This book focuses on the rich cultural and spiritual heritage of Haryana, besides tracing its existence to prehistoric times and its role in the subsequent stages of the Siswal civilisation, Indus Valley Civilisation and the Vedic Civilisation of the Aryans that flourished around Haryana’s sacred Saraswati River. Haryana is projected as the place where the Mahabharata, several Puranas and the Smritis were composed, the battle of Kurukshetra was fought and the eternal message of the Geeta revealed. Some Haryana-centric events highlighted in the book are the three battles of Panipat and the 1857 struggle for India’s independence of which the first spark was ignited at Ambala in Haryana on the morning of May 6, 1857 several hours before the flare-up at Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. The original texts of the Vedas, the epics and the scriptures are liberally cited to bring out the religious significance of Haryana’s numerous pilgrimages. There is a learned piece on how Haryana’s Vedantic tradition was kept alive by Gaudapada of Kurukshetra and Totapuri, Baba of Ladhana. The book is interspersed with references to several political issues including some that grabbed public attention in 1989 -1990 such as how V.P. Singh became the Prime Minister Of India after Ch. Devi Lal abdicated in his favour even after being elected as the leader of the ruling front and how the latter ended up becoming the Deputy Prime Minister, thus paving the way for his son O.P. Chautala being sworn in by the author as the Chief Minister of Haryana.
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