IQBAL IQBAL

Bibliography: Fascism in British India

‘AWAN Gulzar Ahmad, Muhammad Iqbal Shedai ke ahwal o asar (in Urdu) [Historical Facts and Events about Muhammad Iqbal Shedai], M.A. History Thesis, University of Punjab, Lahore, 1978. BORRA Ranjam, Subhas Chandra Bose, the Indian National Army and the War of India’s Liberation, in “The Journal of Historical Review”, Winter 1982, vol.3, N.4, pp.407-439. BOSE Subhas Chandra, India’s Struggle for Independence, London, Weshart & Co., 1935. BOSE Subhas Chandra, Crossroads, being the works of Subhas Chandra Bose 1938-1940, compiled by Netaji Research Bureau Calcutta, London, Asia Publishing House, 1962. CAPILUPPI Ilia, Un “inviato speciale” di Mussolini in India. La missione culturale di Vittorio Macchioro (1933-1935), in “Storiografia”, Pisa-Roma, vol.7, 2003, pp.117-137. DE FELICE, L’India nella strategia politica di Mussolini, in “Storia Contemporanea”, Bologna, XVIII, N.6, dicembre 1987, pp.1309-1363 [reprinted as chapter third in Il fascismo e l’Oriente]. DE FELICE Renzo, Il fascismo e l’Oriente. Arabi, ebrei e indiani nella politica di Mussolini, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1988. DURRANI Sa’id Akhtar, Allama Iqbal ka daurah Italia November 1931 (in Urdu) [Allama Iqbal’s voyage to Italy in November 1931], in “Hakim al-Ummat”, Lucknow, May-July 2008. FABEI Stefano, Il fascio, la svastica e la mezzaluna, Milano, Mursia, 2002. FERRETTI Valdo, Politica e cultura: origini e attività dell’IsMEO durante il regime fascista, in “Storia Contemporanea”, Bologna, XVII, N.5, ottobre 1986, pp.779-819. FERRETTI Valdo, L’India, Gandhi e il Fascismo, in “Rivista degli Studi Orientali”, Roma, LXII, 1988, fasc.I-IV, pp.109-118. FORMICHI Carlo, India e Indiani, Milano, Alpes, 1929. GALOPPINI Enrico, Il Fascismo e l’Islam, Parma, Edizioni all’insegna del Veltro, 2001. GANDHI Mohandas Karamchand, The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, New Delhi, 1960-1994, voll.100. GIRO Mario, L’Istituto per l’Oriente dalla fondazione alla seconda guerra mondiale, in “Storia Contemporanea”, Bologna, XVII, N.6, dicembre 1986, pp.1139-1176. HAUNER Milan, One Man against the Empire. The Faqir of Ipi and the British in Central Asia on the Eve of and during the Second World War, in “Journal of Contemporary History”, vol.16, N.1, January 1981, pp.183-212. HAUNER Milan, India in Axis Strategy. Germany, Japan, and Indian Nationalists in the Second World War, Stuttgart, Klett-Cotta, 1981. KUNDU Kalyan, Itali safare Rabindranath o Mussolini prasanga (in Bengali) [Account of Tagore’s Tour to Italy], Calcutta, Punascha, 2009. MALIK Hafeez, Iqbal in Politics, Lahore, Sang-e-Meel Publications/Iqbal Academy Pakistan, 2009. MARTELLI Manfredi, L’India e il fascismo. Chandra Bose, Mussolini e il problema del Nazionalismo indiano, Roma, Edizioni Settimo Sigillo, 2002. NEHRU Jawaharlal, The Discovery of India, Calcutta, The Signet Press, 1946. NEHRU Jawaharlal, Autobiography, London, The Bodley Head, 1953. NERI Cesare, Così Tagore vide Mussolini, in “Meridiano d’Italia”, Milano, 2 dicembre 1951. PRAYER Mario, Gandhi e il nazionalismo indiano nella pubblicistica del regime fascista 1921-1938, in “Storia Contemporanea”, Bologna, XIX, N.1, febbraio 1988, pp.55-83. PRAYER Mario, Contributo alla biografia di Ravindranath Thakur: l’incontro con Benedetto Croce, in “Rivista degli Studi Orientali”, Roma, LXV, 1991, fasc.1-2, pp.51-68. PRAYER Mario, Italian Fascist Regime and Nationalist India, 1921-45, in “International Studies”, J. Nehru University, New Delhi, vol.28, N.3, 1991, pp.249-271. PRAYER Mario, L’intervista Gandhi-Mussolini: Pagine “italiane” dal diario di Mahadev Desai, in “Storia Contemporanea”, Bologna, XXIII, N.1, febbraio 1992, p.73-89. QUARONI Alessandro, The Kabul Connection: Subhas Chandra Bose, Pietro Quaroni and Indo-Italian Relations, Netaji Oration 2009, Calcutta, Netaji Research Bureau, 2099, pp.8-16. QUARONI Pietro, Ricordi di un ambasciatore. Un poeta difficile [Iqbal], in “Corriere della Sera”, Milano, 11 febbraio 1956 [reprinted in Il mondo di un ambasciatore]. QUARONI Pietro, Ricordi di un ambasciatore. Chandra Bose, in “Corriere d’Informazione”, Milano, 6-7 maggio 1957 [reprinted in Il mondo di un ambasciatore]. QUARONI Pietro, Il mondo di un ambasciatore, Milano, Ferro Edizioni, 1965. REBERSCHAK Maurizio, Violenza e non violenza. Mussolini e Gandhi, in Non violenza e pacifismo, Milano, F. Angeli, 1988, pp.129-178. ROLLAND Romain, Inde – Journal (1915-1943), Paris, Éditions Albin Michel, 1960. SALIERNO Vito, Il fascismo e Tagore, in “Nuova Storia Contemporanea”, Milano, II, N.6, settembre-ottobre 