Summary: In this letter, Jawaharlal Nehru explains the concept of the division of labor and its evolution through history. He begins by describing how, in early human societies, there was little division of labor, with everyone focused on hunting. Over time, a basic division occurred between men, who hunted, and women, who stayed at home to care for children and animals.

With the advent of agriculture, more complex divisions of labor emerged as some people farmed while others continued to hunt. This shift to agriculture also led to the development of settled communities, as people needed to stay near their cultivated land. Agriculture made life easier by providing more food than hunting, allowing people to store surplus food.

Nehru then discusses the concept of surplus, explaining that in hunter-gatherer societies, people lived hand-to-mouth, with no surplus to store. However, with agriculture, people began to produce more food than they needed, leading to the accumulation of surplus resources. This surplus is the basis for wealth, as seen in modern banking systems, where people deposit surplus money.

Nehru also touches on the idea that in contemporary society, the distribution of surplus is often unfair, with some people gaining wealth without working, while others work hard but remain poor. He suggests that this imbalance is a cause of poverty in the world, though he notes that this may be difficult for Indira to fully understand at her young age.

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Jawaharlal Nehru Indira Gandhi letters

Pita ke Patra Putri ke Naam by Jawaharlal Nehru 

Letters from a Father to his Daughter 

Nehru ke patra Indira ko

Jawaharlal Nehru’s Letters to Indira

पाठ 14  खेती से पैदा हुई तब्दीलियां

Lesson 14  The Changes brought about by Agriculture

In this letter, Jawaharlal Nehru explains to his daughter how early humans developed religion and the concept of division of labor.

Nehru begins by describing how early humans lived in fear, attributing natural disasters and misfortunes to angry and vengeful gods. They imagined these gods in nature—mountains, rivers, and clouds. To appease them, people offered food and, in extreme fear, even sacrificed humans. This fear-driven mindset, according to Nehru, marked the beginning of religion, though it later evolved into something more complex. He reflects on how religion still causes conflict and fear in many societies.

Nehru then shifts to describe early humans' daily struggles to find food. With the formation of tribes, life became a bit easier, as people could work together for mutual benefit. Cooperation made it possible to accomplish tasks, such as carrying heavy loads, that were impossible individually.

The introduction of agriculture marked a significant advancement, making it easier for humans to obtain food. Nehru mentions that even some ants exhibit basic agricultural behavior. With agriculture, people no longer had to hunt constantly, leading to a less grueling lifestyle. This change led to the division of labor: while men used to focus solely on hunting, with agriculture, different tasks emerged, such as farming, tending to cattle, and other specialized roles.

Nehru concludes by explaining that this division of labor, which began with the advent of agriculture, continues in modern society, with people specializing in different trades like carpentry, engineering, or medicine. This specialization allows people to excel in their specific fields, much like the early forms of labor division seen in ancient tribes.

Letters From a Father | Episode 12 | The Formation of Tribes

 

From this letter: So also the first advance in civilisation that early men made was to combine together in packs, or as these are called tribes. They began to work together. There was what is called cooperation. Each man had to think of the tribe first and then about himself. If the tribe was in danger every member of it had to fight for it and defend it. And if any person in the tribe did not work for the tribe he was kicked out."

 

From this letter:

"You will say that it is not easy to understand what civilisation means, and you will be right. It is a very difficult question. Fine buildings, fine pictures and books and everything that is beautiful are certainly signs of civilisation. But an even better sign is a fine man who is unselfish and works with others for the good of all. To work together is better than to work singly, and to work together for the common good is the best of all."

Letters From a Father | Episode 10 | The Relationships of Languages

 

From this letter: 

"You will also see that most of us now living in different countries far from each other long ago were one people. We have changed greatly since then and many of us have forgotten our old relationships. In every country people imagine that they are the best and the cleverest and the others are not as good as they are. 

"The Englishman thinks that he and his country are the best; the Frenchman is very proud of France and every- thing French; the Germans and Italians think no end of their countries; and many Indians imagine that India is in many ways the greatest country in the world. This is all conceit. Everybody wants to think well of him- self and his country. But really there is no person who has not got some good in him and some bad. And in the same way there is no country which is not partly good and partly bad. We must take the good wherever we find it and try to remove the bad wherever it may be.

