भारतीय इतिहासातील सहा सोनेरी पाने

by V.D. Savarkar

Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History is a learning experience which covers the period of Muslim invasions in India and brave retaliation by the natives. No less was the struggle of Indian manes against British rule and for freedom and liberation of the mother country. The author’s tribute to the martyrs and his letters to dear ones from Andamans, miscellaneous statements and writings are also included in this book. The first four epochs are covered in only hundred plus pages while the last two epochs span almost four hundred plus pages, signifying the importance that the author gave to this period.

So far we have been given the picture of British rule, the history and politics in India by foreign and leftist writers, but in this book Veer Savarkar makes us look at the country’s history and politics from the Bharatiya perspective. Not only does he analyse the mistakes committed by Hindus since the time of Alexander’s invasion till the British rule, he tries to enlighten our minds with the prevalent situation in his time. All that he himself learnt from history, he tries to correct through this book of his.

Genres: History, Marathi, India, Historical, Indian Literature, Nonfiction

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

He was the proponent of liberty as the ultimate ideal. Savarkar was a poet, writer and playwright. He launched a movement for religious reform advocating dismantling the system of caste in Hindu culture, and reconversion of the converted Hindus back to Hindu religion. Savarkar created the term Hindutva, and emphasized its distinctiveness from Hinduism which he associated with social and political disunity. Savarkar’s Hindutva sought to create an inclusive collective identity. The five elements of Savarkar's philosophy were Utilitarianism, Rationalism and Positivism, Humanism and Universalism, Pragmatism and Realism.

Savarkar's revolutionary activities began when studying in India and England, where he was associated with the India House and founded student societies including Abhinav Bharat Society and the Free India Society, as well as publications espousing the cause of complete Indian independence by revolutionary means. Savarkar published The Indian War of Independence about the Indian rebellion of 1857 that was banned by British authorities. He was arrested in 1910 for his connections with the revolutionary group India House.

Following a failed attempt to escape while being transported from Marseilles, Savarkar was sentenced to two life terms amounting to 50 years' imprisonment and moved to the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

While in jail, Savarkar wrote the work describing Hindutva, openly espousing Hindu nationalism. He was released in 1921 under restrictions after signing a plea for clemency in which he renounced revolutionary activities. Travelling widely, Savarkar became a forceful orator and writer, advocating Hindu political and social unity. Serving as the president of the Hindu Mahasabha, Savarkar endorsed the ideal of India as a Hindu Rashtra and opposed the Quit India struggle in 1942, calling it a "Quit India but keep your army" movement. He became a fierce critic of the Indian National Congress and its acceptance of India's partition, and was one of those accused in the assassination of Indian leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. He was acquitted as the charges could not be proven.
The airport at Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar's capital, has been named Veer Savarkar International Airport.The commemorative blue plaque on India House fixed by the Historic Building and Monuments Commission for England reads "Vinayak Damodar Savarkar 1883-1966 Indian patriot and philosopher lived here".

Reviews

[Nandakishore Mridula · Rating 1 out of 5]

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar is the philosophical fountainhead of Hindu ‘nationalism’ (I would call it fundamentalism or even fascism) and his works are supposed to be founts of wisdom, at least for the right-wingers: even among the general Indian populace, he has the sheen of a freedom fighter who has been unfairly blacked out for his ‘politically incorrect’ views. So even though I stand diametrically opposite to his philosophy, I decided that I had to read him, because criticism without knowledge is the failing of many an intelligent person.

I accordingly read his seminal ‘Hindutva’ – the guiding philosophy of the Hindu Right – and my impressions are already provided in my review, available on these fora. This is my second attempt, and it has prompted me to say “NEVER AGAIN!”

In the beginning itself, Savarkar says that this is not a book of Indian history but a critique of it, based on his own viewpoints on certain parts of it. I would say it is not a critique, but the selective distortion of history to promote one’s own agenda.

