Apa Pant writes about his father, Raja Bhawanrao, the ruler of Aundh, a small princely state in western India. Starting with a description of how the Raja came to rule over Aundh, Apa Pant goes on to describe the events leading up to the historic meeting between the Raja and the Mahatma.

On Mahatma Gandhi’s suggestion, the Raja voluntarily gave up his powers and agreed to run an experiment in democracy, in Aundh.

The book also discusses Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas about democracy in India and how they were put into practice in what has come to be known as the ‘Aundh Experiment’. Gandhiji’s ideas and the Aundh Experiment are particularly relevant today, in the context of the growing centralisation of government powers the world over. Decades ago, the Mahatma’s idea for a decentralised democracy was seen as a workable alternative to centralised power.

This gem of a book contains in its index, letters from Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel.