Title: 565: The Dramatic Story of Unifying India
Author: Mallika Ravikumar
Illustrator: Ishan Trivedi
Publisher: Hachette India
Type: Paperback
Length: 528 pages
Age Group: 15/16 years+ (YA and grown ups)
This book was reviewed by my husband Manu Gaurang. I’m posting this review on his behalf.
Growing up in independent India, we have the much-loved diamond shaped map of our country imprinted in our minds. But has it ever crossed your mind that the map of India could have been very different, with maybe even independent countries within it, had it not been for the non-stop, tiring efforts of a few individuals?
The book, ‘565 – The dramatic story of Unifying India’, provides a deep understanding of the massive task of deciding the fate of 565 princely states within the short time span of 50 days, during June – August 1947, in the run up to independence. Pandit Nehru, Sardar Patel and V.P. Menon travelled the length and breadth of undivided India meeting the sceptical princes and understanding their unique issues, which are discussed in depth in the book. The author has painstakingly researched the topic, providing an extremely strong bibliography that ranges from popular books on independence such a “Freedom at Midnight” and “India after Gandhi”, to several lesser-known ones on specific princely states.
However, the main attraction of the book is how lucidly it is written, like a screen play. You can almost feel the drama unfolding, as the author narrates the stories of princely states, and how they negotiated tooth and nail before choosing to join India, Pakistan or remain independent.
The book has 13 chapters, and the readers find themselves spellbound when they move from Travancore in South India to Bhopal and Gwalior in Central India, from Bikaner and Jodhpur in the West to Tripura in East. The making of modern-day Punjab and Gujarat in India can be well understood by the role of the princes of Baroda and Patiala. While Jinnah was busy promising the sun and the moon to interested princes to join Pakistan, they decided against the lure due to communal violence at Rawalpindi and at other places. The chapters on Jammu & Kashmir and Hyderabad are kept at the end of the book. They bring out the facts which include the backdrop of violent bloodshed among the subjects of the states. The lesser-known facets of how the negotiations panned out are nicely captured, viz. Pt. Ramchandra Kak, the diwan of Kashmir, and his meetings with Gandhiji are an eye opener and beautifully captured.
The writer is honest and at the end of every chapter has a section on “Did It Really Happen This Way?” Here the creative writing liberties are disclosed, and it is here that the depth of research leaves you in awe of the author. The illustrations all along the book are delightful and bring the book to life.
A few key highlights and takeaways for me from the book are:
- The British, despite having ruled over the country for a long time, were extremely ignorant of the subtleties of religious and cultural norms of the citizens of the princely states, and they had no regard for it either. The author has done a brilliant job of highlighting this with the princely state of Patiala, where Britishers very nonchalantly suggest they should join Pakistan, assuring them of Jinnah being secular. Given the history of the Sikhs, this suggestion was bound to fail.
- All means were used to convince the princely states to accede to India including intense negotiations and later on, even violence. The negotiations in the case of the Kingdom of Bikaner are specially interesting, as they stated that they would join Pakistan if Ferozepur, which is in Punjab, is awarded to them. You need to read the book to understand why Ferozepur was so important to them, and how they got the Boundary Commission to include it in India.
- A lot of the current issues in our country can be understood in the backdrop of this dramatic unification story. For example, the demand for Sikhistan that cropped up from Punjab at the time, and their dissatisfaction with their province being partitioned, still leads to unrest in the region.
This book should be on the non-fiction reading list for all lovers of modern Indian history. With its engaging storyline, it forms a great read that is informative and helps form a deep understanding of the herculean task of bringing together the geo-political Bharat of today.
If you are a history enthusiast and enjoyed reading this review, you might want to order the book from Amazon (kbc affiliate link),
CLICK & BUY NOW!Disclaimer: Amardeep and her family are a part of the #kbcReviewerSquad and received this book as a review copy from the publisher via kbc.
