The Reacting to the Past game Defining a Nation: India on the Eve of Independence, 1945 is one in which the students must learn, and then teach one another, highly diverse material. The instructor/Game Master will give some introductory lectures, the game book gives numerous appendices and essays, and the role sheets--the longest in the Reacting universe, to my knowledge--give very extensive descriptions of the historical roles and factions. That being said, students may wish for more background on the specifics of their roles, and because those roles are so varied, no instructor could go into depth on all of them during the setup phase. (Ambitious students may also want to do opposition research to prepare themselves to debate their counterparts.)
Podcasts can help to close that gap. What follows is a curated list of podcasts that instructors may wish to assign, or to offer, their students as auxillary teaching material. In full disclosure, I have not listened to every one of these, though I have listened to many of them, and all, so far as I can tell, come from generally reputable sources; and while I am a history professor, modern India is not my field of research. But my own students have appreciated having this list available, and so I am happy to share it publicly. Further, while most students would only have time to listen to a few of these during the semester or during the game, they may develop an interest in the field and benefit from having access to this list to assuage their own curiosity after the semester is over.
I would be happy to add to this list, so if you know of any well-informed and balanced podcast episodes that are relevant, if you have more subject knowledge and think that some of those listed here give incorrect information or unduly biased views, or if you find any broken links, please email me at whc7 (at) pitt (dot) edu.
William H. Campbell, Ph.D.
University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg
Last updated April 25, 2026
The podcast Empire did its first season about the British Raj. Episodes 1-5 are particularly relevant as companion listening to reading the appendix "Unfinished Journey" in the game book.
The Hindustan Times newspaper produced a thirteen-part podcast series in 2017 on the history of the independence movement. Episodes are around 30-40 minutes each.
An original newsreel video of the arrival of the delegates to Simla (2 minutes) is available here. This can set the scene well as a "liminal moment", though as the video speaks of the failure of the conference, students need to understand that this only means a temporary deadlock in the proceedings at this moment, which it will now be their job to try to break.
BBC In Our Time: The Bhagavad Gita. (45 minutes)
The Bhagavad Gita: A guide to spiritual wisdom from the BBC The Forum podcast (about 45 minutes)
From The History of Philosophy Podcast (about 20 minutes each):
The Rise of Islam from the podcast Empire (42 minutes)
The Mughal Empire from the BBC In Our Time podcast (45 minutes)
Guru Nanak: The Discipline of Deeds (Nanak founded the Sikh faith) From the BBC's podcast series Incarnations: India in 50 Lives (about 15 minutes)
Episodes 5 and 13 of the podcast Empire both deal with the Jallianwala Bagh (Amritsar) Massacre and its subsequent fallout. (44 and 52 minutes, respectively)
The Amritsar Massacre of 1919 is also covered by the BBC podcast Witness History (10 minutes).
See also episodes in the Historical Background series listed above.
Gandhi: Architect of Indian Independence From the thirteen-part Hindustan Times podcast series 1947 (about 40 minutes each)
Episode 9: The Years of Constitutionalism and Episode 10: It's Time: Quit India, From the BBC The Forum podcast (about 45 minutes)
See also episodes in the Historical Background series listed above.
Episode 9: The Years of Constitutionalism and Episode 10: It's Time: Quit India, From the BBC The Forum podcast (about 45 minutes)
MOSTLY HARMLESS: NON-VIOLENCE From The History of Philosophy Podcast (about 20 minutes)
Gandhi: In The Palm of Our Hands From the BBC's podcast series Incarnations: India in 50 Lives (about 15 minutes)
Mahatma Gandhi episode from the podcast Empire, part of its season about the British Raj (60 minutes)
Gandhi's Salt March Protest is covered by the BBC podcast Witness History (10 minutes).
See also episodes in the Historical Background series listed above.
There is some discussion of Azad's vision in an interview with the author of the book The Muslim Secular on the New Books Network podcast. It's fairly advanced and theoretical, though, and may be of limited utility to the average undergraduate student.