The six glorious epochs, according to the author are:

1. The reign of Chandragupta Maurya, ably assisted by Chanakya (and the Maurya dynasty in general up to Asoka, who is excluded for reasons we shall come to later);
2. The reign of Pushyamitra Sunga;
3. The reign of Chandra Gupta Vikramaditya;
4. The reign of Yahodharma who fought against the Huns;
5. The age of the magnificent Marathas (who else?) who rid India of Muslim domination; and
6. The freedom struggle (only those who fought against the British using violent means, mind)

The moment one gets into the book, one understands the author’s intent: to extol the valour of the ‘Hindu’ nation and denigrate everyone else. For this he uses clever twisting of words (for example, Alexander letting Porus go is not magnanimity, but cunningness; while Porus accepting the terms of surrender is clever strategy of biding his time), half-truths (Pushyamitra Sunga killing Brihadratha Maurya in a coup is described as a sort of revolution desired by the population in general) and outright lies (Buddhists being traitors and promoting casteism). Thus this so-called ‘historical’ book is utter drivel: however, it would have remained harmless drivel had it only been an attempt to create a historical fantasy. But Savarkar’s real agenda, which shines through in the chapters on the fifth glorious epoch (the longest in the book) makes it extremely toxic drivel.

For the agenda of the author is to enhance the otherness of all religions other than Hinduism, and to positively demonise Islam and Christianity – and to advocate the annihilation of Muslims and the rape of Muslim women.

I will let Savarkar’s words speak for him:

An effective way of liquidating the Muslim religious authority could easily have been availed of by the Hindus of those times, if they had but done what the Muslims had been doing in their hundreds of offensives against Hindu states. The Muslims went on slaughtering wholesale the Hindu population. Similarly whenever the Hindus gained an upper hand, they could have retaliated by massacring Muslim population and making the region Muslim-less ! Devoid of Muslims ! Even their ban on re-purification would not have prevented them from doing this. For in doing this there was no question involved of eating or drinking or of having any dealings with the Muslims! But—! But if not the ban on re-purification, the suicidal Hindu creed of religious tolerance was certainly a major obstacle! From the very ancient times, the Hindus had been boasting of their high ideals of religious tolerance, of the equal status they conceded to all the religions of the world, of preaching the sameness of Ram and Rahim, of allowing everyone to follow his own faith! This they considered to be the height of their religion!

Instead of massacring en masse the hundreds of thousands of Muslims, who from time to time fell in their hands completely vanquished and utterly helpless, in order to avenge the untold wrongs and humiliation heaped by them on Hindus, the Hindus in their turn refrained themselves from doing the Muslims even the slightest harm because they were in minority, and belonged to another religion. On the contrary, the Muslins were allowed to enhance the glory and scope of their own religion without the least possible hindrance. Not only like the Hindu citizens, but even more leniently and with more facilities were the Muslims allowed, by Hindu states of those days, to enjoy the legal rights—a fact which is borne out by pages after pages of Indian history.

Is it necessary to add that these 'cow-faced' followers of Hinduism, proud of their utmost tolerance of other religions were not (in the least) likely to hit back the tiger-faced Muslims on religious grounds?

Religious tolerance! A virtue! Yes, It can be a virtue only where the other religion is tolerant of our own! But to tolerate the Muslim religion, the followers of which right from the Sultans like Mahmud of Ghazni and Ghori and others to the various Shahs and Badshahs thought it their religious obligation to massacre the Kafiir Hindus to celebrate their accession to the throne and had been carrying on horrible religious persecution of the Hindus for nearly a thousand years, was tantamount to cut the throat of one's own religion! It was not tolerance towards other religions, it was tolerance of irreligion! It was not even tolerance, it was impotence! But this truth never dawned upon the Hindu society of those days even after the horrible experience of a thousand years or so. They on their own part went on tolerating even such a hideous religion as the Islam and considered it a glorious virtue of their own—a special ornament in the crown of the Hindu community!