1998, pp.63-80. SALIERNO Vito, Iqbal and Italy, Lahore, Iqbal Academy Pakistan, 2004. SALVEMINI Gaetano, Tagore e Mussolini, in Esperienze e studi socialisti in onore di Ugo Guido Mondolfo, a cura di “Critica Sociale”, Firenze, Nuova Italia Editrice, 1957, pp.191-206. SCARPA Gino, L’Asia e il mondo occidentale, Roma, Universale di Roma Editrice, 1959. SOFRI Gianni, Gandhi in Italia, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1988. VACCA Virginia, “Ar-Radyo”. Le radio arabe d’Europa e d’Oriente e le loro pubblicazioni, in “Oriente Moderno”, Roma, XX, N.9, settembre 1940, pp.444-451. WARREN Alan, Waziristan, the Faqir of Ipi and the Indian Army. The North West Frontier Revolt of 1936-37, Oxford, O. U. P., 2000.

1 Galeazzo Ciano (1903-1944) entered the diplomatic service in 1925, married Mussolini’s daughter Edda in 1930. He was appointed Undersecretary for Press and Propaganda in 1934-1935, Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1936, a position he left on 5th February 1943. In the historical meeting of the “Gran Consiglio del Fascismo” on 25th July 1943 he voted in favour of Dino Grandi’s “Order of the Day” against Mussolini. He was tried for high treason in front of a special tribunal of the “Repubblica Sociale Italiana” in Verona, sentenced to death and shot on 11th January 1944. 2 Dino Grandi (1895-1988), Undersecretary for the Interior in 1924-1925 and for Foreign Affairs in 1929-1932, Ambassador to London from 1932 to 1939, Minister for Justice from 1939 to 1943. With his “Order of the Day” of 25th July 1943 he caused Mussolini’s fall: he was sentenced to death by default in 1944. He returned to Italy after the war and was granted an amnesty. 3 Benito Mussolini, Verso il suolo asiatico – Malabar, in “Il Popolo d’Italia”, Milano, 4 settembre 1921; now in Opera Omnia, a cura di Edoardo e Duilio Susmel, Firenze, La Fenice, 1955, vol.XVII, pp.1201-121. 4 In “Il Popolo d’Italia”, Milano, 13 gennaio 1925. 5 Arnaldo Mussolini, I Discorsi (1928-1931), Milano, 1934, p.94. 6 Mario Appelius, India, Milano, Casa editrice Alpes, 1925. 7 Virginio Gayda, Il risveglio dell’India, in “Gerarchia”, Roma, gennaio 1930, pp.51-56. 8 In a chronological order. Santi Nava, La marcia dei martiri: gli estremi del conflitto anglo-indiano, in “La Vita Italiana”, marzo 1930, pp.257-261. Ettore Rossi, La situazione in India, in “Gerarchia”, marzo 1930, pp.192-197. G. Bevione, La Conferenza di Londra, in “Gerarchia”, aprile 1930, pp.277-284. Giuseppe De Lorenzo, India e Inghilterra, in “Gerarchia”, aprile 1930, pp.360-377. Santi Nava, Il conflitto anglo-indiano: le denunzie di Gandhi e l’incognita musulmana, in “La Vita Italiana”, maggio 1930. R. Caniglia, Il fascismo ed i nazionalismi di colore, in “Gerarchia”, ottobre 1930, pp.845-848. Arnaldo Cervesato, Ritratto di Gandhi, in “La Vita Italiana”, novembre 1930, pp.166-170 Minimus, India moderna, Gandhi e Inghilterra, in “Gerarchia”, maggio 1931, pp.382-393. Roberto Farinacci, Gandhi e i suoi critici, in “La Vita Italiana”, ottobre 1931, p.384. Giuseppe De Lorenzo, Asia ed Europa, in “Gerarchia”, maggio 1931, pp.359-381. 9 “Les Indes sont bien le coffre-fort du monde. Il faut que l’Italie les possède. Peu leur importe ce que les Anglais diront. Les légionnaires fascistes se chargeraient de les faire taire ... ”. See Krsta Chantitch-Chandan, L’unité yougoslave et le roi Alexandre Ier. Préface par le Maréchal F. D’Espérey, Paris, P. Bossuet, 1931, quoted by Loretta De Felice, Un fondo bibliografico, d’interesse documentario, conservato nell’Archivio Centrale dello Stato. La “Collezione Mussolini”, “Storia Contemporanea”, XIV, N.3, giugno 1983, pp.489-498. 10 Gino Scarpa, a man close to Mussolini, had been to India from 1923 onwards: he was Consul General in Calcutta in the years 1929-1933. 11 With the co-operation of Pyarelal, Mirabehn and Srinivasa Sastri, he prepared a translation from English into Gujarati of Gandhi’s autobiography The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Ahmedabad, 1927, in two volumes 12 Viator, L’India dove va?, Roma, Libreria del Littorio, 1930, pp.82-83. 13 Ibidem, p.95. 14 A report is in “Il Popolo d’Italia”, Milano, 19 marzo 1931, p.2. 15 Robert Mallett, The Italian Navy and Fascist Expansionism 1935-1940, London, Frank Cass Publisher, 1998. 16 Ilia Capiluppi, Un “inviato speciale” di Mussolini in India. La missione culturale di Vittorio Macchioro (1933-1935), in “Storiografia”, Pisa-Roma, 7, 2003, p.130. 17 Richard Lamb, Mussolini and the British, London, John Murray, 1997. 1 T. Walter Wallbank, A Short History of India and Pakistan from Ancient Times to the Present, New York, The Mew American Library, 1958, p.91. 