"We are of course most concerned with our own country, India. Unhappily it is in a bad way today and most of our people are very poor and miserable. They have no pleasure in their lives. We have to find out how we can make them happier. We have to see what is good in our ways and customs and try to keep it, and whatever is bad we have to throw away. If we find anything good in other countries we should certainly take it.

"As Indians we have to live in India and work for India. But we must not forget that we belong to the larger family of the world and the people living in other countries are after all our cousins. It would be such an excellent thing if all the people in the world were happy and contented. We have therefore to try to make the whole world a happier place to live in."

 

From this letter: "In those early days a new race was developing in central and western Asia and in eastern Europe. This is called the Aryan race. In Sanskrit there is the same word (Arya), meaning a gentleman or a high born person. As Sanskrit was one of the languages of the Aryan peoples, this means that they considered themselves very gentlemanly and high born! They were apparently quite as vain as people are now. You know that an Englishman thinks himself quite the first person on Earth, and a Frenchman is equally sure that the French are the greatest people, so also the German and the American and others."

Letters from a Father | Episode 8 | How Different Races Were Formed

 

Some gems from this letter: "probably most of the races of men we have in the world today have descended from these Neolithic people"; "people’s complexions.... have nothing to do with the worthiness or goodness or beauty of a person" ; "But not to work oneself and to live on the work of others is nothing to be proud of";  "Many races have come to India in past ages and although, for long they tried to keep apart, they could not help mixing together. It is difficult now to say that a particular Indian belongs entirely to one original race."

 

"These Neolithic men made the very great discovery of cultivation. They started tilling fields and growing their food there. This was a great thing for them. They could now get their food more easily instead of having to hunt animals all the time. They got more leisure, more time to rest and think. And the more leisure they had the more progress they made in discovering new things and methods."

Letters from a Father | Episode 6 | The Coming of Man

"We can trace this growth of intelligence from the earliest days of man to the present day.  Indeed it is intelligence that separates man from the other animals. There is practically no difference between a man without any intelligence and an animal. The first great discovery that man probably made was that of fire."

 

In this letter, Nehru explains Darwin's Theory of Evolution in simple language. He tells how the higher animals, such as lizards and mammals descended from simple sea animals. In the end he writes that "as each animal gradually adapted himself to his surroundings and became better and better, so also man at first was only a better ape. Of course he went on, or nature went on, improving him, and now man thinks no end of himself. He imagines himself so utterly different from the animals. But it is good to remember that we are cousins of the ape and the monkey, and even now many of us I am afraid behave like the monkeys do!"

Letters from a Father | Episode 4 | The First Living Things

 

"When we examine the rocks carefully and collect all the old fossil bones that we find we can see that different kinds of animals lived at different periods. They did not all come together from nowhere. At first there are very simple animals with shells—shell fish for instance. The beautiful shells you pick up at the sea side are all the bony coverings of animals who have died. Later we find more complicated animals, snakes, enormous beasts bigger than our elephant, and birds and animals resembling those we have today. Last of all we find remains of man."

From this letter: "So the earth started to cool. It took a long time over it. Gradually the surface of the earth became cooler although the interior remained very hot. Even now if you go down a coal mine it becomes hotter and hotter as you go down."

Letters from a Father | Episode 2 | How Early History was Written

In this letter Nehru enlightens how early history was written. He writes,"To learn the story of these early days of cities and countries we sometimes get old books. But there are not many of these. Other things help us. The kings and emperors of old times used to have accounts of their reigns written on stone tablets and pillars. Books cannot last long. Their paper rots away and gets moth eaten. But stones last much longer."

Jawaharlal Nehru wrote these letters to his 10-year-old daughter Indira from jail. They were published in a book form as "Letters from a Father to his Daughter." Munshi Premchand, the leading Hindi author of that time, translated them into Hindi.

In these letters, we hear the story of the prehistoric era and early history of the world, including India. The ideas and the information in these letters are insightful, and they promote the feeling of global unity and brotherhood.

Nehru hopes that those who "read these letters may gradually begin to think of this world of ours as a large family of nations."

The title of this first letter is: "The Book of Nature."

 

The RSS and other Hindu fundamentalists made every effort to ensure that Dalits and women remained lower-class citizens.

Ambedkar, the law minister, saw the reform of personal laws as crucial for modernizing India. 

Through this bill, Nehru focused on establishing a just and secular state.

“The Ransom of Red Chief” written by American author O. Henry was first published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1902. Now listen to this story in Hindi. Translated and presented by Giribala Joshi!