O thou Hindu society! Of all the sins and weaknesses, which have brought about thy fall, the greatest and most potent are thy virtues themselves.

So ‘tolerance’ is the cardinal vice of Hindus – whole sale murder of Muslims is advocated.

And what about the women?

Savarakar keeps on ranting about ‘beautiful Hindu women’ being abducted and ‘living hellish life’ in the ‘prison-like homes’ of the Muslims – at the same time he laments about the ‘beautiful Muslim girls’ walking free. This is repeated again and again, ad nauseum, on page after page that I got a feeling that the author was harbouring serious rape fantasies. Especially when he writes:

Even now we proudly refer to the noble acts of Chhatrapati Shivaji and Chimaji Appa, when they honourably sent back the daughter-in-law of the Muslim Governor of Kalyan and the wife of the Portuguese governor of Bassein respectively. But is it not strange that, when they did so, neither Shivaji Maharaj nor Chimaji Appa should ever remember, the atrocities and the rapes and the molestation, perpetrated by Mahmud of Ghazni, Muhammad Ghori, Alla-ud-din Khilji and others, on thousands of Hindu ladies and girls like the princesses of Dahir, Kamaldevi, the wife of Karnaraj of Karnawati and her extremely beautiful daughter, Devaldevi. Did not the plaintive screams and pitiful lamentations of the millions of molested Hindu women, which reverberated throughout the length and breadth of the country, reach the ears of Shivaji Maharaj and Chimaji Appa?

The souls of those millions of aggrieved women might have perhaps said, ‘Do not forget, O, your Majesty, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, and O! Your Excellency, Chimaji Appa, the unutterable atrocities and oppression and outrage committed on us by the Sultans and Muslim noblemen and thousands of others, big and small. Let those Sultans and their peers take a fright that in the event of a Hindu victory our molestation and detestable lot shall be avenged on the Muslim women. Once they are haunted with this dreadful apprehension, that the Muslim women, too, stand in the same predicament in case the Hindus win, the future Muslim conquerors will never dare to think of such molestation of Hindu women.’

But because of the then prevalent perverted religious ideas about chivalry to women, which ultimately proved highly detrimental to the Hindu community, neither Shivaji Maharaj nor Chimaji Appa could do such wrongs to the Muslim women.

It was the suicidal Hindu idea of chivalry to women which saved the Muslim women (simply because they were women) from the heavy punishments of committing indescribable sins and crimes against the Hindu women. Their womanhood became their shield quite sufficient to protect them.

If one has any further doubt that political rape is being advocated here, the following passages may remove it.

The same law of nature is instinctively obeyed by the animal world. If in the cattle-herds the number of oxen grows in excess of the cows, the herds do not grow numerically in a rapid manner. But on the other hand, the number of animals in the herds, with the excess of cows over the oxen, grows in mathematical progression. The same is true of man, for at the core man is essentially an animal. Even in the pre-historic times the so-called wild tribes of the forest-dwellers knew this law quite well. The African wild tribes of to-day kill only the males from amongst their enemies, whenever there are tribal wars, but not the females, who are eventually distributed by the victor tribes among themselves. To obtain from them future progeny to increase their numbers is considered by these tribes to be their sacred duty!

Kill the men, capture the women to use as baby-making machines. According to Savarkar, it’s the natural law.

***

Savarkar’s view of Indian history is that of a continuous struggle of Hindiusm (by which he means the Vedic religion, ignoring all the diversity) which he considers the only legitimate religion of India against the demonic outsiders: the Mlechcha Greeks, the Christians, and the Muslims. A struggle which has to be through the use of arms with blood and gore aplenty – he denigrates the concept of ahimsa in the vilest terms. The emperor Asoka is seen by him as the root cause of the ‘decline’ of India, by enervating the populace through the Buddhist principle of non-violence.

