political identity in the context of a culture marked by strong conflicting socio-religious traditions. The book surveys the historical development of India from earliest times through British colonialism to the present.

Succinct, balanced discussions
-- compare Indian historical development with that of China;
-- view the development of Indian civilization and political culture in terms of the socio-religious conflicts and traditions of Hindus and Moslems;
-- include the politicization of religion and communalization of politics in the current era which pits Moslems against Hindus, challenging the unity and secular nature of the Indian state.

Ranbir Vohra was born in pre-partition Punjab and grew up in a political environment. His maternal grandfather was a well-known member of the Indian National Congress, who spent years in jail for his involvement in Mahatma Gandhi's pacifist freedom movement. One of his uncles was a socialist revolutionary hero who, at the age of twenty-four, was hanged by the British in the infamous Punjab Conspiracy Case in 1931. When India was partitioned in 1947, Mr. Vohra's family was forced to flee their home in Lahore and seek refuge in India. After graduating in 1946 from Government College in Lahore, Mr. Vohra joined the government-run All India Radio (AIR) as a program officer. In 1956, the Indian government sent him to study at Beijing University; on his return in 1959, he took charge of the Chinese Broadcasting Unit of AIR. During his eighteen years with AIR, Mr. Vohra was in a unique position to observe first-hand the reshaping of the Indian polity, and his stay in China helped to sharpen his understanding of the reasons why India's path to modernization would always be different from that of China. Mr. Vohra left AIR in 1964 to enter Harvard Graduate School, where he received his Ph.D. in East Asian Studies in 1969. From 1969 to 1997 Mr. Vohra taught a variety of courses dealing with this history and politics of China, Japan, and India at a number of institutions of higher learning in the United States, including Harvard University. He is currently Charles A. Dana Professor of Political Science (Emeritus) at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut