The Manchester University Press The Birth of Indian Liberalism Hardcover

The first work of political theory published in modern India, Letters to an Indian Raja (1891) counseled Maharajas to foster liberal values and adopt constitutional government, as this would make Indians freer and happier than they were in British India and thus challenge the moral basis of colonial rule.

Letters to an Indian Raja was the first work of political theory to be published in modern India. Appearing in 1891, it urged Maharajas to introduce liberal values and constitutional government into the Native States. Such reforms, it argued, would make Indians freer and happier than they were under colonial rule, and thus allow Maharajas to truly challenge the British.

Written by Narayan Mahadev Parmanand, a reclusive yet highly influential intellectual, Letters to an Indian Raja overturns the long-held belief that Indian liberals merely borrowed their ideas from Britain and were eager to collaborate with the Raj. On the contrary, it shows that India’s pioneering liberals sought to make the Native States less vulnerable to both domineering Britons and despotic Maharajas.

This volume, edited and introduced by Rahul Sagar, presents a rediscovered and long-overlooked text that fundamentally reshapes our understanding of the origins of Indian liberalism. By shifting attention away from the grievances and compromises of liberals in British India, it illuminates what liberals imagined – and attempted to achieve – in Indian India.

‘Parmanand’s Letters, introduced with characteristic erudition by Rahul Sagar, open a fascinating new vista onto the vigour and creativity of modern Indian liberalism.’
– Cécile Laborde, University of Oxford

‘The Birth of Indian Liberalism is a remarkable achievement. It restores agency and cognitive autonomy to a group of thinkers and political actors who have been scorned or forgotten.’
– John Dunn, University of Cambridge

‘In restoring this forgotten argument, Sagar’s work transforms the categories of Indian political history.’
– Jon Wilson, Nanyang Technological University

The first work of political theory published in modern India, Letters to an Indian Raja (1891) counseled Maharajas to foster liberal values and adopt constitutional government. Such reform would, it argued, make Indians freer and happier than they were under colonial rule, and thus allow the Native States to genuinely challenge the British. Accompanied by an extensive introductory essay by Rahul Sagar, a leading scholar of nineteenth century India, this carefully restored edition challenges the notion that Indian liberals merely borrowed their ideas from Britain and were eager to collaborate with the British Raj. On the contrary, it shows that India’s pioneering liberals sought to make the Native States less vulnerable to both domineering Britons and despotic Maharajas.