There is no good Muslim. Being a Muslim is equivalent to being a fanatic. Even when Muslims do benign acts towards Hindus, it is seen as an act of low cunning: even Akbar is described as a fanatic! The exact opposite applies to the Hindu (means basically a Brahmin or a Kshatriya) – they are all the epitomes of chivalry and valour, and the atrocities committed by them arise out anger at continued oppression even in the face of extreme forbearance (ring a bell?)

In conclusion: a hate-mongering, lie-spreading, abomination of a book, which is extremely badly written to boot. Read it only to understand the venom of a racist mind.

[Ajay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Savarkar was such a great writer. It was fun reading this book. He wrote this book to counter British propaganda that India's history was a saga of continuous defeats by foreign powers. He tell us the correct history of Bharat by giving us the details of six great eras to educate us. Everyone should read it. This book was originally written in Marathi titled "Saha Soneri Paane". Those who knows Marathi can read it as well.

Dont forget to read 1857 - The First War of Independence by the same author. I wouldnt even hesitate to say that he was a good historian too.

[Ashwin Gadhave]

This a awesome book. For some people it will feel like full of Hindu Extremism. But considering all facts from those stories, Great Sawarkar did not hold back their thoughts and according to stories those thoughts are justified.

[Ujjwala Singhania · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for all of us who have been told since time immemorial that there was no India and no Indian History before Islamic rule and British rule. It tells (backed up with references) that India was once a glorious country, rich in art, commerce, science and religion, before the foreign invasions started to wound it repeatedly on all fronts and with extreme barbarity.
It tells the saga of the heroic deeds of innumerable people and how they laid down their life to protect the nation and its heritage, but still how the history has forgotten them. It also highlights the falsehood of the history we have been taught since school days of "great heroes", which in actuality were not more than marauders, religious fanatics, who took great pride in pillaging, raping, converting and massacring in the name of "true god" for centuries.
Its an attempt to get the history right, which talks about a great nation and its glorious past when heroes were born to free the nation from the shackles of servitude and restore it to its former glory over and over again, and did not rest until We got complete Independence.

[Srinidhi Kasagar · Rating 5 out of 5]

The real history of India. No historian has ever glorified and highlighted the victories of Hindu rulers. No true Indian should miss reading this book. Amazing historical journey of Sakas, Huns all the way till Muslim's invasion, Mughal's plundering, British rule. Amazing write up. While I'm writing this review, there is a debate ongoing whether to give Bharata Rathna to Veer Savarkar or not. I would vote yes for such a great personality and the vision he had for our nation.

[Pallavi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the story of India as told by an Indian.

The whole world including we living in India are aware of the indian history told to us through the history textbooks which have been written as per the wishes of Britain.

A book every Indian must read.

This book is available for free download on the net.

[Omkar Mankame · Rating 4 out of 5]

Must read for every indian who is interested in history.

[Ajaey Sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

The work that changed the way I looked at and interpreted the history. I must-read work by VDS.

[Shreyas Mushrif · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great account of glorious epochs in the Indian history

[Kashyap Karthik · Rating 5 out of 5]

#SixGloriousEpochsOfIndianHistory

Simply Superb, Marvellous, Extraordinary, Fantastic.

Detailed narration of true history of Hindustan (India) from 330 BC to 1947 AD.

I bow my heads down on to the feet of Shri VD #Sawarkar ji for this tremendous work.

I strongly recommend people to read this book to know the TRUE HISTORY OF INDIA

ಅತ್ಯದ್ಭುತ, ರಮಣೀಯ, ಅಸಮಾನ್ಯ ಎನ್ನಬಹುದಾದಂತಹ ಕೃತಿ.

ಕ್ರಿ.ಪೂ. 330 ರಿಂದ ಕ್ರಿ.ಶ. 1947 ರವರೆಗಿನ ಭಾರತದ ನೈಜ ಇತಿಹಾಸದ ಸಂಪೂರ್ಣ ವಿವರ ಈ ಕೃತಿ.

