Kindle Price: $3.99

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Read with our free app
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

Buy for others

Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group.
Learn more

Buying and sending eBooks to others

  1. Select quantity
  2. Buy and send eBooks
  3. Recipients can read on any device

These ebooks can only be redeemed by recipients in the US. Redemption links and eBooks cannot be resold.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Narendra Singh Sarila
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Shadow of the Great Game: The Untold Story of India's Partition Kindle Edition

by Narendra Singh Sarila (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 275 ratings
See all formats and editions


The untold story of India's Partition.


The partition of India in 1947 was the only way to contain intractable religious differences as the subcontinent moved towards independence - or so the story goes. But this dramatic new history reveals previously overlooked links between British strategic interests - in the oil wells of the Middle East and maintaining access to its Indian Ocean territories - and partition. Narendra Singh Sarela reveals here how hte Great Gane against the Soviet Union cast a long shadow. The top-secret documentary evidence unearthed by the author sheds new light on several prominent figures, including Gandhi, Jinnah, Mountbatten, Churchill, Attlee, Wavell and Nerhu. This radical reassessment of one of the key events in British colonial history is important in itself, but its claim that many of the roots of Islamic terrorism sweeping the world today lie in the partition of India has much wider implications.

Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Print length
    501 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Constable
  5. Publication date
    August 10, 2017
  6. File size
    5144 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
Next page
Add a debit or credit card to save time when you check out
Convenient and secure with 2 clicks. Add your card

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The 1947 partition of the British Raj led to the displacement and death of millions, three wars between India and Pakistan, and chronic instability in Pakistan. The consensus among historians is that the partition was a hastily done effort by a British government eager to divest itself of an imperial burden. Sarila, a former aide-de-camp to the last viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, has a different view. Utilizing a variety of sources, including previously classified documents, he asserts that the British government supported the creation of Pakistan with the understanding that British military bases there would provide easy access to the oil fields of the Middle East. Sarila cites numerous statements by British officials, particularly Churchill, to support his case. Unfortunately, he has cherry-picked the evidence, ignoring equally strong documentation that supports the conventional view. Still, this is a useful look at a tumultuous series of events. Sarila provides interesting perspectives on key historical figures. Gandhi, for example, is shown as infuriatingly naive and self-righteous. Sarila does not prove his case here, but this is a work likely to engender additional discussion and controversy. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Narendra Singh Sarila was aide-de-camp to Lord Mountbatten and served in the Indian Foreign Service,1948 85. He joined the Indian delegation to the UN, and was India s ambassador in Spain, Brazil, Libya, Switzerland, and France.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B073P3TBHX
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Constable (August 10, 2017)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 10, 2017
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 5144 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 501 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 275 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Narendra Singh Sarila

Narendra Singh Sarila

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
275 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

