Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel This biography of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is a comprehensive and vivid narration of his unique contribution to Mahatma Gandhi's struggle for India's freedom (1920-47). Without his support, Mahatma Gandhi admitted, his satyagrahas wouldn't have had the same success. It was he who built the party machine through the imposition of strict discipline and by giving it a mass base, and as party boss supervised and directed the functioning of the Congress ministries post-1937 provincial elections. Patel's post-1945 role concerned India's freedom, and also marked the end of his being Gandhi's blind follower. Disillusioned with his own party in the failure of the Cabinet mission parleys, he negotiated directly with Cripps and helped the Congress form the Interim government He wanted to keep Jinnah out in the cold and suffer in his isolation. The book discusses his failure, rather than of the party, with Wavell's maneuvering in getting the Muslim League into the Cabinet as an equal with the congress. With that Jinnah conducted his fight from within. Realizing that united India had become an impossibility and the country faced chaos and total disintegration, Patel rose above all considerations to save and consolidate what would be left of India after Partition. This he achieved through administrative unity by forming the IAS on an all-India basis, and the country's unity through the integration of the Princely States. This book returns to the earlier two decades to show the unity of Patel's thinking and actions. The history of the Gandhian era cannot be complete and properly understood unless Patel is read and appreciated for what he did and achieved for India. Contents • Preface • Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel: Early Life • Sardar Patel: Builder of a Steel Strong India • The Satyagraha: Bardoli and its People • Movement for Indian Independence • Iron Man of India as Seen by His Daughter • The Transfer of Power: Real or Formal? • Partition of India and the Creation of Pakistan • Making of the Constitution and Constituent Assembly in India. • Bibliography • Index

Swami Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda was born in Shimla Pally, Calcutta on 12 January 1863, during the Makara Sankranti festival in a traditional Kayastha family, and was given the name Narendranath Dutta. His father Vishwanath Dutta was an attorney of Calcutta High Court. He was considered generous and had a liberal and progressive outlook on social and religious matters. His mother Bhuvaneshwari Devi was pious and had practiced austerities and prayed to Vireshwar Shiva of Varanasi to give her a son. According to Vivekananda, the important teaching he received from Ramakrishna was that “Jiva is Shiva” (each individual is divinity itself). This became his Mantra, and he coined the concept of daridra narayana seva-the service of God in and through (poor) human beings. As the book addresses this crucial issue quite deftly, it is hoped that it would prove to be a source of great information for the reader. CONTENTS • Life Sketch of Swami Vivekananda • Birth and Early Years • Swami Vivekananda: Life and Teachings; Our Master and His Message • As Disciple of Ramakrishna; Bhakti Yoga • Training of the Disciple • A Wandering Monk • Swami and Parliament of Religions; Vivekananda in America • Vivekananda Experiences in the Western World • Sayings of Swami Vivekananda • Quotation of Swami Vivekananda • Last Days of Vivekananda