Author Description

In this volume of essays Ashis Nandy discusses several major issues and personalities of modern India - Rammohun Roy and sati, the social and cultural forces represented by Gandhi and his assassins; concepts of woman and womanhood; and Indira Gandhi and the culture of Indian politics. The author argues that reform movements and the role played by many of these personalities was the outcome, not only of social and economic pressures, but of the individual's own psychological make-up, desires, and insecurities.