2 H. Verney Lovett, A History of the Indian Nationalist Movement, London, John Murray, 1920, p.34. 3 R. C. Majumdar, H. C. Raychaudhuri, Kalikinkar Datta, An Advanced History of India, London, Macmillan, 1958, p.980. 4 Edwin S. Montague, An Indian Diary, London, 1930, p.56. 5 B.G.Tilak (1856-1920) started his political career in Maharashtra in 1880, joining the Congress in 1889. He has been described as the “Father of the Indian Revolution. See D. P. Karmakar, Bal Gangadhar Tilak. A Study, Bombay, Popular Book Depot, 1956. 6 Jawaharlal Nehru, The Discovery of India, Calcutta, The Signet Press, 1946, p.313. 7 See note 3 of the Introduction. 8 Agha Khan (1875-1957), a spiritual head of the Khoja, a branch of the Isma’ilis. 9 Muhammad ‘Ali Jinnah (1876-1948), Life President of the Muslim League in 1934, first Governor General of Pakistan (August 1947-September 1948). 10 For Iqbal, see chapter III. 11 The commercial university “Bocconi” was founded in Milan in 1902. 12 For Iqbal’s and Gandhi’s visits, see chapters III and IV respectively. 13 I Documenti Diplomatici Italiani, VII serie 1922-1935, Roma, 1981, vol.XI, pp.81-82. 14 Hector Bolitho, Jinnah Creator of Pakistan, London, John Murray, 1954, p.99. 15 Ibidem, p.100. 16 For Nehru, see chapter VI. 17 For Bose, see chapter VII. 18 Liyaqat ‘Ali Khan (1896-1951), first Prime Minister of Pakistan. 19 Letters of Iqbal to Jinnah, Lahore, S. M. Ashraf, 1956. They are letters written by the poet-philosopher from May 1936 to November 1937, a few months before his death. 20 I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single state. Self-government within the British Empire, or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated North-West Indian Muslim state appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North-West India”. From the Presidential Address delivered at the Annual Session of the All-India Muslim League, 29th December 1930, in Speeches, Writings and Statements of Iqbal, compiled and edited by Latif Ahmad Sherwani, Lahore, Iqbal Academy Pakistan, 2009, 5th edition, p.11. 21 A separate federation of Muslim Provinces is the only course by which we can secure a peaceful India and save Muslims from the domination of non-Muslims”. 22 In 1942 Gandhi wrote to President Roosevelt: “I venture to think that the Allied declaration that the Allies are fighting to make the world safe for the freedom of the individual and for democracy sounds hollow so long as India and for that matter Africa are exploited by Great Britain”. 23 The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, New Delhi, in 100 volumes, published between 1960 and 1994. See Vol.82 (9 February 1942-6 June 1942, p.229. 24 The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, quoted, vol.83 (7 June 1942-26 January 1944), p.16. 25 25. Ibidem, p.18. 26 Ibidem, p.120. 27T. W. Wallbank, quoted, pp.208-209. 28 Mohammad Ashraf (compiled by), Cabinet Mission and After, Lahore, M. Ashraf, [1946], p.1. 29 On the occasion of the All-India Muslim League Convention at Delhi, on 7th-9th April 1946, M. A. Jinnah explained: “The Congress claim is founded on nationality, which does not exist, except in the eyes of those who merely dream. Our formula is based on the territory of this subcontinent being carved into two sovereign States of Hindustan and Pakistan”. M. Ashraf, quoted, p.23. 30 Ibidem, p.254. 31 Gandhi’s plan and suggestions have been reported in Partition and Independence of India. Inside Story of the Mountbatten Days by Manmath Nath Das, New Delhi, East-West Publications (U.K.) Ltd, 1982. The Author has based his work on “The Mountbatten Papers”, not open to general view, and on an interview with Earl Mountbatten in 1976. 1 Born in Naples in 1871, Carlo Formichi was a pupil of a famous indologist, Michele Kerbaker. He taught Sanskrit at the Universities of Bologna, Pisa, and Roma. A fervent supporter of Mussolini, Carlo Formichi was appointed member of the “Accademia d’ Italia” in 1929 and later on Vice-President. He died in Roma in 1943. 2 Viaggio verso l’Europa ideale. Tagore’s speech at the Circolo Filologico, Milan, in “Corriere della Sera”, Milano, 23 gennaio 1925, p.3. 3 “Corriere della Sera”, Milano, 3 febbraio 1925, p.4. 4 Quoted by Krishna Kripalani, Rabindranath Tagore. A Biography, London, Oxford University Press, 1962, pp.319-320. 5 Carlo Formichi, India e indiani, Milano, Alpes, 1929, pp.16-17. 6 Ibidem, pp.26-27. 