ABSTRACT
Subhas Chandra Bose is remembered and glorified by his countrymen as a dauntless patriot and an uncompromising opponent of British imperialism. His heroic role as the commander of the Indian National Army (I.N.A.) is still alive in the memory of the people of India. Myths have been created around his name, sometimes bordering on deification. Bose’s dramatic escape from India, his perilous submarine journey to the Far East, and his eventual emergence as Netaji have created for him the image of a romantic adventurer who was reckless and desperate and prepared to stake his all for India’s freedom, which had to be won at any cost. Scholars, historians, and analysts have tended to concentrate overwhelmingly on the I.N.A. phase of his life, which was admittedly fascinating and spectacular, but the earlier phase was no less significant and should not be viewed in isolation from the former. Though he was essentially an activist, he had a reflective mind. He was not a thinker or system builder in the conventional sense of the term but made his own contribution to modern Indian thought by producing some thought-provoking ideas which would inspire future generations of thinkers to build a creative theory or model.