ಇಂತಹ ಅನ್ಯುನ್ನತ ಕೃತಿಯನ್ನು ಕೊಟ್ಟ ಶ್ರೀ ವಿನಾಯಕ ದಾಮೋದರ #ಸಾವರ್ಕರ್ ಜೀ ಗೆ ನಾ ಶಿರ ಬಾಗಿ ನಮಿಸುವೆ.

ಭಾರತದ ನೈಜ ಇತಿಹಾಸ ತಿಳಿಯಲು ಜನ ಈ ಕೃತಿಯನ್ನು ಓದಬೇಕು.

[Anirudh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some unknown history!!
If some references were given it would have been more helpful. But nevertheless, this is the history of our Nation that will make us proud.
Some details are missed, but it would not be a golden leaf with them. It will be covered somewhere else.

[Vikas Garud · Rating 2 out of 5]

Patriotic History...

[Sagar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Savarkar's views are incredibly politically incorrect and must be viewed through the prism of India's polarized past. Nevertheless, the impression he made on me was not that of a bigot, but more of a Chanakya or Machiavelli, advocating for a martial nation which it would be dangerous to injure. He argues that diabolical aggression should have been and always should be rewarded in kind, and that any other answer is cowardice.

This book argues that Indian history, as written by foreigners and other aggressors is designed to subdue the pride of the majority population of India, the Hindus. He laments that the Hindus of ancient India never added a politico-religious angle to their conquest as the Muslims so successfully did.

Savarkar has written about the valour of many Indian Hindu kings (sometimes converted and reconverted) who didn't just 'punctuate' foreign suzerainty but also reigned for long periods of time and offered significant resistance to aggression, both by neighboring muslim kings as well as european aggressors. This is by far the most exciting part of the book since it traces chronologically the history of the Indian subcontinent and emphasizes the various points in time the pan Indian empires. The stories of Chandragupta Maurya, Chandragupta Gupta, Yashodharma, Khusrukhan & Devaldevi.. right up to Guru Gobind Singh and the Marathas are chronicled to whip up the dormant pride of the Indian people.

Contrary to his otherwise pragmatic view, Savarkars idea of national pride is deeply rooted in religion. He insists on calling India Hindu Nation and defends this choice perspicaciously. He writes a lot about the flaws of the Hindu religion and what he calls 'the perverted sense of virtues' which stopped victorious Hindu kings from persecuting populations of other religions while their contemporaries continued doing so in the name of religion. That kings such as Khilji, Ghori and Ghazni forcibly took into their harems women of the households of conquered kingdoms Hindu kings refused to do so because of their religion, Savarkar describes as pusillanimity. He describes as valour the act of Rajput women jumping into fire from the ramparts of their forts to avoid defiliation whenever their husbands are defeated in battle. For critics of Savarkar, this section seems extreme, and it may well be, as he advocates responding in kind to all kinds of aggression and this runs against Gandhian Hindu/Buddhist principles.

He critiques the caste system and the various restrictions like the ban on reconversion as ills which plagued the Hindu society and made it weak. He also critiques vociferously the Hindu priests of old for not reforming the religion and lifting the bans of sea voyage, intermarriage etc. The book is followed by a series of letters where he doesn't save any ink in veiling his contempt for what he considers 'politics of appeasement' by Nehru and Gandhi. He doesn't shy away from extolling the organization of the Europeans and admits inferiority of technology and record keeping of the various Indian kingdoms.

Although Savarkar's allusion to the various barbaric excesses committed by erstwhile Kings of Hindustan may be true, judging contemporary Indian muslims by the same lens would be deleterious to the fabric of Indian society. While on one hand, discussion of his views is sure to add salt to slow healing wounds, succumbing to advocates of appeasement is bound to do the same. Savarkar was a great nationalist, but a decidedly Hindu one. He was not a politician. Indians in their quest to look for a truly secular nationalist would have to look away from both him as well as Gandhi.

