An Examined Life

An Examined Life: Essays and Reflections by Karan Singh is a collection of life writings by Karan Singh, the erstwhile prince and son of Maharaja Hari Singh of Dogra dynasty of royal house of Jammu and Kashmir.[1] The book is a collection of 70 years of his writings from 1948 to 2018, edited by Raghav Verma. In writing the introduction to the book, Shashi Tharoor calls Karan Singh "the best President India never had".[2] The book also contains a foreword by former Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh.[3][4]

Dr Manmohan Singh speaking at the launch of An Examined Life: Essays and Reflections by Karan Singh at Imperial Hotel, New Delhi 2019.
An Examined Life: Essays and Reflections by Karan Singh. Harper Collins, 2019

An Examined Life was launched in India by Harper Collins on May 20, 2019 at Imperial Hotel, New Delhi[5] and speaking at the launch of the book, Dr Manmohan Singh said “His life is a great debt on us, and will long remain a great example for the future generations of our nation.”[2]

Contents

Foreword by Manmohan Singh

Introduction by Shashi Tharoor

An Interview with Karan Singh

‘I Believe’

Dialogue with Daisaku Ikeda

On Hinduism

Essays

Travelogues

Poems[6]

In Memoriam

(written in 1964, on the passing of Jawaharlal Nehru )

Now you are gone, to join the ranks of those

whose names will ever live in every heart

with joyous fragrance, like the budding rose

that was of you so intimate a part;

you fought and strove to give our nation light,

to bring it freedom, break its binding chain,

you warred against a vast, imperial might

you suffered grief and anguish, loss and pain;

but yet you fought, and when at last we won

and took our place in freedom’s glowing light

you did yourself become the nation’s sun

and for her welfare laboured day and night:

Now you are gone, and we who stay behind

will cherish our sweet memories of you

and strive with every power of heart and mind

to make your dreams of glory come out true.

Letters

Memoir

Novella

Farewell Speech to Rajya Sabha[7]

Criticism

Indian social activist and writer Harsh Mander, reviewing the book in The Indian Express, calls out Karan singh to not address the "profound critique of Hinduism by Ambedkar" and points out that the book is "silent about the massacre of Muslims in Jammu in 1947, the traumatic expulsion of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley, and decades of militancy."[8]

"He records his conviction that what he did was for the “national good”, and that “all the risks and dangers were worth taking if it served the country”. But history would require much more searching self-critical introspection with hindsight, of unhealed wounds left by these momentous political decisions, destined to cast their long shadows for decades."[8]

Historian Harbans Singh has called the book "a must read".[9]

References
  1. "An Examined Life: Essays and Reflections by Karan Singh Edited by Raghav Verma". HarperCollins Publishers India. 2019-05-15. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
  2. Sharma, Himashree (2019-05-21). "Elections much more confrontational now: Karan Singh". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
  3. "Dr Manmohan Singh launches former J&K governor Karan Singh's book An Examined Life, Essays and Reflections". Mumbai Mirror.
  4. Service, Tribune News. "Regret couldn't be PM or Prez: Karan Singh". Tribuneindia News Service.
  5. May 22, Mumbai Mirror / Updated:; 2019; Ist, 08:58. "Dr Manmohan Singh launches former J&K governor Karan Singh's book An Examined Life, Essays and Reflections". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 2020-06-14.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. "Remembering Nehru through tributes". The Statesman. 2019-05-27. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
  7. Singh, Karan; Verma, Raghav (2019-05-30). An Examined Life: Essays and Reflections by Karan Singh (1st ed.). Harper India.
  8. "The middle ground". October 6, 2019.
  9. Service, Tribune News. "A prince-politician's spiritual journey". Tribuneindia News Service. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
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