Tides of Time Sudha Murty Book: Parliament Murals & India’s Democratic History

The murals of the Indian Parliament are singular in the world of legislative architecture. While most Western parliaments favour neoclassical austerity, India’s founding leaders envisioned their Parliament as a space that should embody what Nehru called the “genius of the Indian people.”

In 1954, under the guidance of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and a committee of artists and historians, a large-scale project was commissioned to paint the ground-floor corridors of Parliament House. The mandate: depict Indian history from earliest recorded times to the dawn of Independence. The 58 original murals in Samvidhan Sadan form the heart of Murty’s book, with newer additions extending the narrative further.

The book reproduces these works in high-definition on red sandstone-textured paper with gold accents — a deliberate design choice that mirrors the visual language of Parliament itself, making the book feel less like a publication and more like a portal.

The book follows a chronological and thematic arc across India’s civilisational journey. Each cluster of murals represents a distinct era, with Murty’s prose adding historical context and emotional resonance.

Indus Valley Civilisation: The opening murals depict the sophisticated urban planning of Mohenjo-daro — grid streets, drainage systems, and standardized weights — establishing that India’s story begins with mastery of civic life and long-distance commerce, not conquest.

Philosophy and Ethics: Panels dedicated to Maharishi Valmiki, Ved Vyas, and the teachings of the Upanishads illustrate how Indian governance has always been rooted in Dharma. The murals of Gautama Buddha and Lord Mahavira represent the era of spiritual and intellectual awakening — non-violence and compassion as pillars of statecraft.

The Golden Age of Governance: The Maurya and Gupta empires receive extended treatment. The murals of Emperor Ashoka — particularly his renunciation of war after Kalinga and his embrace of peace — occupy a central place. Chanakya’s administrative genius and the Gupta era’s standards for taxation, welfare, and justice are presented not merely as historical facts but as templates of governance still relevant today.

Medieval Pluralism and Resilience: The book moves through the Bhakti and Sufi movements as evidence of India’s innate pluralism. The architectural marvel of the Konark Sun Temple, the maritime dominance of the Chola Dynasty, and the figure of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj — representing the concept of Hindavi Swarajya (self-rule) — mark the transition toward the modern idea of a sovereign nation-state.

The most intellectually significant contribution of Tides of Time is its systematic documentation of India’s pre-modern democratic traditions — directly countering the colonial-era narrative that democracy was a Western gift to India.

Murty highlights two key mural subjects that carry enormous exam and GDPI relevance:

• The Vaishali Republic: One of the world’s first known republics, the Licchavi republic of Vaishali (in present-day Bihar) had elected representatives and a functioning assembly centuries before the Athenian democracy that is typically celebrated as democracy’s birthplace. The Parliament murals depicting Vaishali reinforce India’s claim to the title “Mother of Democracy.”
• The Kudavolai System of the Cholas: In South India, Chola-era village assemblies called Sabhas used a remarkable “pot-ticket” system to elect local leaders — name-inscribed palm leaf tickets were placed in a pot, and a child drew them randomly to determine the winner. This is one of the earliest documented random-selection democratic mechanisms in the world, predating many Western electoral innovations.

By placing these murals at the center of her narrative, Murty argues that the modern Indian Parliament is not a transplant from Westminster — it is the natural flowering of a democratic instinct rooted in Indian soil for thousands of years.

The book concludes with the murals depicting India’s long march to Independence — the section Murty frames with the most emotional intensity. Three moments define this final chapter:

• The 1857 Uprising: The murals capture what the book calls India’s first organised collective resistance to colonial rule — the event that forced the British Crown to dissolve the East India Company and rule India directly.
• The Dandi March (1930): The mural of Gandhi leading the 241-mile walk to break the Salt Law is presented as the visual centrepiece of civil disobedience — a moment where an entire nation’s defiance was crystallised into a single act of walking.
• The Leaders: Mahatma Gandhi (moral force), Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (integration and administration), and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose (armed resistance and international diplomacy) are depicted as complementary, not competing, visions of freedom.

Tides of Time operates on multiple levels simultaneously — as an art book, a history text, a political statement, and a civic education tool. Its significance extends across several dimensions relevant to current affairs and competitive exams:

• Civilisational Narrative: The book participates in a larger contemporary debate about India’s self-understanding — asserting that Indian democracy, Indian philosophy, and Indian governance have deep indigenous roots that predate colonial modernity.
• Samvidhan Sadan: The choice of Samvidhan Sadan (the old Parliament, renamed from “Central Hall” era usage) as the launch venue is symbolically significant — the book is about the murals within its walls, and its launch there completes a circle between content and context.
• Sudha Murty’s Position: As a Rajya Sabha MP (nominated), Murty brings unusual credibility — she writes about Parliament’s murals as both a legislator who works in those corridors and an author who has spent decades making history accessible to ordinary Indians.
• Civic Education: By making Parliament’s art accessible in book form, the work democratises the “Temple of Democracy” — ensuring citizens who will never walk those corridors can still understand the story their nation chose to paint on its most important walls.