7 On 21st October 1925 Mussolini sent professor Formichi a letter which was reproduced in the Italian original along with an English translation in “The Modem Review”, Calcutta, XXXVIII, N.6, December 1925, p.729. It read: “Illustrious Professor, While I express my lively satisfaction to you on account of the invitation you have received from the Visvabharati University, an institution which honours in an Italian savant the Italian science and the University of Rome, I am glad to entrust you with the charge of bringing in my name as a gift to that Institution, which is the greatest centre of Indian culture, the books (of which I enclose a list) with the wish that this offering may always render more and more intense the cultural relations between Italy and the classic land of India, the cradle of the civilization of the world”. 8 “The Modern Review”, Calcutta, XXXVIII, N.6, December 1925, p.742. 9 See note 5, p.269. 10 Krishna Kripalani, quoted, p.327. 11 “The Modem Review”, Calcutta, XL, N.3, September 1926, p.339-340. 12 Ibidem, p.341. 13 Ibidem, pp. 343-344. 14 According to Mario Prayer, Contributo alla biografia di Ravindranath Thakur: l’incontro con Benedetto Croce, in “Rivista degli Studi Orientali”, Roma, LXV, (1991), p.59, the “seeker of peace” did not refer to Formichi, but to Roberto Assagioli, a Florentine psychotherapist, who was the second interpreter of Tagore in Rome when Formichi was not available. 15 “The Manchester Guardian”, 5 August 1926, pp.9-10. 16 “Il Popolo d’Italia”, Milano, 25 agosto 1926. 17 “La Sera”, Milano, 25 agosto 1926. 18 Gaetano Salvemini (1873-1957), a socialist, arrested and jailed after Matteotti’s murder, emigrated to France from where he went to the United States in 1933; he taught history at the university of Harvard. In 1950 he returned to Italy and resumed his chair at the University of Florence. See his article Tagore e Mussolini, in Esperienze e studi socialist! in onore di Ugo Guido Mondolfo, edited by Critica Sociale, Firenze, 1957, pp.191-206. 19 Romain Rolland, Inde. Journal 1915-1943, Paris, Editions Albin Michel, 1960, p.108. 20 Ibidem, p.111. 21 Umberto Zanotti Bianco (1889-1963) worked in favour of the oppressed people by editing a magazine “La Voce dei popoli”. 22 Giovanni Amendola (1882-1926), journalist of the “Corriere della Sera”, member of the House in 1920-1922, founded a liberal-democratic party. After Mussolini’s speech on 3rd January 1925, when a dictatorial regime was enforced, Amendola was attacked and badly injured by a fascist gang in July 1925: he expatriated to France where he died a few months after. 23 R. Rolland, quoted, p.112. 24 Ibidem , p.113. 25 Ibidem, p.115. 26 Benedetto Croce (18664952), the most representative of the philosophers of the 20th century, did not take any political action during fascism. Though he became the first president of the Italian Liberal Party after the Second World War, he was more a writer than a politician. 27 R. Rolland, quoted, p.140. 28 M. Prayer, quoted, pp.61-68. 29 Giuseppe Emanuele Modigliani (1872-1947), one of the founders of the Socialist Party in 1921, was compelled to expatriate to Austria after Matteotti’s murder and to France later on. 30 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Council Presidency, Fasc.20/15, N.13238. 1 Quoted from S. A. Vahid, Introduction to Iqbal, Karachi, Pakistan Publications, no date [1960?], p.47. 2 The article was exhaustive with quotations from Persian, Urdu and English into Italian. I suspect it was written by a Muslim Indian student in Rome, perhaps Reyaz al-Hasan (see note 18) though some dates do not coincide. 3 The Secret of the Self [Asrar-i Khudi], in Persian, published at Lahore in 1915. See translation by Reynold A. Nicholson, London, Macmillan, 1920, “The Prologue”, vv.1-4, 151-156. 4 Ghazal “March 1907” from The Call of the Caravan Bell [Bang-i Dara], in Urdu, published at Lahore in 1924. See translation by M. A. K. Khalil, Lahore, Tayyab Iqbal Printers, 1997, vv.7-10, 14-19, 24-25. 5 The Reconstruction of the Religious Thought in Islam, edited and annotated by M. Saeed Sheikh, Lahore, Institute of Islamic Culture, 2006, p.142 (from the lecture “The Principle of Movement in the Structure of Islam”). 6 Ibidem, p.142. 7 Ibidem, p.120. 8 “Sicily” from The Call of the Caravan Bell, translation by Umrao Singh Sher Gil, revised by the editors of “Iqbal Collected Poetical Works (English Translation)”, edited by Muhammad Suheyl Umar, Lahore, Iqbal Academy Pakistan, on-line, p.169, vv.1-10, 13-18. 9 Muhammad Iqbal, Kulliyat-i Iqbal. Urdu, Lahore, Iqbal Academy Pakistan, 1991. 