Sugata Srinivasaraju - Furrows in a Field

This meticulous and detailed account of H.D. Deve Gowdas very full life that spans nearly nine decades, provides a rich treasury of insights into the politics of India since Independence. Sugata Srinivasaraju has produced a powerful and resonant book. His writing is vigorous and expressive. This is a work of scholarly exactitude, critical sympathy and warm humanity
Jeremy Seabrook, author and columnist

A vivid and textured biography showing how Deve Gowdas agrarian roots and regional moorings shaped his brief stint at the apex of national power. Srinivasaraju illuminates a long life of struggle, with key insights into the complexities of caste, class and religion in Karnataka, and the contributions of the south to all-India politics. Furrows in a Field uncovers the green shoots of a generous federal alternative to the bigotry of religious majoritarianism and the dead end of secular uniformitySugata Bose, Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs, Harvard University, and author of His Majestys Opponent: Subhas Chandra Bose and Indias Struggle against Empire

H.D. Deve Gowdas short tenure as prime minister was not inconsequential. As chief minister of, and as a minister in, Karnataka, he made several contributions that have endured. As a public figure living for and breathing politics for almost six decades, he has carved out and occupied a distinctive niche. His commitment to the cause of farmers, particularly, has been legendary. It is only fitting that this remarkable man has at last found a biographer who does full justice to his life story. Through this extensively researched work, Sugata Srinivasaraju has made a major contribution to contemporary Indian historyJairam Ramesh, member of Parliament, and author of A Chequered Brilliance: The Many Lives of V.K. Krishna Menon

H.D. Deve Gowda is one of the tallest leaders of India. I came in contact with him when there was extreme turmoil in Jammu and Kashmir, and he was prime minister. He had the courage and dedication to save the situation from going from bad to worse. He conducted fair elections, through which I came to government... Gowda is a committed secularist and stands by the ideals and principles on which our founding fathers based this countryFarooq Abdullah, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir

This fascinating biography of former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda demonstrates that outsiders could rise to power in twentieth-century Indias democracyand not by default, but because kisan politics was still meaningful then. This book does not only tell the life story of the most improbable prime minister of India, it also narrates the trajectory of the country over several key decadeswith special references to Karnataka, a state whose rural countryside, too often obliterated by the shine of Bangalore, is apprehended here through one of its sonsChristophe Jaffrelot, research director, CERISciences Po, Paris, and professor, Kings India Institute, London

This richly illustrated biography captures the triumph of an unpretentious prime minister who had more grassroots experience than many of our more celebrated prime ministers. It is unfortunate that he did not survive long in the chair. Indian democracy would have been reassured and deepened if he hadSaeed Naqvi, author and journalist

For Rosy DSouza,

song of a hundred stars

For, I remember very well, in a discourse one day with the King, when I happened to say there were several thousand books among us written upon the Art of Government, it gave him (directly contrary to my intention) a very mean opinion of our understandings. He professed both to abominate and despise all mystery, refinement, and intrigue, either in a prince or a minister. He could not tell what I meant by Secrets of State, where an enemy or some rival nation were not in the case. He confined the knowledge of governing within very narrow bounds; to common sense and reason, to justice and lenity, to the speedy determination of civil and criminal causes; with some other obvious topics which are not worth considering. And, he gave it for his opinion, that whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass to grow, upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together.

From A Voyage to Brobdingnag in Gullivers Travels by Jonathan Swift, Penguin Books, 1967 (first published in 1726); emphasis as found in the original text

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So, apply, apply as much perfume as you want, sandal scent and musk. Indulge in as many epicurean delights. Lets see how long you do this, Ill watch intently.

Those who apply vermilion marks, sandal paste and ash on their foreheads and think they are better than those who work like donkeys in the field; those who think they are better than those who sweat profusely, and whose bodies are smeared with mud and manure; do not worry, this thinking is soon going to turn on its head.

The plough will displace the kings sword, pearls will fall off the crown, and pearls will be ploughed to grow glistening paddy. That finest hour comes packed closer and closer.

A loose translation of the last few lines of the poem Gobbara, written in old Kannada by Kannada writer Kuvempu
(K.V. Puttappa) in January 1935

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Probability theory is nothing but common sense reduced to calculation.

Pierre-Simon Laplace, eighteenth-century French mathematician and astronomer. The quote was found painted without attribution in January 2021 on the wall of the Holenarasipur Municipal High School in the Hassan district of Karnataka, where
H.D. Deve Gowda completed his matriculation