‘Hints on the Art and Science of Government’ was the first treatise on statecraft produced in modern India. It consists of lectures that Raja Sir T. Madhava Rao, the Dewan of Baroda, delivered in 1881 to Sayaji Rao Gaekwad III, the young Maharaja of Baroda. It is an exceptionally important text: it shows how, outside the confines of British India, Indians consciously and creatively sought to revise and adapt ideals in the interests of progress. At our Online Talk #TheProgressiveMaharaja, political scientist Rahul Sagar, who has recovered and restored the text, will outline Rao’s remarkable career, explain why the celebrated Dewan gave the lectures, and discuss the reasons why these lectures have been neglected - until now.

 About the speaker

Rahul Sagar is Global Network Associate Professor of Political Science at NYU Abu Dhabi. His books include To Raise A Fallen People: How Nineteenth Century Indians Saw Their World and Shaped Ours and The Progressive Maharaja: Sir Madhava Rao’s Hints on the Art and Science of Government.