10 The official source is in Mussolini’s papers, the Visitors’ Book, where under the date of Friday, 27th November 1931, one can read in Italian: “Udienze di Venerdì 27 novembre 1931 – X: Palazzo Venezia, ore 15.45 Sir Mohamed Iqbal, grande poeta mussulmano”. [Time 15.45 Sir Mohamed Iqbal, great Muslim Poet]. See “Segreteria particolare del Duce, Carteggio Ordinario. Udienze” b. 3107. 11 Hafeez Malik, Iqbal in Politics, Lahore, Sang-e-Meel Publications, 2009, pp.215-218. 12 Ghulam Rasul Mehr (1895-died after 1947), journalist and writer, was with Iqbal during his travel in Europe in 1931. 13 Faqir Sayyid Wahd-ud-Din, Ruzqar-i Faqir, vol.I, pp.48-49. 14 Shaikh Ata Allah, Iqbal Nama, vol.II, p.314. 15 Pietro Quaroni, Ricordi di un ambasciatore. Un poeta difficile, in “Corriere della Sera”, Milano, 11 febbraio 1956, re-printed in Il mondo di un ambasciatore, Milano, Ferro Edizioni, 1965, pp.106-112. 16 “Notes of lecture delivered in Roma and Egypt” from the original in Iqbal’s own hand, reported in Khurram Ali Shafique, Iqbal. An Illustrated Biography, Lahore, Iqbal Academy Pakistan, 2006, p.157. 17 Muhammad Iqbal, The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, edited and annotated by M. Saeed Sheikh, Lahore, Institute of Islamic Culture, 2006, p.6. 18 Reyaz al-Hasan, an Indian Muslim student who got a Ph. D. in Italian literature in Rome in 1934. After retiring from Pakistan Foreign Service in the Sixties, Reyaz al-Hasan worked as Sub-editor of the Karachi daily “Morning News”. In 1940 he had been given the task of writing a long article on the life and work of Iqbal, Il poeta musulmano indiano Mohammed Iqbal (1873-1938), in “Oriente Moderno”, Roma, XX, 1940, pp.605-623. 19 Letters of Iqbal, compiled and edited by Bashir Ahmad Dar, Lahore, Iqbal Academy Pakistan, 2005, pp.209-210. 1 Pundit Malaviya (1861-1946), Chancellor of the Hindu University of Benares, President of the Indian National Congress in 1909 and 1918. 2 The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, quoted, vol.53 (2 July 1931-12 October 1931), p.130. 3 Ibidem, p.279. 4 ASMAE, A.P. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Historical Archives, Political Affairs), India, file 1. 5 Ibidem. 6 Gino Scarpa, L’Asia e il mondo occidentale, Roma, Universale di Roma Editrice, 1959, p.39. 7 Mahatma Gandhi, Autobiografia, a cura di C. F. Andrews. Prefazione di Giovanni Gentile, Milano, Garzanti, 1931. Actually it is an abridged version of the two-volume English edition The Story of my experiments with Truth, Ahmedabad, Navajivan Publishing House, 1927. Giovanni Gentile did not commit himself in his Preface which is, more or less, only an introduction to the subject: “From a historical point of view he [Gandhi] has succeeded in provoking one of the largest revolutions in the world” (p.23). 8 Quoted in Mario Prayer, L’intervista Gandhi-Mussolini: pagine “italiane” dal diario di Mahadev Desai, in “Storia Contemporanea” XXIII, N.1, febbraio 1992, p.82. 9 Ibidem. 10 Romain Rolland (1866-1944), scholar of art and writer, Nobel prize for literature, did not know English, but his sister did and acted as interpreter. 11 R. Rolland, quoted, pp.317-318: “J’ai envie d’y aller, de voir Mussolini. Mon désir est de voir les gens, de leur porter la mission de paix. [...] Scarpa [...] m’assure que cette visite est privée, non officielle, et que l’invitation est faite par lui [...] Pour Mussolini, je ne crois pas qu’il le veuille; mas s’il veut, je n’hésiterai pas”. 12 Countess Maria Carnevale-Alaimo, a pro-regime noblewoman, lived in a flat in Rome, in via Ludovisi 16, where she gave parties to prominent people visiting Rome. Besides the receptions in honour of Gandhi on 12th and 13th December 1931, she had hosted also Muhammad Iqbal. 13 Maurizio Mario Moris, a high military official, faithful to the Royal House of Savoy. 14 See the article Gandhi ricevuto dal Duce, in “Corriere della Sera”, Milano, 13 dicembre 1931. 15 G. Scarpa, quoted, pp.38-40. 16 R. Rolland, quoted, p.363: “Dans son ensemble, il n’a pas l’air très humain. Mais je dois dire, avec moi, il a été charmant. Et quand je lui ai dit que le pape n’avait pu me recevoir, il a eu une lueur de satisfaction malicieuse”. 17 The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, quoted, Vol.54 (13 October 1931-8 February 1932), p.297. Also R. Rolland, quoted, p.372. 18 Mahadev Desai, Letter from Europe, 2, In Italy, in “Young India”, 14 January 1932. Madeleine Slade, The Spirit’s Pilgrimage, New York, 1960, p.151. None of these two sources are actually useful from the point of view of the talk between Mussolini and Gandhi. 19 See note 8. The Author of the article has translated Desai’s notes from Gujarati into Italian (pp.75-77). 