There is a podcast episode on Nehru's debates with Iqbal, Jinnah, and others in in the podcast The Seen and the Unseen, which bills itself as "India's Most Popular Weekly Podcast". This episode is an astonishing four hours long. I have not listened to it, but it seems likely that there are distinct sections of it that would be useful for supporting students in different roles. If anyone wants to have a listen and suggest time segments for certain roles/purposes, I would gladly post that here. (Possibly a task for a Preceptor?)
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel from Professor Buzzkill (12 minutes)
The only podcast I have found so far on Prasad in particular is in a series on Audible called "100 Greatest Indians", episode 38. Audible is a paid subscription service and I do not have a subscription, so I have not been able to vet the episode or the series, and only students with subscriptions would be able to listen to it. If anyone wants to check it out and report on its quality, I will share that report here.
Sarojini Naidu from This Day in History Class (<5 minutes)
Sarojini Naidu: Beyond the Golden Threshold from Footnoting History (17 minutes)
See also episodes in the Historical Background series listed above.
Jinnah: The Chess Player From the BBC's podcast series Incarnations: India in 50 Lives (about 15 minutes)
Iqbal: Death for Falcons From the BBC's podcast series Incarnations: India in 50 Lives (about 15 minutes)
ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL: MUHAMMAD 'ABDUH AND MUHAMMAD IQBĀL From The History of Philosophy Podcast (about 20 minutes)
Bhimrao Ambedkar: Building Palaces on Dung Heaps From the BBC's podcast series Incarnations: India in 50 Lives (about 15 minutes each)
BR Ambekdar: The Dalit Hero of India From the BBC The Forum podcast (about 45 minutes)
For crossover with Communism, there is a podcast on the New Books Network interviewing the translator of Memoirs of a Dalit Communist: The Many Worlds of R. B. More here (85 minutes).
Savarkar's India from NPR's Throughline Podcast (2019; 33 minutes; the first 13 minutes looks at contemporary Hindutva before turning to Savarkar and the Mahasabha as its backstory. There is also the episode Savarkar and India from a year later which appears to be an updated version.)
I have not succeeded in locating any podcasts on Randadive. However, there is a podcast on the New Books Network interviewing the translator of Memoirs of a Dalit Communist: The Many Worlds of R. B. More here (85 minutes).
Indian Princely States from the BBC The Forum podcast (about 40 minutes)
The Village Leader roles are in a state of evolution and in their various iterations cover a variety of motives, regions, and views. It is hard to pin down specific podcast episodes that would satisfy that diversity. However, if you are using the older version of the role sheets in which one of the papers should be on "When Famine Came To Our Village", or if the student's village is in Bengal, the student will find a lot of detail in the BBC podcast series Three Million, covering the Bengal Famine of 1943 (five episodes, 28 minutes each). Other Village Leader roles should look to the general background, INC, and Gandhi-related podcasts listed above.
See also episodes in the Historical Background series listed above.
Students should probably avoid listening to these until after the game, to avoid the temptation to steer in the direction of the historical outcome.
For a very short overview (4 minutes), consider Giving Voice To Memories From 1947 Partition And The Birth Of India And Pakistan from NPR's Weekend Edition
There are two episodes (10 minutes each) on India's Partition, Part One and Part Two, in the BBC podcast series Witness History.
The Road to Partition from NPR's Throughline Podcast (52 minutes)
Gresham College has a lecture from 2022 Partition of British India: 75 Years On (also available here on YouTube)
BBC Radio 4 did a series of three podcasts called Partition Voices, though only one seems to be currently available.
The death of Gandhi is covered by the BBC podcast Witness History (10 minutes).
Witness History also has an episode (10 minutes) The Last Viceroy of India, in which Lord Mountbatten's daughter recalls the transfer of power.
The National Archives of the UK produced a project aimed at high-school students (I think?) Teaching young people about the Partition of British India: 75th anniversary.
I also found on the website of The National Archives the original declassified 4-page memo from Pethwick-Lawrence to London giving his views on how the Simla Conference ended and why, including specific observations about many of the factions and roles in the game. I have found this an excellent source for debriefing by having students compare and contrast their own, and one another's, actions to those of their historical counterparts. Due to copyright restrictions, I cannot share this file online, but I believe I should be able to email it to fellow instructors upon request. Email me at whc7 (at) pitt (dot) edu.
John O'Keefe has brought our attention to a digital archive of photography of Partition.