Noblemen, Spies, and a Hindu Monk Going to War: Notes on Swami B. H. Bon in New York, 1940–41

Abstract

Based on previously classified material from the India Office, London, this article looks at the wartime correspondence generated by the offer of Gaudiya Vaishnava missionary Swami B. H. Bon (1901–82), at this time working in New York, to volunteer as a ‘Hindu chaplain’ in the fight against Nazi Germany. Combining this material with media reports and reminiscences, this article not only sheds light on a period in the life on Swami Bon that is little known, but also illuminates some of the hopes and anxieties of the last years of British colonial rule over India.