[Pradeep Rajput · Rating 5 out of 5]

Briefly describes the Six Era of India

[Jayshree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every maratha should read this book once.

[Nikhil · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that makes a Indian feel proud of his/her ancestors!! Must be included in school textbooks...
Unfortunately couldn't finish reading it... but I will soon!

[Uttam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely epic..

[Lasic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnum Opus!

[Düsty · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be taught in schools. Because those who don’t know where they come from, don’t know who they are. Savarkar is a great writer, an able historian and an astute thinker. In a quick manner, he takes us through many events from the past, that played such an important part in who Indians are today.

He mainly recounts those points in history when the native Hindus fought the invaders and won. Tales, merely the mention of which can get you labelled a nationalist which apparently is second only to fascist. Idiocy aside, this is a great read. Just buy it, give it to your kids. Let them feel some pride so they can escape the colonisation that you couldn’t.

[Bijumanikoth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book definitely makes your chest swell in pride.

[Shinde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author: Veer Savarkar, the trouncer of Gandhian non-violent principles.

About: Writes about 6 major but never-enough-highlighted heroes of India. Ranging from Pushyamitra to Chandragupta. It enumerates the multiple military invasions that India warded off (AND successfully) from Huns, Chinese over centuries; much before Alexander wandered here.

Thumbs up: This should have found its way into our History textbooks instead of the drab versions and meek idols we pound into children's heads.

Warning: The language tends to be vitriolic sporadically. He especially has scant regard for the Buddhist (though he categorically excludes Buddha himself) monks who, he feels were like Bibhisan/Vibhisan to Lanka.

[Shreyas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The great personalities in India. Explained too much but the detailed study and selection of those characters is nice. Grip on history is commendable.

[Siddhartha · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best commentaries on Indian history.
One of the best repudiations of the commie/marxist/nehruvian distortions.

While Savarkar spends more pages in the more immediate past, recounting histories of Indian resistance to barbarian islamic invasions, these chapters deserve further detailed study.

I particularly liked the early history, starting with Alexander's invasions, Saka, Hun and other tribal invasions.

Emperors like Chandragupta, Chandragupta the second, Samudragupta, Satavahanas, Pratiharas, Sri Krishna Deva Raya and Chchatrapati Sivaji and the four Peshvas of course deserves their own books.

This is like a primer what Indian school kids should be learning in school, instead they are taught about mughals for years, when they only rules for 230 odd years, only 100 of them with any substantial control outside Delhi.

P.S. Review first published in my blog.

[DrAvinash Agor · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is a good guide to the various aspects of Indian history from Porus to Partition, and is so in a manner that would be impossible under the current narrative. For example if you would have never of Bappa Rawal, so how would you go about wanting to find out more?

A history syllabus, even if loosely based on Six Glorious Epochs, will cause a paradigm change in our outlook towards our own history. This brings us back to the lines quoted in the beginning:

The nation that has no consciousness of its past has no future. Equally true it is that a nation must develop its capacity not only of claiming a past, but also of knowing how to use it for the furtherance of its future.Six Glorious epochs of Indian history
Is a narrative in itself, diametrically opposite to the Delhi Sultanate-Great Mughals-British Empire narrative that is fed to us. The prevalent narrative was about Bin Qasim, Mahmud of Ghazni, Babur, British Empire et al, Savarkar's Six Glorious Epochs takes a parallel route along similar timelines. The books shows how Indian rulers countered successive waves of invaders, and names such as Chandragupta, Pushyamitra Shunga, Yashodharman, Bappa Rawal are given their due place. This rendition of history by Savarkar is inspiring, and leads to a sense of pride about our past, rather than the despondent recollection of defeats which formed the core of popular knowledge back then, and continues to do so today.

