IndiStories presents a piece written by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, and the most loved Indian political leader. Because of his education at Harrow School, Trinity College, Cambridge, and the one who was trained in law at the Inner Temple, he acquired deep thinking skills that he used to probe India’s history and culture. Who doesn’t remember his Tryst With Destiny speech that he delivered as the clock struck midnight to usher India into an era of freedom? Nehru called himself an agnostic and a scientific humanist. IndiStories is a podcast for short fiction, while what we are presenting here may be called an essay or a page from a book on philosophy and culture. That may be true. But it is also true that the journey of Hinduism during the ages is also a story. It is not a piece of fiction, but a fascinating story nevertheless. It is a story that is highly relevant to the times we live in. The word Hinduism is being redefined and new meanings are being assigned to it. In this context, it is important for us to know what Pandit Nehru with his critical scientific inquiring mind thought about Hinduism. This story is excerpted from Nehru’s book The Discovery of India which he wrote in Ahmadnagar Fort Prison for a period of five months, April through September 1944.
