Nemesis or Genesis

Nagarkar’s book is yet another example of the heart-searching of the troubled generation that witness­ed Partition. His motives, as stated in the preface, are admirable—to cut through the syndrome of the search for the ‘Guilty’, to discard ‘simplistic’ and ‘inade­quate’ analysis, and seek an ‘objective’ answer. His reading is extensive and includes the latest seminar papers on communalism, the voluminous papers entitl­ed The Transfer of Power, and Wavell’s The Viceroy’s Journal. His book is lengthy, and covers a very wide area, stretching from references to the Wahabis, the Arya Samaj, and early Indian nationalism, right upto 1947.