India in the Shadows of Empire explores British notions of imperial justice—embodied in the author's construction in the distinct and often conflicting concepts of equity and liberty—as the foundations of the modern democratic Indian state. Mukherjee sees the critical elements of this development beginning on the one side with the establishment of the Supreme Court in India (1774) and ending on the other with the adoption of the Indian Constitution (1950). Here (by context and by chronology) some of the key elements of political modernity emerge: from ideas about the natural rights of man, to the nature of sovereignty, to the emergence of the modern state that is at once pluralistic and democratic in its ideology. Although during this time period these elements dominate nearly all European politics, in seeking the rise of the Indian state, Mukherjee focuses exclusively on the force of these elements in England. Despite the existence of different views of imperial justice in British political thought, Mukherjee strongly argues for coherence in their expression in the modern Indian state, though one must observe, this is a “coherence” that holds within it conflicting philosophical suppositions. This sort of argument, revealing the modern Indian state as having been built upon theoretical elements that are at once philosophically disparate, and perhaps only of necessity politically coordinate, yields a picture of modern Indian history that is nuanced and complex in texture.

Mukherjee identifies three critical junctures in the formation of the Indic-British discourse of imperial justice (discussed in Chapters 1–3): 1) the 1788 impeachment trial held in the British House of Lords of the first Governor-General in India, Warren Hastings; 2) the establishment of the Supreme Court in India in 1774; and 3) the aftermath of the 1857 Revolt. Whereas this choice of events is hardly novel, Mukherjee's representation of them as reflecting a developing dialectic built on the base of British ideas of imperial justice certainly yields new insights. Thus, the analysis of Hastings's impeachment (Chapter 1) delves extensively into what Mukherjee terms Edmund Burke's “imperial discourse of justice” (p. 19) that proposes an ideal of justice that rises above nationality and national interest (the antithesis of the ideals typically associated with the colonialist viewpoint; e.g., as seen in the work of James Mill); the establishment of the Indian Supreme Court and the Indian Legislative Council (Chapter 2) is then viewed as the prime locus of this Burkean ideal of justice in India; and the transfer of power from the Company to the Queen following the Revolt of 1857 (Chapter 3) is shown to establish for India an ultimate grounds of justice—again, one that exceeds mere national interest—in the figure of the sovereign. Chapters 4–7 continue to develop these themes of the competing concerns of imperial justice focused on a universal recognition of human equality on the one hand, and localized, national concerns of individual freedom on the other, in discussions of the figure of the lawyer (vakil) and the dominant role of lawyers in the emergent Congress movement (Chapter 4); in the renunciant tradition (centering on Mohandas Gandhi) that brought to the fore a uniquely Indian sense of justice, and one that in many ways ran counter to the imperial legacy (Chapter 5); and in the creation of the Indian Constitution, which Mukherjee argues is founded on ideals of imperial justice rather than ideals of liberty and individual rights (Chapter 6), thus hearkening back to the figure of the British sovereign (which Mukherjee argues is given expression in independent India in the person of Jawaharlal Nehru [p. 211]). A final, very short chapter (8 pages) ties India's British legacy of imperial justice to modern events: the Emergency and the demise of the Congress Party.

India in the Shadows of Empire is a challenging work, presupposing on the part of the reader a firm base in political theory, as well as a solid grounding in modern Indian history. Throughout, the author writes with great clarity, though there are occasional confounding expressions (e.g., “enunciative personae” and “renunciative freedom”) and the word “discourse”—a somewhat empty if trendy term—is used to excess (appearing on nearly every page of the book). Additionally, the representation of the religio-philosophical background of renunciation lacks sophistication (Chapter 5). But these are small matters. India in the Shadows of Empire is a work of admirable scholarship; though the author emphasizes the element of coherence in understanding the modern state of India's underlying British politico-juridical base, there is no fear of exposing the many strands and strains (whether in conflict or in harmony) that co-exist within this coherence.