For 1,300 years, across every part of India, ordinary men and women fought back against invasion — and most of their names were never taught in school. The Indian history most people know is written from the conquerors' vantage point: their campaigns, their courts, their monuments. The resistance gets a footnote, if that.
Saffron Swords collects 52 accounts of Indian warriors, both men and women, who fought against Islamic invaders and later the British, drawn from sources that have rarely been assembled in one place: official records, foreign travellers' accounts, and oral traditions preserved in communities across the country. This Odia translation by Antaryami Maharana makes these stories available to Odia-language readers for the first time. The book is the first in a series.
A nation that doesn't know what its people have defended tends to lose its sense of what it's defending. These stories exist as a record of that defense.
How much do we know about the valorous saga of our ancestors from the east to west, north to south of Bharat? Unfortunately very little! Were we always defeated? It is a BIG No! But we have been projected as losers! During the last 1300 years, our ancestors across the country put up a brave resistance against invaders, first against Islamic invasion and rule and later the British. Hundreds and thousands of our warriors won battles and many fought until their last breath defending the motherland. Indian History textbooks have hardly glorified these real warriors of the soil. We have grown up reading more about the glories of our invaders. A nation's citizens, who are ignorant about the brave feats of their ancestors, tend to deviate away from their roots, historicity, and their sense of belongingness for the motherland. Saffron Swords (ODIA Version) by Manoshi Sinha Rawal, translated by Antaryami Maharana, contains 52 tales of valor, is a tribute to the unsung warriors of India, both men, and women, from the last 1300 years. This book is the first in its series.
