Rare photos of Republic India

Aug. 15, 1947: Mountbatten swears Nehru in as Prime Minister of India

TRAIN TO PAKISTAN; India 1947. Trains packed with refugees - Hindus and Sikhs headed for India, and Muslims headed for Pakistan - were convenient targets for gangs of killers on both sides of the border. Inadequately protected 'Refugee Specials' were typically stopped, and the occupants butchered, several times in the course of the journey.

The dead - Punjab, 1947

1971: Indira Gandhi reviews the troops, in the context of militaryand diplomatic preparations for the Bangladesh War.

Ghandhiji Addressing people

Nehru and Gandhi at AICC meeting, July 1946

Mountbatten arrives at Delhi airport; received by Nehru and Liaquat Ali. March 25, 1947

1948: The news of Gandhi's assassination hits the streets. A stunned crowd gathers in Calcutta.

1948: The news of Gandhi's assassination hits the streets. A stunned crowd gathers in Calcutta

A Library being divided at the time of partition. Heart trembles to see this sight and it is tough to imagine the state of the nation at the moment when people needed to hold hands.