Editing Tryst with Destiny

{{Short description|1947 speech by Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Wikisource|A Tryst With Destiny}}
[[File:Nehru tryst with destiny speech.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Jawaharlal Nehru]] delivers his "Tryst with Destiny" speech on 14 August 1947]]

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| video1 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Cudc5Mhlcc&feature=youtu.be Tryst with Destiny, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's Independence Day Speech (1947)] video by [[Indian National Congress]]
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"'''Tryst with Destiny'''" was an [[English language|English-language]] speech by [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], the first [[Prime Minister of India|Prime Minister]] of [[India]], to the [[Constituent Assembly of India|Indian Constituent Assembly]] in the [[Old Parliament House, New Delhi|Parliament House]], on the eve of [[Independence Day (India)|India's Independence]], towards midnight on 14 August 1947. The speech spoke on the aspects that transcended [[History of India|Indian history]]. It is considered to be one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century<ref name="Great_Speeches">{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/series/greatspeeches | title=Great speeches of the 20th century | work=The Guardian | date=8 February 2008 | access-date=18 December 2016 | archive-date=2 December 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202020709/https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/series/greatspeeches | url-status=live }}</ref> and to be a landmark oration that captures the essence of the triumphant culmination of the [[Indian independence movement]] against [[British Raj|British colonial rule in India]]. He declared the end of the colonial era and called on citizens to recognize the promise and opportunity of the moment:<blockquote>Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny. Now the time has come when we shall redeem our pledge - not wholly or in full measure - but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.</blockquote>His speech<ref name="modern_history_Sourcebook">{{cite web |date=October 1998 |title=Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964): Speech On the Granting of Indian Independence, August 14, 1947 |url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1947nehru1.html |accessdate=11 November 2010 |work=Modern History Sourcebook |publisher=[[Fordham University]] |archive-date=18 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120818123622/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1947nehru1.html |url-status=live }}</ref> went on to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi's efforts in the Independence Movement and called upon his countrymen to work together to<blockquote>bring freedom and opportunity to the common man, to the peasants and workers of India; to fight and end poverty and ignorance and disease; to build up a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation, and to create social, economic and political institutions which will ensure justice and fullness of life to every man and woman.</blockquote>The declaration ends with an exhortation to work together in the [[Common good|common weal]] and cautions against narrow [[Sectarianism|sectarian]] or religious divisiveness:<blockquote>All of us, to whatever religion we may belong, are equally the children of India with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot encourage communalism or narrow-mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action.</blockquote>

