Autobiography

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The memoirs of India’s first President

Dr Rajendra Prasad wrote the greater part of Autobiography while he was in prison between 1942 and 1945. First published in Hindi, it takes us through his childhood, his life in his village Chapra, his early education with his teacher ‘Maulvi Saheb’, his years as a student in Calcutta, his marriage at the age of twelve and his legal practice. It discusses not only his personal tribulations, but is also an examination of the last years of British colonial rule in India. As a freedom fighter and close associate of Gandhi, Rajendra Prasad was privy to political developments in the decades before Independence. He records Gandhi’s influence on him, the call for non-co-operation in Bihar as part of Gandhiji’s larger all-India movement, the boycott of foreign cloth, the shadow of communalism and the Hindu–Muslim question, Satyagraha and social reform.

This book is testimony to Rajendra Prasad’s deep humanity, his unswerving nationalism and belief in democracy. It is also an exploration of the foundations of modern India.