20 In his diary, under the date of Monday, 21st December 1931, Gandhi wrote: “Wrote letters. Completed the one to Mussolini”, in The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, quoted, Vol.54, p.339. 21 Sir Samuel Hoare, later Viscount Templewood, in his Nine Troubled Years, London, Collins, 1954, said that when he heard the report of “a fictitious interview” Gandhi was said to have given to Gayda of “Giornale d’Italia”, he was so “horrified and amazed” that he at once telegraphed for his confirmation. 22 The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, quoted, Vol.54, p.291. 23 Ibidem, p.291. 24 Gandhi stayed at Yeravda Central Prison from 4th January 1932 to 8th May 1933. While there he read a book on Mussolini; from his Diary we understand it was The Fascist Dictatorship in Italy, by Gaetano Salvemini, either in the 1927 New York edition or in the enlarged 1928 London edition. From his notes, he read it from 24th February to 1st March 1932: he did not write any comments. See The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol.55 (10 February 1932-15 June 1932), pp.453-454. 25 Ibidem, vol.54, p.329. 26 The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol.63 (18 January 1934-19 May 1934), pp.255-257. 27 Ibidem, pp.517-520. The three cuttings are as follows: A – A New Trade Boycott, from the Rome Correspondent of “The Times” on 15th December 1931; B – Gandhiji Refutes, in “The Times” on 18th December 1931; and C – Signor Gayda’s Reaffirmation, in “The Times” on 21st December 1931. See also Mirabehn’s Recollection, in “The Bombay Chronicle” on 11th March 1934. 28 Consul General Scarpa too considered Gayda’s interview a fake. See G. Scarpa, quoted, p.40. 29 J. Nehru, quoted, p.28. 30 The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, quoted, Vol.54, p.363. 31 Ibidem, vol.73 (21 February 1938-8 September 1938), p.156. 32 Ibidem, Vol.79 (16 July 1940-27 December 1940), pp.454-456. 1 Carlo Alfonso Nallino (1872-1938), wrote original essays concerning the history of the Arabs, collected in six volumes, Raccolta di scritti editi ed inediti, Roma, Istituto per l’Oriente, 1939-1948. 2 Amedeo Giannini (1886-1960), expert of constitutional law. 3 Maria Nallino, Recente eco indo-persiana della “Divina Commedia”: Muhammad Iqbal, in “Oriente Moderno”, Roma, XII, 1932, pp.610-622. 4 Arthur Jeffery, Il modernismo musulmano dell’indiano “Sir” Muhammad Iqbal, in “Oriente Moderno”, Roma, XIV, 1934, pp.505-513. 5 Reyaz ul-Hasan, Il poeta musulmano indiano Mohammed Iqbal (1873-1938), in “Oriente Moderno”, Roma, XX, 1940, pp.605-623. 6 Opening article of the “Avvenire Arabo”, I, N.1, 15 gennaio 1932, p.1. 7 Emilio De Bono (1866-1944), general in the first world war, was the military co-ordinator of the fascist troops and one of the quadrumvirs in the “March on Rome”, Governor of Tripolitania from 1925, Minister for Colonies (afterwards Ministry of Italian Africa) from 12th September 1929 to 16th January 1935. On 25th July 1943 he voted in favour of “Dino Grandi’s Order of the Day” against Mussolini; a special tribunal of the “Repubblica Sociale Italiana” sentenced him to death for high treason on 11th January 1944. 8 Laura Veccia Vaglieri, Il Mediterraneo ai mediterranei, in “Mondo Arabo”, II, N.5, 28 febbraio. 9 Giuseppe Tucci (1894-1984), Professor of Indian Religions and Philosophies in the University of Rome, Member of the “Accademia d’Italia” from 1929, President of the IsMEO from 1948 to 1979. 10 Giovanni Gentile (1875-1944), philosopher and politician, editor-in-chief of the “Enciclopedia Italiana”, President of the “Accademia d’Italia” 1943-1944. See Giuseppe Tucci, Ancona, Istituto Marchigiano. Accademia di Scienze Lettere e Arti, 1985, containing his Bibliography by L. Petech and F. Scialpi. 11 These works were present in Mussolini’s library, along with two biographies of Mussolini by V. V. Tahmankar, Mussolini ani Fashismo, Puna, 1927, and by B. M. Sharma, Mussolini, Lucknow, 1932. See L. De Felice, quoted, pp.515-516. 12 Filippo De Filippi, I viaggiatori italiani in Asia con un proemio di Giovanni Gentile, Roma, Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1934, p.5. 13 Benito Mussolini, Oriente e Occidente, in “Il Popolo d’Italia”, 23 dicembre 1933; now in Opera Omnia, quoted, vol.XXVI, pp.127-128. 14 Benito Mussolini, Sintesi del Regime, in “Il Popolo d’Italia”, 20 marzo 1934; now in Opera Omnia, quoted, vol.XXVI, pp.185-193. 15 See C. Bose, India’s Struggle for Independence, quoted. 16 Emilio Canevari, L’India e gli Inglesi, in “La Vita Italiana”, aprile 1942, pp.317-323. 17 T. Salvotti, Gli ebrei e settari alla conquista dell’India, in “La Vita Italiana”, aprile 1940, pp.385-392. 