From Transfer of Power to Towards Freedom
Envisioning and Documenting the Indian Independence
Keywords:
Towards Freedom, Transfer of Power, Indian Independence, Partition, British Colonialism, PakistanAbstract
Historical documents, both official and non-official, play a seminal role in the construction of historical knowledge. But the manner in which these documents are catalogued and classified also shapes the trajectory and the orientation of historical research. In this context, a comparison between two different documentation ventures on Indian independence can be very instructive. The British government sponsored the publication of a large number of documents related to India’s independence, available at the India Office in London. They were organised under the title The Transfer of Power and contained the story of India’s independence from a British perspective. In response to this, another set of documents titled Towards Freedom was published in India, offering an Indian perspective on India’s independence.
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