1905
The Golden Threshold
Sarojini Naidu, the Nightingale of India
Naidu's debut poetry collection, published in London when she was 26. Folk songs, love poems, and verses of an India finding its voice, before she became the movement's orator and the first woman governor of an Indian state.
Public domain: pre-1930 publication (US and India).
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1906
Swarajya: The Ahmednagar Address
Bal Gangadhar Tilak
"Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it."
Tilak's full 1916 Ahmednagar address laying out the philosophy of Swaraj: self-rule as a birthright, not a British gift. The slogan that electrified a generation.
Public domain: speech 1916, published 1922 (US and India).
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1909
Hind Swaraj (Indian Home Rule)
M.K. Gandhi
"It is my deliberate opinion that India is being ground down, not under the English heel, but under that of modern civilization."
Written on the ship Kildonan Castle in 1909, banned by the British. Gandhi's foundational critique of Western civilization and the case for Indian self-rule. The first text of the movement to challenge the civilizational premises of colonialism.
Public domain: pre-1930 publication (US and India).
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1912
Gitanjali (Song Offerings)
Rabindranath Tagore, Nobel Prize 1913
"Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high... Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake."
Tagore's English prose poems, translated by the author himself. The book that won the first Nobel Prize for a non-European. Poetry as prayer for a free India.
Public domain: confirmed by Project Gutenberg (US); PD in India since 2001.
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1916
Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development
B.R. Ambedkar, Columbia University
Ambedkar's 1916 anthropology seminar paper, read at Columbia and published in Indian Antiquary (1917). The argument that launched his career: the essence of caste is endogamy. Freedom from the British meant nothing without freedom from caste.
Public domain: pre-1930 publication (US and India).
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1924
Young India Essays on Swaraj
M.K. Gandhi
Selected 1924 editorials on the meaning of Swaraj: government by the many, the poor man's Swaraj, Swaraj as the rule of justice for all communities, Hindu and Muslim alike.
Public domain: pre-1930 publication (US and India).
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1930
Why I Am an Atheist
Bhagat Singh, Lahore Central Jail
Written 5-6 October 1930 in prison, published in The People (1931). The 23-year-old revolutionary's defense of atheism as reasoned philosophy, not vanity. His intellectual testament.
Public domain in India (author d. 1931). US distribution under review.
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1936
Annihilation of Caste
B.R. Ambedkar
The undelivered 1936 address, printed as a book after conference organizers cancelled his invitation as too radical. Ambedkar's most uncompromising attack on the caste system. A foundational text of the Dalit movement.
Public domain in India (author d. 1956, PD since 2017). US distribution under review.
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1944
Give Me Blood, and I Shall Give You Freedom
Subhas Chandra Bose, Indian National Army, Burma
"Tum mujhe khoon do, main tumhe azadi dunga."
Bose's 1944 address to the INA demanding total mobilisation. The battle cry of the armed independence struggle, and the origin of the "Jai Hind" salute.
Public domain in India (author d. 1945, PD since 2006). US distribution under review.
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1947
A Tryst with Destiny
Jawaharlal Nehru, Constituent Assembly, midnight 14-15 August 1947
"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge."
The midnight address as India awoke to freedom. Delivered as part of the Constituent Assembly proceedings and published by the Lok Sabha in 1950.
Public domain in India as a government work. US distribution under review (government-edict doctrine).
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Public domain, stated plainly
Copyright works differently in India and the US. Here is exactly where each text stands, so teachers and students know what they are using.
| Text | India | United States |
|---|
| Hind Swaraj (1909) | PD (Gandhi d. 1948) | PD (pre-1930) |
| Gitanjali (1912) | PD (Tagore d. 1941) | PD (confirmed) |
| Castes in India (1916) | PD (Ambedkar d. 1956) | PD (pre-1930) |
| Golden Threshold (1905) | PD (Naidu d. 1949) | PD (pre-1930) |
| Tilak address (1916) | PD (Tilak d. 1920) | PD (pre-1930) |
| Young India essays (1924) | PD (Gandhi d. 1948) | PD (pre-1930) |
| Why I Am an Atheist (1930/31) | PD (Bhagat Singh d. 1931) | Under review |
| Annihilation of Caste (1936) | PD since 2017 | Under review |
| Bose speeches (1944) | PD since 2006 | Under review |
| Tryst with Destiny (1947) | PD (government work) | Under review |
India: Copyright Act 1957, life plus 60 years; government works 60 years from publication. US: pre-1930 publications are public domain. Items marked "under review" are held from US distribution pending a cleared legal theory.
Questions
Are these speeches really public domain?
Pre-1930 works are public domain in the US. All listed authors are public domain in India under life-plus-60. Items after 1930 are marked for jurisdiction review before US distribution, and the table above says exactly where each one stands.
Is Tryst with Destiny public domain?
Yes in India: it was delivered as part of the Constituent Assembly proceedings and published by the Lok Sabha in 1950, making it a government work, public domain 60 years after publication. US distribution is under review under the government-edict doctrine.
Are Hindi versions available?
English versions come first since most source texts are English translations or English originals. Where Hindi originals exist (Bose's Hindi addresses, Bhagat Singh's Hindi writings), they are included alongside.
Can I use these in my classroom or UPSC preparation?
Yes. Everything on this page is free to listen to, download, and share. Each entry links to the original source text.