Motilal Nehru (1861-1931) was an Indian lawyer and statesman who influenced the fate of the Indian nation not only by direct political action but also through his offspring, whom he educated.

Motilal Nehru was born in Allahabad on May 6, 1861, into the Kashmiri Brahmin community, most aristocratic of Hindu subcastes. His father, serving as a police officer in Delhi, had lost his job and property in the mutiny of 1857. A posthumous son, Nehru got his early education at home in Persian and Arabic and spoke Urdu as his mother tongue, reflecting the fusion of Hindu and Moslem cultures in the United Provinces. He attended the government high school in Cawnpore and matriculated at Muir Central College in Allahabad. Though he did not complete his degree, he passed the examinations as a lawyer. Following an apprenticeship in Cawnpore, he began practice at the High Court in Allahabad in 1886.

Nehru was...