LKR
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2017
Verified Purchase
A wonderful movie "Viceroy's House" based on this novel.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Benjamin H. Pitre
4.0 out of 5 stars Maps, Maps and Maps
Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2021
Verified Purchase
Great book! Bit tedious but very fascinating. The kindle edition could use several dozen maps defining the areas discussed and in color!
Helpful
 Report
avidreader
5.0 out of 5 stars a must-read
Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2007
Verified Purchase
An interesting and detailed analysis based on historical documents that sheds light on the british machinations to encourage, even engineer the partition. lots of other fascinating facts and details are brought to life as well.
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Pradeep Anand
5.0 out of 5 stars A magnified view of a critical part of India's history
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2010
I grew up in newly independent India and History that we were taught in our schools was a slightly modified spillover from what my parents learned as children, from British curriculum. Since then, I have been curious about the century that preceded India's declaration as a secular constitutional republic in 1950. Ram Guha's "India after Gandhi" filled some of the gap between 1947 and 1950. Narendra Singh Sarila's well-researched book, The Shadow of the Great Game: The Untold Story of India's Partition, quenches some of my thirst, for the period between 1940 and 1948; the book recounts events from 1857 onwards but these last seven years (or so) are compelling and, sometimes, eerily chilling.
The book has more than four hundred pages of content with extensive references drawn from recently declassified documents from the UK, USA and India. The author was Aide-de-Camp (aka ADC) to Lord Mountbatten. He had first hand visibility into the manipulative machinations that preceded partition and was witness to the bloody repercussions that followed partition.
The most important take-away from the book was that the British needed to protect their Middle Eastern (oil) interests from the expanding Russian/Soviet empire and required a militarily friendly swath of land in Northwestern India to launch counter-offensives, if needed. India was partitioned because the British did not trust India's post-independence government led by the Congress Party to be friendly with Britain. From 1942 onward, the penultimate Viceroy of India, General Wavell, developed the strategy for acquiring this territory, and set its foundation, leaving the final details to Lord Mountbatten, the last viceroy, and Prime Minister Atlee.
The book reveals that American behind-the-scenes pressure, which began during FDR's presidency, contributed significantly in preventing further Balkanization of India, especially since the original intent was to create Hindustan, Pakistan and a Princestan that had direct defense ties with Britain. When Princestan did not serve Britain's interest, the concept was abandoned, with Lord Mountbatten recommending that the princely states accede.
The book also reveals how the leadership of colonial India was played and manipulated by their British rulers. South Asian leaders were idealists, who had no experience in negotiations and international diplomacy. The departing colonists also controlled the armed forces. Consequently, they ran circles around the factions, playing one against another, to fulfill their ultimate territorial goal, in the shadow of The Great Game -- to stop Russia/USSR from accessing Middle East oilfields and warm water ports.
The British strategy worked brilliantly in protecting the now Anglo-American interests but there were substantial gruesome and tragic side effects -- partition-related displacement, migration and massacre of millions of people, and three wars between South Asian neighbors. The author hints and perhaps contends that the growth of radical Islamic fundamentalists in the region and the destruction of the World Trade Center (9/11) had its roots in the partition.
I could not put this eminently readable book, down until I finished it. I recommend it to any student of South Asian and World History.
 An Indian in Cowboy Country: Stories from an Immigrant's Life
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Bobby
4.0 out of 5 stars British deviousness exposed
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2021
Verified Purchase
The partition of India was a well planned operation. It went forward due to the deviousness of the British, subtly aided and abetted by Jinnah and the utter self centered machinations of the Congress party.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Kersi Von Zerububbel
5.0 out of 5 stars The genesis of partition and the wages of playing the fear game.
Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2008
This book by Narendra Singh Sarila is a true eyeopener. Many commonly held beliefs about the history of the Indian subcontinent are disputed and in some cases heartily debunked. The author was the ADC to Mountbatten and thus comes with the imprimatur of "being on the scene".

I remember reading various sources like Wolpert wherein it was emphatically stated that Gandhi was always against partition. Well here Sarila reliably infers that at the end Gandhi thought partition was a necessary evil. Jinnah AND certain Hindu hotheads played the religion card to the hilt appealing to the lower angels of human nature via the fear route. Arguing that muslims would never get a fair shake in a Hindu Congress and nation Jinnah shrewdly played the fear card. The Congress on the other hand made no credible effort to include Jinnah early on (1929-30?) in a viable leadership position thus breeding distrust. Of course thirty million muslims who were not in the demarcated areas as proposed by Jinnah were left high and dry.

In talking to some of my Pakistani friends I am told that Nehru's "affair" with Edwina Mountbatten predisposed the memsahib to lobby her husband for a decision favoring India. I personally think that partition was the result of the lack of true STATESMEN in the situation. The whole concept was predicated on the belief that Hindus and Muslims could not co-exist. There was not sufficient give and take. Yes, Gandhi made the effort but his ideas were so impractical as to be dead on arrival. The partition need not have taken place. A great tragedy for both sides.

What is truly sad is the low opinion that Churchill had about Indians in general and Hindus in particular. Yes in those days it was quite common to view Indians as a cacaphony of peoples incapable of governing themselves, but Churchill's animosity seems to have been beyond the bounds of reason. Too bad because Churchill truly was the man of the hour during WW2 and helped save Western civilization. In my eyes the greatness of Churchill is tangibly abased by the vile alloy of racism.

Sarila recounts, in detail, the behind the scenes machinations of various players mostly to the detriment of a united India.

