Bhagat Singh's 'Jail Note Book', Its Context and Relevance

by Bhagat Singh, Malwinderjit Singh Waraich (Series Editor), Harish Jain (Editing and Introduction)

Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s ‘Jail Note Book’ opens a window into his exploration of ideas of distinguished thinkers and philosophers. Well-known among his comrades as an avid and voracious reader, Bhagat Singh managed to procure during his imprisonment in jail a large number of selected books by prominent authors of his choice. The excerpts, notes and quotes from those books which he wrote down in his jail notebook reflected not only the seriousness with which he studied the books but also his intellectual sophistication and social and political concerns. However, the perfunctory reference to the sources or books from which these notes and quotes were taken left a rather perplexing question mark with regard to the authentic source i.e. from exactly which editions of which books by which particular authors were these taken. As a result, fantastic claims and wild speculations came to be made by admiring scholars as to the number of books and the kind of original works of great thinkers that Bhagat Singh was able to study in the jail.
As a sequel to that the present work Bhagat Singh’s ‘Jail Note Book’, Its Context and Relevance by Harish Jain represents an exceptionally tenacious and laborious search and research into the specific and authentic sources of the particular notes and quotes entered in the Jail Notebook. The story of the author’s exploration for over a decade, searching and identifying books by following astute guesses and hunches, and rummaging through many likely or probable books accessible at that time, many of which were not easily available now, makes a fascinating reading. Contextualising the importance and reach of the ideas of the various authors in those times helps one to understand why they might have appeared significant to Bhagat Singh. Besides discussing the ideas central to the books he read attempt has been made here to explain the import of the quotes he chose to copy. A unique work of its kind, this study is both enriching and a pleasure to read.

Hardcover

Published March 22, 2016

About the author

Bhagat Singh was an Indian socialist considered to be one of the most influential revolutionaries of the Indian independence movement. He is often referred to as "Shaheed Bhagat Singh", the word "Shaheed" meaning "martyr" in a number of South Asian and Middle Eastern languages. Born into a Sikh family which had earlier been involved in revolutionary activities against the British Raj, as a teenager Singh studied European revolutionary movements and was attracted to anarchist and Marxist ideologies. He became involved in numerous revolutionary organisations, and quickly rose through the ranks of the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) to become one of its main leaders, eventually changing its name to the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) in 1928.