==Popular culture  ==
* The final episode of the 1984 series ''[[The Jewel in the Crown (TV series)|The Jewel in the Crown]]'' contains extracts of the speech.
* The speech is referenced in the 1998 [[Bollywood|Hindi film]] ''[[Earth (1998 film)|Earth]]'' directed by [[Deepa Mehta]]. The film portrays the main characters listening to the speech over the radio, against the backdrop of the [[Hindu]]-[[Muslim]] riots following the [[Partition of India]]. This provides an interesting juxtaposition between the realities of Partition and the optimism that followed Independence.<ref name="GokulsingDissanayake2009">{{cite book|author1=K. Moti Gokulsing|author2=[[Wimal Dissanayake]]|title=Popular Culture in a Globalised India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mXx9AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA28|date=13 January 2009|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-02307-3|pages=28–}}</ref>
* ''[[Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi]]'', a Hindi film by [[Sudhir Mishra]] that portrayed the political and social turbulence of the late 1960s and the '70s in India contains a clip of the speech and the narrative voice speaks of the souring of Nehru's dream within two decades of Independence.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Agrawal|first1=Parul|title=Citizen Journalism: In pursuit of Accountability India|url=https://reutersdev.nsms.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/documents/Publications/fellows__papers/2011-2012/Citizen_Journalism_-__In_pursuit_of_Accountability_in_India.pdf|publisher=Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford|access-date=12 November 2014|page=9|archive-date=19 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141219233818/https://reutersdev.nsms.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/documents/Publications/fellows__papers/2011-2012/Citizen_Journalism_-__In_pursuit_of_Accountability_in_India.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
* In the 2000 film ''[[Hey Ram]]'' directed by [[Kamal Haasan]], parts of the speech are heard in the background providing the audience a timeline of the happenings in the movie.<ref name="Sarkar2009">{{cite book|author=Bhaskar Sarkar|title=Mourning the Nation: Indian Cinema in the Wake of Partition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wghFNlpM3PIC&pg=PA340|date=29 April 2009|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=0-8223-9221-6|pages=340–}}</ref>
* The book ''[[Midnight's Children]]'' by [[Salman Rushdie]] has a reference to this speech<ref name="Rushdie2010">{{cite book|author=Salman Rushdie|title=Midnight's Children|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I4ITufjFf0oC&pg=PA155|date=7 September 2010|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-1-4090-2848-2|pages=155–}}</ref> as does the novel ''[[Train to Pakistan]]'' by [[Khushwant Singh]].<ref name="Singh2013">{{cite book|author=Khushwant Singh|title=Train to Pakistan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2XElKNNAgyQC&pg=PA185|date=February 2013|publisher=Penguin Books India|isbn=978-0-14-341796-5|pages=185–}}</ref>
* The speech is sampled by trance artist [[John 00 Fleming]] in the album ''One Hundred Ten WKO'' during the fifth track, "The Stroke of the Midnight Hour".<ref>{{cite web|title=Album Review: John O’Fleming – One.Hundred.Ten W.K.O|url=http://globaldigitaldjs.com/album-review-john-ofleming-one-hundred-ten-w-k-o/|access-date=12 November 2014|archive-date=22 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131222192209/http://globaldigitaldjs.com/album-review-john-ofleming-one-hundred-ten-w-k-o/|url-status=live}}</ref>
* The musical group ''[[Kobo Town]]'' uses sound clips from this speech in their song "Sing Out, Shout Out" from their album ''Independence''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sing Out, Shout Out by Kobo Town - Lyrics|url=http://www.lyrster.com/lyrics/sing-out-shout-out-lyrics-kobo-town.html|access-date=12 November 2014|archive-date=12 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141112102125/http://www.lyrster.com/lyrics/sing-out-shout-out-lyrics-kobo-town.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
*The [[Salman Khan]] film ''[[Bharat (film)|Bharat]]'' also used clips from the speech in their trailer.
*The film ''[[Student of the Year]]'' mentioned the name of the speech as a clue in the treasure hunt game.
*The ''Let's Crack It'' song owned by Unacademy made its intro using the actual speech voice clips.
*In the aftermath of the [[2008 Mumbai Attacks]], the indie rock band, [[Parikrama (band)|Parikrama (Band)]], released a single "One" in tribute, which sampled part of the speech 
*2012 Hindi film ''[[Gangs of Wasseypur]]'' used clips from this speech in one of the shots featuring the character Shahid Khan.

==See also==
* [[Speeches about Indian independence]]
* [[The light has gone out of our lives]], speech on the death of Mahatma Gandhi by Nehru

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.harappa.com/wall/nehru.html Video of Nehru's "Tryst with Destiny" address] 
*{{cite web|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1947nehru1.html|title=Speech On the Granting of Indian Independence,  14 August 1947 |last=Nehru|first=Jawaharlal|work = Modern History Sourcebook| publisher=Internet History Sourcebook Project|access-date=3 March 2010}}

{{Jawaharlal Nehru}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tryst With Destiny}}
[[Category:Indian independence movement]]
[[Category:History of the Republic of India]]
[[Category:1947 in India]]
[[Category:Nehru administration]]
[[Category:1947 speeches]]
[[Category:Speeches by Jawaharlal Nehru]]
[[Category:Speeches about colonialism]]
[[Category:Inaugural addresses]]