It addresses another hallmark of our secular renditions - that of relegating histories of various regions of India into regional slots. So Sikh history is never heard of in rest of India away from Punjab , the west doesn't read about the east, and the north hardly reads about Cholas and Pandyas of the south. Every minor and obscure ruler of Delhi is extolled though, no matter what his influence on rest of the country. Similar comments can be made about the history of Nepal, again something never touched upon. Savarkar also addresses the reasons behind some of the defeats of Indian history, pointing to social and cultural constructs which prevented victories from being full and comprehensive, and in some cases preventing a fight back in first place (injunctions over crossing the Indus and the high seas) . He realised fully well that there were social ills within society, such as the caste system, which had caused a lot of damaging fallouts, like failure to effectively counter combating invaders. He wrote extensively against it and in fact brought this into practise.

[Charan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This work of V.D.Savarkar is a comprehensive survey of Bharat's history from the lens of a 'Hindu nation'. As an astute advocate, he carefully constructed the narrative starting from the attack of Greeks until the British on the indigenous Hindu civilization, based on first principles approach, subject to limitations of evidence by the time of writing this book. One can surely debate on, why only a particular event was seen by Savarkar as glorious epoch. However, Savarkar wrote this book during the last days of his life and it would be prudent not to enter this debate, considering his limitations of age and ability

This is a must read for all those who are looking for a truly indigenous perspective of Bharat's history, rather than from the mouths of our colonizers. The extent of research that went into this work is enviably vast. The poetic prose style, a trademark of Savarkar makes it an undemanding read, while being accurate on facts. Savarkar, who takes immense pride in his Chitpavan Brahmin roots and having the first hand experience of initiating and inspiring revolutionary political wars against the British first and middle eastern colonizer later, is in many ways, the right person to narrate the story of Bharat's mind boggling resistance to foreign aggression.

Most importantly, this is an honest introspection on the failures of Hindu civilization as well. The chapter on 'perverted sense of virtues' by Hindus during the times of Islamic invasion daringly exposes the fundamental weaknesses of our civilizational values (e..g, ban on re-conversion, letting the captured enemy to save his life, ban on capturing enemy women etc.)

Lastly, I think this scholarly work of Savarkar is way ahead of his times. In many ways, our times too. Clearly, Savarkar's ideas can act as antidotes for the slavish mentality we inherited due to waves of colonization during the past 1000 years. If this is the way history had been taught to us, we would have had a generation of youth, who took pride in their cultural roots with a memory of their civilizations mistakes as well. Who knows, we might have avoided a significant amount of brain drain, that happened after 1947. All in all, we need to learn a lot from our history. 'Six glorious epochs of Indian History' is a great start to begin with.

[Kaustubh · Rating 4 out of 5]

भारतीय इतिहासातील सहा सोनेरी पाने.. स्वातंत्र्यवीर सावकरांनी लिहलेले शेवटचे पुस्तक..

इसवी सन पूर्व तिसऱ्या शतकापासून इसवी सन १९४७ पर्यंतच्या जवळपास अडीच हजार वर्षांच्या भारतीय इतिहासाची समीक्षा सावरकरांनी या पुस्तकामध्ये केली आहे.. सिकंदराच्या भारतावरील आक्रमणापासून समिक्षेला सुरुवात होते.. त्यानंतर चंद्रगुप्त आणि चाणक्य यांचे मौर्य साम्राज्य स्थापना आणि त्याची वृध्दी, बुद्ध धर्माची स्थापना आणि सम्राट अशोकाने आणि सम्राट कनिष्कने त्याचा केलेला प्रसार, सम्राट पुष्यमित्र ने यावनाचा केलेला पराभव, सम्राट विक्रमादित्य यांनी शक आणि कुशाण लुटारुंच्या टोळीचा केलेला अंत, यशोधर्मा याने हूनाचा केलेला पराभव या सहसा परिचित नसलेल्या घटनांचा आढावा आणि समीक्षण सावरकरांनी पुस्तकाच्या पूर्वार्धात केलं आहे..