A sad commentary on a lamentable period of the Indian subcontinent. Highly recommended.
15 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Must read for the facts it offer
Reviewed in India on May 2, 2024
Verified Purchase
A must read to clear any doubts regarding the situation that prevailed at the time of partition.
Report
two
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting history of this region which leads to the problems ...
Reviewed in Canada on December 4, 2017
Verified Purchase
Interesting history of this region which leads to the problems this region is having today, & the conflict among the world powers today.
Report
Mr. Colin J. Rodrigues
5.0 out of 5 stars Indian History
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 10, 2011
Verified Purchase
A fascinating insight into the true events underlying the Partition and Independence of India and Pakistan. In contrast to "official" line as it appears in British History, it reveals the manipulations and almost evil intent of Britain, encouraged my the USA to deliberately engineer yje Partition, with the disastrous consequences it had at the time, in the millions of lives deliberately sacrificed on the altar of Western politics, and even now with the instability in Pakistan.
5 people found this helpful
 Report
Ashish Chettri
5.0 out of 5 stars Books on Partition
Reviewed in India on March 21, 2024
Verified Purchase
Apart from the book by Butalia all the others were new and packaged well.
Report
ks chaturvedi
4.0 out of 5 stars very informative book on partition of India
Reviewed in India on June 26, 2018
Verified Purchase
sir
The best book on partition of India is V P Menon^s 2 volume Transfer of Power 2 Integration of Indian States. Second best book is Larry Collins^s Freedom at Midnight. Then comes^ India Divided^ by late Dr Rajendra Prasad former President of India. The Shadow of the Great Game : The untold story by Narendra Singh Sarila is very informative and deals with very clearly the great game of Britishers. There is no written proof of their complicity in partition of India and creation of Mohd Ali Jinnah and his Muslim League. The procees started since Lord Minto in 1909 and ended with Lord Wavell.When I was student in year 1970-1971 I used to doubt about the role of Britishers but Mr Sarila researched on grand scale, he was ADC to the Last Viceroy of India Lord Mountbatten subsequently he switched to Indian Foreign Service and studied well the subject. The Main contributors or I must say the Villains of the drama or I must say Indian Tragedy are Winston Churchill, Lord Linlithgo, Lord Wavell, Sir Olaf Caroe(ICS) the all three advisers of Lord Mountbatten - Lord Ismay, Sir George Abell and Sir Eric Mieville last Viceroy. they all three worked for Muslim League, and worked India..All the British Civil Servants in India and Defence Personnels were responsible for the partition of India, Massacre of Indian people, and worked tirelessly against India..One British writer in ^ Churchillians^ has
squarely blamed Lord Mountbatten for the great massacre and rightly said that he was not capable and unfit for the job. Unfortunately his end also came with Violence. Entire high ranking officers contributed to the tragedy of Indian People. Really Mr Sarila has done a commendable job to clear the mist. The congress party and particularly Pt Jawahar lal Nehru committed many mistakes and were not capable to grasp the conspiracy of Britishers. The Britishers governed India very splendidly but they used divide and rule since 1857 and were not happy with Congress and very adroitly exploited their mistakes.

On page 410 of the book the writer has well written ^However, Linlithgow and Wavell cannot escape the responsibility for the Punjab massacres. They ignored the warnings of their governors, Henry Craik and Bertrand Glancy, that strengthening Jinnah^s Muslim League in the Punjab at the expense of Unionist Party, who were opposed to the partition - Shaukat Hayat used to call it Jinnahsthan - would result in blood bath in the province.Wavell did forward the Glancy^s warning to London, but the policy to build up Jinnah as the sole spokesman of the Muslims continued.^
Likewise at page 411 the writer comments the role of Lord Mountbatten ^ While Viceroy of India, he prized away the North West Frontier Province from the Congress Party^s Control and, while India^s Governor General after Independence, he restrained it from occupying the whole, or more areas of Kashmir. This made it possible for Pakistan to be formed as a defense bastion.^ The book does not cover the problem of Hyderabad, Junagarh and Travoncore and Kochin states. This may be due to the shortage of the space or lack of information with the writer. Likewise Punjab and Bangal boundries were drawn in haste and made maximum sufferings to the people of Indian Sub Continent.Our great Cyrill Redcliff made lines on maps. The one example of his blunder is CHT(Chittogaon Hill Tract) comprised only 3% Muslims and 97 % of Hindu and Buddhists but he allotted this area to Pakistan without knowing that boundaries of the District are adjacent to Lushai Hills of Assam(now Mizoram) He got scott free from India without any responsibility. The partition of the Bangal is not given in detail and book should cover it detail. India was fortunate enough to have Calcutta and that too due to Sardar Patel and his wisdom.
The book is very good and I strongly recommend for the persons interested in study of this crucial period and history students. The printing is good and legible and price is in the reach of the common reader.
k s chaturvedi
Mathura
82 people found this helpful
 Report
Report an issue

Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report