From the twilight years

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF C. SANKARAN NAIR: M. P. Sreekumaran Nair - Editor; Chettur Sankaran Nair Foundation, Ottappalam, Kerala.

Rs. 600 (deluxe), Rs. 530 (Paperback).

ONE OF the illustrious personalities of his time, Sir C. Sankaran Nair (1857-1934) played his part in the national life in different capacities. He presided over the 13th session of the Indian National Congress in 1897, was appointed a permanent judge of the Madras High Court in 1907, and became a member of the Viceroy's Executive Council in 1915. He quit the government in protest against the martial law atrocities in the Punjab. Later he served in the State Council as a member of the British Secretary. He returned home as Gandhiji was establishing himself as the country's tallest leader through unconventional campaigns. A firm believer in constitutional means, he did not approve of the Mahatma's means. His book Gandhi and Anarchy annoyed the nationalists and provoked the Punjab Governor Sir Michael O'Dwyer to sue him for libel.

This autobiography, which he wrote in the loneliness of his twilight years to vindicate himself, was first published more than three decades after his death in 1934. More than three decades later the second edition has appeared. Gandhiji occupies such an exalted position that a critical study of his life and times is still not possible. Ironically, while resurgent Dalits have rejected him and adopted Babasaheb Ambedkar as the father figure, the Mahatma has found new devotees, especially in the ranks of the Hindutva forces that had opposed him in his lifetime and were instrumental in his assassination. Sankaran Nair's writings, like Ambedkar's, will be of immense value to students of history if and when they cease to be overawed by the image of the Father of the Nation.

B.R.P. BHASKAR

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