18 Eros Vicari, Perché l’India non è insorta, in “La Vita Italiana”, aprile 1942, pp.324-328. 19 See the very interesting essay by Mario Prayer, Italian Fascist Regime and Nationalist India, 1921-45, in “International Studies”, J. Nehru University, New Delhi, vol. 28. N.3, 1991, pp. 249-271, the only contribution in English on the subject. 1 Shedai’s father, Ghulam ‘Ali Bhutta, had been Allama’s teacher at the Sialkot College; besides, it is reported that Shedai met the poet in Rome in 1931. In a letter dated 11th August 1937, writing to the art historian ‘Abd Allah Chughatai, Iqbal asked him “to convey his greetings to Shedai and his wife”. See Iqbal-namah. Makatib-i Iqbal [Letters of Iqbal], edited by Shaikh ‘Ata Allah, Lahore, Iqbal Akademi Pakistan, 2005, p.600. 2 Born in 1878 and 1873, in a prosperous and influential family of the then princely State of Rampur, they had both studied at the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College of ‘Aligarh. The younger one, Muhammad ‘Ali, who attended advanced studies at Oxford, became a journalist: in 1911 he founded a weekly paper “The Comrade” and entered politics. 3 The Hindustan Ghadar Party was actually founded after the 1857-58 “Mutiny”; however, it was inactive for a long period. Re-organized in the USA by Punjabi Indians in 1913, the party ran a newspaper “Ghadar” (an Urdu and Punjabi word from Arabic meaning “revolt”), aiming to liberate India from British rule. In 1915, at the outbreak of the First World War, members of the party conducted terrorist activities in Central Punjab, which were suppressed by the British. Shedai joined the Party in 1918. See Appendix I. After the defeat of Italy and Germany in the Second World War, the Ghadar Party looked to the Soviet Union for support. 4 Born in Rome in 1892 from Muslim Rumanian parents (his original name was ‘Ali ibn Jafar), he was a professor of psychiatry in the university of Rome. 5 Ettore Rossi (1894-1955), succeeded to Carlo Alfonso Nallino in the direction of “Oriente Moderno” in 1938; he was an expert of the Turkish world. 6 In 1941 Virginia Vacca published a very useful handbook, L’India Musulmana, in the series of publications sponsored by the Italian Institute for the Studies of International Politics (ISPI) in Milan. 7 Luigi Lanfranconi (1882-1938). 8 All the information about Shedai’s activity up to 1940 come from this report in ASMAE, Gabinetto, Italia, file 6, fasc.408; and from History Thesis discussed in Urdu at the University of Punjab, Lahore, in 1976, by ‘Awan Ahmad Gulzar (see Bibliography). 9 Ibidem. 10 Subhas Chandra Bose (1897-1945), wrote an important history of the Indian events from 1920 to 1934, India’s Struggle for Independence (London, Weshart & Co,, 1935), which was translated into Italian and published in July 1942 (Firenze, Sansoni). Later on, Bose added an appendix dealing with the “Quit India Resolution” of 7th August 1942 and the future prospect of India, which too was translated into Italian and published in April 1943 (Firenze, Sansoni). 11 Quoted in Leonard A. Gordon, Brothers against the Raj: A Biography of Indian Nationalists Sarat and Subhas Chandra Bose, New York, 1990, p.234. 12 Achille Starace (1889-1945), Secretary of the National Fascist Party from December 1931 to October 1939. 13 Interview to Bose: A colloquio con Bose ex sindaco di Calcutta. La gioventù dell’India e la forza creatrice del Fascismo, in “Il giornale d’Italia”, 29 dicembre 1933. 14 ASMAE, Gabinetto, pos.7, fasc. “S.C. Bose”. 15 Renzo De Felice, Il fascismo e l’Oriente, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1988, p.206. 16 R. Rolland, quoted, pp.473-477. 17 Galeazzo Ciano, Diario 1937-1943, a cura di Renzo De Felice, Milano, Rizzoli, 1980, pp.88-89. 18 Jawaharlal Nehru, The Discovery of India, Calcutta, The Signet Press, 1946, p.369. Pandit Nehru (1889-1964) studied at Cambridge, President of the Indian Congress for many terms, substituted Gandhi during his temporary retirement from active politics in 1934-1939; he was Prime Minister of India from the independence on 15th August 1947 until his death. 19 J. Nehru, quoted, p.28. The passage goes on with the description of Nehru being met in Rome during an evening and night stop of his plane for the East and the insistence from a high official of the Italian Ministry to meet Mussolini. However, Nehru had his way and the meeting did not take place. 20 J. Nehru, quoted, p.369. 1 Virginia Vacca, “Ar-Radyo”. Le radio arabe d’Europa e d’Oriente e le loro pubblicazioni, in “Oriente Moderno”, Roma, XX, N.9, settembre 1940, pp.444-451. 2 In “Asiatica” Roma, VIII, N.2, marzo-aprile 1942, p.90-94. 