Madras Presidency in Pre-Gandhian Era: A Historical Perspective 1884-1915

This book, bearing the stamp of a seasoned researcher, provides a fascinating, hitherto unattempted, account of a momentous period, an epochless epoch, in the history of Madras Presidency. A dispassionate review of the colonial administration of the presidency during the thirty one years (1884-1915) which witnessed the reigns of eight Governors, it mentions their strengths and weaknesses, describes them warts and all, never failing to give the devils their due. Using archival materials including the private papers of Governor Ampthill and the personal collections of Viceroys and of Secretaries of State for India, the author draws her logical conclusions about the rulers and the ruled, about the power-hungry and the rebellious and presents them in a lucid, persuasive style. Three chapters of the book deal with the six sessions of the Indian National Congress held at Madras in 1887, 1894, 1898, 1903, 1908 and 1914 not only to highlight the contribution of the southern presidency to the national movement but to assess the impact of the great party on the elite and the public. Finally, the book becomes an eloquent plea for greater recognition of the role played by the leaders and people of the erstwhile Madras Presidency in the Indian struggle for independence, as the subject has not received adequate justice in the hands of earlier historians. Ideal for researchers, Dr. Saroja Sundararajan’s Madras Presidency in Pre-Gandhian Era–A Historical Perspective, 1884-1915, can be read with profit and interest by common readers as well as all students of history.