उत्तरार्धात मुस्लिमांनी भारतावर केलेल्या आक्रमणाची समीक्षा महम्मद कासिम, गझनी, घुरी, खिलजी, तुघलक, मोघल यांच्यापर्यंत विस्तृत पणे पुस्तकामध्ये करण्यात आली आहे. सम्राट पृथ्वीराज यांचे बलिदान, खुष्रूखान आणि देवलदेवी यांची अपरिचित कहाणी, विजयनगर साम्राज्याची स्थापना आणि दक्षिणेतील पाच ही बहामनी शाह्यानी त्याचा केलेला पराभव, शहाजीराजे यांचे योगदान, मराठ्यांचा उदय आणि शिवाजी राजांनी केलेली स्वराज स्थापना आणि त्याचे नंतर झालेले साम्राज्यातील रूपांतर, युरोपीय सत्तांचा भारतातील चंचुप्रवेश आणि त्याच्या पुढे संपूर्ण भारतावर कब्जा आणि त्याविरुद्ध अखिल भारतात हर तऱ्हेने निशस्त्र आणि सशस्त्र पद्धतीने केलेला उठाव या सर्व गोष्टींचा समर्पक आढावा या पुस्तकामध्ये सावरकरांनी घेतला आहे.

[Hunger Artist · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The nation that has no consciousness of its past has no future. Equally true it is that a nation must develop its capacity not only of claiming a past but also of knowing how to use it for the furtherance of its future."

-Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

Veer Savarkar was never trained as a Historian but his painstaking research in writing this book surpasses even trained Historian. His knowledge of Indian, as well as European history, was phenomenal. He was an excellent orator and writer.
This book mentions six episodes of Indian history for which all Indians should feel proud. From Alexander- not-so-great to Maratha empire, how we Indians and Hindus, in particular, fought the invaders and reclaimed our land and culture.
This is a must-read book for everyone who seeks to restore India's glory.

[Bhargab Borah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Indian history from a "Native" Indian viewpoint.
Chapters can be divided into 4 parts:

1. Indian history before Islamic invasion. Veru nicely described you'll really enjoy. I have got to know many such things which I have never knew

2. Criticism of Hindus. Savarkar had bitterly criticized social evils and useless suicidal notions of Hindus like Caste system

3. India and islamic invasions. You'll come across many amazing things that you have never knew. How Indians overthrew foreign islamic rule and about many heroes

4. Independence over british. The 1857 revolt was briefly written because he had already written a book on it named "Indian war of independence 1857" this book made me cry. Other contents are Post 1900 india, brief description of anglo sikh war and anglo nepalese war.

All the references and citations are given on the last pages. It is a Well researched book and definitely a jewel for Indian patriots.

[Kanti · Rating 3 out of 5]

"At times a single historical event happening overnight or within a single day changes the whole current of history for over a thousand years to come."

Interesting learning experience!

"326 BC to 1947 AD" - It is indeed crazy that the history of over 2000 years can be read in about 500 pages, and in about 3-4 days.

A well researched book, Vinayak Savarkar's Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History covers many milestones in the history of the undivided India. However, the author overstresses a lot on personal views and assumptions instead of just stating the history as factual happenings.

[Manoj Nirgudkar · Rating 5 out of 5]

वैदिक संस्कृतीचे रक्षण करणाऱ्या राजांचे आणि राज घराण्यांचे कौतुक करणारे हे पुस्तक आहे. साहजिकच बौद्ध धर्माचा आणि इस्लाम धर्माचा प्रसार करणारी राजघराणी खलनायक दाखवली आहेत.
बौद्ध धर्मात अहिंसेचा अतिरेक झाला आणि क्षत्रिय धर्म नव्हता हा आक्षेप आहे. इस्लाम हा *बाहेरून* लादलेला धर्म आहे असा विचार आहे.
राष्ट्राची निर्मिती करताना धर्म लागतो का? हा मुख्य प्रश्न आहे. त्याचे होकारार्थी उत्तर ह्या पुस्तकात आहे.