3 Ibidem, pp.95-97. 4 “The Vice-Director General for the Transoceanic Affairs, Alessandrini, to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ciano. Note dated Rome, 31 December 1941”, in I Documenti Diplomatici Italiani, Roma, IX serie 1939-1943, vol.VIII, 1988, p.86-92. 5 The full document in Italian has been published by R. De Felice, quoted, pp. 335-340. 6 Subhas Chandra Bose, Crossroads, London, Asia Publishing House, 1962, pp.174-177. 7 Quoted by Manfredo Martelli, L’India e il Fascismo, Roma, Edizioni Settimo Sigillo, 2002, p.181. 8 The Faqir of Ipi, alias Mirza ‘Ali Khan (1892/97-1960), was strongly anti-British; after the partition he became the symbol of independent Pakhtunistan. 9 See note 5, p.337. 10 P. Quaroni, Il mondo di un ambasciatore, quoted, pp.120-128. 11 Subhas Chandra Bose, The Indian struggle 1920-1942, Calcutta, 1964, pp.415-418. 12 Milan Hauner, One Man against the Empire. The Faqir of Ipi and the British in Central Asia on the Eve of and during the Second World War, in “Journal of Contemporary History”, vol.16, N.1, January 1981, pp.183-212. 13 I Documenti Diplomatici Italiani, Roma, IX serie 1939-1943. vol.VIII, 1988, pp.266-267, 374, 457-458, 536-540. 14 Ibidem, pp.91-92. 15 . Mussolini recognized it on 1st November 1943: “The fascist republican government recognizes the Government of president Subhas Chandra Bose and sends the best wishes for his mission against the British imperialism”, in “Corriere della Sera”, 2 novembre 1943, now in Opera Omnia, quoted, vol.XXXII, p.215. 16 The Ciano Diaries 1939-1943. The complete, unabridged diaries of Count Galeazzo Ciano, Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs, 1936-1943, edited by Hugh Gibson. Introduction by Sumner Welles, New York, Doubleday & Company, 1946, pp.363, 473, 481-482. 17 Raja Mahendra Pratap (1886-1979), journalist and writer, established a Government of Free India at Kabul in 1915. After along staying in Japan, he returned to India in 1946. 18 Amanullah Khan (1892-1960), first independent king of Afghanistan (1919-1929), was deposed because he was considered a too radical reformer; he introduced Pashtu as national language, limited the influence of the mullahs, promulgated a constitution and created a national assembly (jirga). He went into exile to Italy and afterwards to Switzerland where he died. 19 I Documenti Diplomatici Italiani, Roma, IX serie 1939-1943, vol.VIII, 1988, pp.90-91. 20 P. Quaroni, Il mondo di un ambasciatore, quoted, pp.149-155. 21 . Ibidem, p.155. 22 It seems strange he had not mentioned “nor Hindu”. 23 Gandhi, Nehru, and all the eleven members of the Executive Committee of the Congress were interned from 9th August 1942 to 15th June 1945: without their active presence in the life of the Country the problems of India became worse, both from the point of view of the interior order and of the economic situation. 24 L’India agli Indiani, in “Corrispondenza Repubblicana”, 26 marzo 1944; now in Opera Omnia, quoted, vol.XXXII, pp-329-331. One month before his fall, in his last speech, the so-called “speech of the bagnasciuga” [wind and water line], he had mentioned: “Chandra Bose, who is not fasting, is at the gates of India”. Was it only a passing idea or was he really hoping in some help impossible to take place? See Opera Omnia, vol.XXXI, p.196. 25 Vittore Querèl, “Mi alleerei con il diavolo per la libertà degli arabi”. È quel che ha detto in Africa il grande agitatore musulmano Shedai, in “La Patria”, Milano, 29 dicembre 1952, p.3. 26 There exist a bunch of letters exchanged between Shedai and the Agha Khan in the year 1950 dealing with contacts between Shedai and the Holy See, mentioning Cardinal Eugène Tisserant (then Secretary of the Congregation for the Eastern Church) and Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini (the future Pope Paul VI). Documents attached to ‘Awan Ahmad Gulzar’s History Thesis (see Bibliography). 1 I Documenti Diplomatici Italiani, Roma, IX serie 1939-1943, vol.VIII, 1988, pp.536-540. 2 Quoted from Speeches, Writings and Statements of Iqbal, quoted, pp.3-29. 3 Ibidem. 4 See Appendix III. 5 In a letter to Jinnah, dated on 15th September 1944, and published in “The Hindu” of 29th September, Gandhi wrote: “I find no parallel in history for a body of converts and their descendants claiming to be a nation apart from the parent stock. If India was one nation before the advent of Islam, it must remain one in spite of the change of faith of a very large body of her children”. The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, quoted, vol.84 (27 January 1944-10 October 1944), pp.381-384.